§ Mrs. MayTo ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if she will list the number, value and location of properties newly leased in each of the last five years by her Department, broken down by those leased by the Department itself, its next step agencies and its non-departmental public bodies, differentiating between purchases made as a result of the creation of new bodies and those purchases made by established bodies. [7810]
§ Dr. HowellsDuring the period 1996 to 2001 the Department has taken new leases in respect of only two properties namely
179a Tottenham Court road, London, to re-house the Government Art Collection, leased from 1 May 1999 for a period of 15 years at an annual rent of £408, 063 subject to five-yearly rent reviews.1 Cockspur Street, London, to re-house Departmental staff and accommodate expansion. Leased from 17 January 2000 for a period of 13 years at an annual rent of £465, 451 subject to five-yearly rent reviews.The Department has over 50 non-departmental public bodies and, in common with many other central Government Departments does not hold centrally the details of the estates of those bodies with independent land holding powers. Collection of this information from NDPBs would incur a disproportionate cost. However, a database of these properties is being compiled, entitled E-PIMS (Electronic Property Information and Management System).