Departmental Offices

Dr. Cable
To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs what area of office space her Department and its agencies used in central London in (a) 2004 and (b) 2006; and if she will make a statement.

Vera Baird
In 2004 the Department occupied 45,986.12 sq m of leasehold office accommodation in central London, whilst the total for Her Majesty’s Court Service was 1,642.58 sq m. For 2006 the figures were 44,393.16 sq m and 4329.89 sq m respectively. From 1 April 2006 the newly created Tribunals Service became an agency of the Department with leasehold office accommodation totalling 5,226.00 sq m in central London.

In 2004 neither the Department nor its agencies owned the freehold to any of their London properties. Since 2006 Her Majesty’s Court Service has held the freehold to 2297.00 sq m of office accommodation in London as a result of the transfer of work from the magistrates courts.