To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what targets have been set for Government departments to reduce the cost of their estates; and what estimate he has made of the likely level of savings in (a) 2009-10, (b) 2010-11 and (c) 2011-12. (323207)

Through the High Performing Property (HPP) programme Government has targeted annual real running cost savings of between £1 billion and £1.5 billion per annum by 2013 from the central civil Government estate, not broken down by individual Departments. This target saving contributes to the target announced in Budget 2010 to save £5 billion per annum in property running costs through more effective management of assets and property across the whole public sector.

The State of the Estate for 2009 reports that the Government estate is performing better than the private sector in a number of key areas. The annual real cost of running the estate, adjusted for inflation, has fallen by 17 per cent., equivalent to a reduction of approximately £740 million since 2003-04. This achieves the interim targeted annual savings of between £600 million and £800 million by March 2011. No target was set for 2009-10 or 2011-12. Government Departments are therefore on track to meet the HPP target savings.