To ask the hon. Member for North Devon, representing the House of Commons Commission if the Commission will take steps to ensure that (a) heating is not kept on in offices within the Parliamentary Estate at weekends and on other occasions when it is not likely the rooms are being used and (b) radiators are turned off at weekends and times when they are not used; and if he will make a statement. (174323)

All buildings on the parliamentary estate are under the control of a Building Management System (BMS), together with heating time scheduling to automatically turn on the heating prior to the time office areas are usually occupied and turn it off when the areas are vacated at the end of the day. The BMS is monitored by the Parliamentary Works Services staff around the clock.

To ask the hon. Member for North Devon, representing the House of Commons Commission how much was spent on heating on the Parliamentary Estate in each of the last four years. (174327)

It is not possible to determine how much was spent just on heating on the parliamentary estate in each of the last four years. Most of the buildings are heated by natural gas boilers which are not metered separately; most of the gas meters also record the gas used in hot water generation and in some buildings, kitchens, as well as in heating. The heating costs of a small number of buildings are included in the leasing charges and therefore they are not known.

The amounts spent on gas on the parliamentary estate in each of the last four years are given in the following table:

The increase in gas expenditure in the last two years is mainly due to significant increases in the unit price of gas in those years.