§ Annabelle EwingTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will estimate the total annual running costs for buildings used, owned or rented by his Department for each nation and region of the UK, and estimate the average cost per sq m for properties used by his Department as a whole, and by region and nation of the UK. [6855]
§ Mr. BlunkettThe estimated running costs and average running cost per sq m for the Home Office (non-prison) estate by region and nation of the United Kingdom are as follows:
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Region Estimated running costs1 (£000) Estimated average running cost per sq m2 (£) England North East 6,414 234 North West 12,217 264 Yorkshire 5,003 280 East Midlands 6,385 376 West Midlands 7,495 115 East England 2,688 105 London 45,227 257 South East 38,537 220 South West 352 156 England total 124,319 225 Scotland 3,734 343 Wales 2,366 123 Northern Ireland 486 239 UK total 130,906 224 1 Running Costs include the annual rental charge, rates, utility costs, cleaning, maintenance and security guarding 2 The floor area figures used are net internal area These figures do not include the Probation Estate, which became part of the Home Office estate on 1 April 2001. I will write to the hon. Member with these figures shortly.The figures for the Prison Service are collated by the 15 Prison Service Areas, 13 of which are regional. The other two areas are Female and High Security establishments.
Area1 Estimated running costs2 (£000) Estimated average running cost per sq m2 (£) East Midlands North 2,753 20 West Midlands 3,293 14 Manchester. Mersey and Cheshire 3,681 15 North East 2,775 21 Lancashire and Cumbria 3,996 21 Yorkshire and Humberside 4,677 16 East Midlands South 3,280 20 Thames Valley and Hampshire 5,356 26 Eastern 4,758 20 Kent, Surrey and Sussex 6,430 22 London 3,847 21 South West 7,743 28 Female Prisons 4,088 23 High Security Prisons 5,500 17 England total 52,589 20 Wales 1,277 14 UK total 53,866 20 1 The figures relate to the Operational Directorate of the Prison Service and cover prison establishments. The Prison Service headquarters figures are included in the main Home Office figures. 2 Running costs relate to rents, council tax, utilities and maintenance. Security guarding and cleaning are not identified separately on the Prison Service finance system. The figures do not include rates. 3 Figures for the floor area are gross. The difference in the running cost between the main Home Office and the Prison estates is due to the fact that most of the Prison Service estate is freehold, whereas most of the main Home Office estate is leasehold. Rent accounts for the major running cost expenditure in the figures for the main Home Office estate.