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Departmental Property

Volume 455: debated on Tuesday 9 January 2007

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what the timetable is for the relocation and closure of the offices of his Department located at Epsom Road, Merrow, Guildford; what procedures his Department will follow on the disposal or sale of land where the offices are located; and if he will make a statement. (108652)

The DEFRA Management Board agreed on 16 November that the Guildford site should be disposed of with a target date of December 2007 for receipt of disposal proceeds and that the business units (including IBM) should relocate to identified locations no later than autumn 2007.

DEFRA undertakes the disposal of surplus land, buildings and residential properties in accordance with Chapter 24 of HM Treasury’s Government Accounting 2000 (Amendment 4/05), following the guidelines contained in Annex 24.2. DEFRA also takes full account of other guidance issued by the Office of Government Commerce (OGC), including its most recent Guide for the Disposal of Surplus Property (November 2005).