Homes and Communities Agency Grant Shapps To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (1) how much the Homes and Communities Agency and its predecessor bodies spent on publicity in each of the last three years; (2) how much (a) the Tenants Service Authority and (b) Homes and Communities Agency and its predecessor bodies spent on public relations in each of the last three years. Margaret Beckett Final audited information for the HCA and the TSA for the year ending 31 March 2009 will be available after the end of the financial year. The predecessor bodies of the HCA were English Partnerships, the investment arm of the Housing Corporation, and the Academy for Sustainable Communities. A range of programmes previously delivered by Communities and Local Government (CLG) also transferred to the Agency. The remainder of the Housing Corporation transferred to the Tenants Service Authority. The following table shows the amount spent on publicity and public relations by English Partnerships and the Housing Corporation in the last three years: --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | |2005-06 |2006-07 |2007-08 | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | |Publicity|Public relations|Publicity|Public relations|Publicity|Public relations| --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Housing Corporation1 |95 |20 |104 |250|98|212| --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |English Partnerships |1,899 |627 |2,223 |650|2,464|982| --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |1 The Housing Corporation does not have specific budget codes for PR and Publicity, we have instead determined these costs as: expenditure against PR companies, Publicity, and Events. HC expenditure against Web Hosting and Publications cannot be disaggregated between internal and external communications costs, and is therefore excluded from the above figures.2 While these have been identified as PR companies, it is probable that some of these costs may account for ‘public affairs consultancy’.| | | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The publicity and public relations costs for the Academy for Sustainable Communities could be disaggregated only at disproportionate cost. The spend related to CLG programmes that transferred to the Homes and Communities Agency cannot be disaggregated. Grant Shapps To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what office space is (a) owned and (b) rented by (i) the Homes and Communities Agency and (ii) the Tenants Service Authority; and what recent estimate has been made of the monetary value of these holdings. Margaret Beckett The following table provides details of the buildings owned by the HCA and their open market values at 31 March 2008, which represents the last audited position. ------------------------------------- | |£000 | ------------------------------------- |St. George’s House, Gateshead|2,500| ------------------------------------- |Arpley House, Warrington |5,800| ------------------------------------- I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 12 March 2009, Official Report, column 740W-42W, to the hon. Member for Peterborough (Mr. Jackson) that listed the HCA’s regional offices. In addition, two corporate centres are located in London (at Buckingham Palace Road and Maple House) and the HCA Academy is located in Leeds (at Foundry Street). HCA is currently undertaking a review of its accommodation. The agreed future structure will reflect business need and will unlock as many efficiency savings as possible. The Tenant Services Authority does not own any office space. The TSA rents office space on the 6th floor of Maple House in London, and the 4th floor of Piccadilly Gardens in Manchester. No valuation is made against rented accommodation.