§ Mr. HancockTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence what research he has(a) commissioned and (b) evaluated into the possible benefits of moving his Department out of London; and if he will make a statement. [130222]
§ Mr. CaplinThe Department's estate strategy was set out in 'In Trust and. On Trust', published in 2000. The aim is to create a defence estate of the right size, shape and location through corporate management of the estate. The implementation of this strategy has informed our active engagement in the Independent Review on Public Sector Relocation—the Lyons Review?—and will continue to do so.
In recent years the Department has relocated a significant amount of defence activity from London. The reviews and evaluations that inform these decisions have generally been undertaken internally, rather than commissioned from external consultants. We evaluated the relocations of the Defence Procurement Agency, 1159W and the Meteorological Office as part of our submission to the Lyons Review, which generally welcomed the actions taken by the Ministry of Defence.