Accommodation

Mr. Dismore
To ask the hon. Member for North Devon, representing the House of Commons Commission what average square metreage of office space is allocated per person to (a) all hon. Members, (b) hon. Members who are Ministers, (c) hon. Members who are not Ministers, (d) hon. Members' staff based on the estate and (e) senior House officials; and if he will make a statement.

Nick Harvey
Evidence on office space allocation and occupancy was submitted to the Administration Committee's inquiry into House of Commons Accommodation earlier this year. This evidence is published with that Committee's Third Report of the Session, HC 1279. The answer that follows is based on that information, which represents a sample at a given moment in time.

(a) The Accommodation Whips have approximately 14,800 sq m of office space available to allocate to Members, an average of 22.9 sq m per Member. In practice, however, some of this accommodation is unoccupied or occupied by Members' staff. Of the office space currently used by Members, the average area available for each Member is 14.3 sq m.

(b) and (c) Of the total office space available to the Accommodation Whips, 1,300 sq m is designated ministerial accommodation, an average of 16.9 sq m per Minister. This leaves 13,500 sq m of office space not designated ministerial accommodation which the Accommodation Whips have available to allocate to other hon. Members. However, Ministers also occupy some Members' accommodation not designated for Ministers, while some ministerial rooms are occupied by Members' staff.

(d) The average space available to individual Members' staff is estimated at 9.2 sq m per person, based on 1,230 desk spaces in areas allocated by the Serjeant at Arms and in Members' accommodation.

(e) 1,735 staff of the House, 1,257 of whom are desk-based, occupy 13,140 sq m of office space, giving an average density of 7.6 or 10.5 sq m per person depending on the method of calculation used. Disaggregated information is not held on space occupied by senior staff of the House.

Mr. Dismore
To ask the hon. Member for North Devon, representing the House of Commons Commission what consideration has been given to turning accommodation at 2 and 3 Parliament Street and 4 Canon Row into further office space for hon. Members and their staff.

Nick Harvey
The houses are structurally unsuitable for use as offices.

Mr. Dismore
To ask the hon. Member for North Devon, representing the House of Commons Commission pursuant to the answer of 3 July 2006, Official Report, column 823W, on Officers of the House (Accommodation), what the estimated annual rental value is of the properties concerned.

Nick Harvey
No estimate of the annual rental value of these properties has been made. Because they are physically part of the secure Parliamentary Estate, it would not be feasible to offer the properties for rent.