Lancaster House (Hansard, 24 March 2004)

§ Tim Loughton
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what the running cost of Lancaster House was in the last year for which figures are available. [163017]

§ Mr. Straw
In the financial year 2002–03 the running cost of Lancaster House was £1,882,000.

§ Tim Loughton
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what the cost of(a) maintaining and (b) holding publicly funded functions at Lancaster House was in each of the last five years. [163018]

§ Mr. Straw
To provide the cost of holding publicly funded functions at Lancaster House for the last five years would incur disproportionate costs. However the cost of maintaining Lancaster House is as follows:

£

1999 161,904

2000 375,679

2001 746,222

2002 325,632

2003 608,547

904W

§ Tim Loughton
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many times Lancaster House was used for private functions in each of the last five years; and what revenue was brought in as a result. [163019]

§ Mr. Straw
No private functions are held in Lancaster House. However occasionally, on special request, the Crown Estate has allowed Lancaster House to be used for commercial filming. The revenue from this source over the last five years has been set out in the following table:

£

1999 26,000

2000 0

2001 40,000

2002 95,000

2003 7,000

We are actively exploring the possibility of greater commercial use of the House in order to offset costs.

§ Tim Loughton
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many times Lancaster House was used by his Department for functions in each of the last five years. [163020]

§ Mr. Straw
In 2002 Lancaster House was used by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office 236 times and in 2003, 216 times. We are unable to provide figures for previous years as this would incur disproportionate costs.

§ Tim Loughton
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what his Department's policy is on private hire of Lancaster House. [163021]

§ Mr. Straw
The lease for Lancaster House with the Crown Estate only permits its use by senior Civil Servants of grades 2 and above for official business. However on special request, the Crown Estate have on occasion allowed commercial filming to take place.
We are actively exploring the possibility of greater commercial use of the House in order to offset costs.