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Furniture: Ministry of Justice

Volume 494: debated on Thursday 25 June 2009

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how much his Department spent on furniture in 2008-09. (279264)

The expenditure on furniture by the Ministry in the financial year 2008-09 is listed in the following table.

£

Ministry of Justice HQ

6,098,821

HM Courts Service

1,508,010

Tribunals Service

91,657

Office of the Public Guardian

14,000

National Offenders Management Service

445,430

Total

8,157,918

The figure for the National Offender Management Service does not include the 42 local probation boards and trusts. Information on the costs of furniture is held locally and can be collated only at disproportionate cost.

Furniture is typically used for a period of 20 years within the Department. Major acquisitions usually occur only where a new building is taken on following the expiry of building leases. The majority of headquarters expenditure relates to the move to a new headquarters building as part of a major rationalisation of the Ministry’s London estate.

The reduction in the number of buildings occupied in central London, increased capacity of the building and move to flexible workspace in 102 Petty France will in future save an estimated £10 million a year. This move will enable more effective working and the reduction of the size and cost of the London estate.