HC Deb 24 October 2001 vol 373 cc293-4W
Pete Wishart

To ask the Deputy Prime Minister 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 square metre for properties used by his Department as a whole, and by region and nation of the UK. [6783]

Mr. Leslie

Estimates for the total running costs (in total and on an average cost per metre basis) for the financial year 2000–01 in respect of buildings used, owned or rented by my Department are as follows.

Country/region Total running cost (£000) Average costs per m2 (£/m2)
Scotland 25 606
Wales 14 92
London 26,405 409
South West 95 238
South East 3,298 237
North West 104 262
East of England 75 221
Yorkshire and Humberside 90 210
East Midlands 49 269
North East 41 162
West Midlands 103 233
Total England 30,260 374

The figures in the table exclude:

  1. (a) Running costs totalling some £523,000, mainly in respect of the Emergency Planning College in Yorkshire, where building costs on a square metre basis are not currently available.
  2. (b) Some £34,000 in respect of running costs incurred by the Central Office of Information on accommodation in Wales, Scotland and the South West where cost on per square metre basis is not known.
  3. (c) Figures in respect of the Government Offices for the Regions and the Regional Co-ordination Unit, which have been included in the answer supplied by the Department for Transport, Local Government and the Regions.
  4. (d) Accommodation that the Cabinet Office owns but is occupied by another and those buildings that were vacant during the above period.
  5. (e) VAT.