Departmental Offices

Kelvin Hopkins
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what the address is of each site at which offices of her Department and its agencies are co-located with offices of the Homes and Communities Agency; and whether any further such co-location is planned.

Margaret Beckett
The following table identifies existing co-locations between the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) and the Government Office Network (GON). The table also identifies where my Department and the HCA, in conjunction with GON colleagues, have identified the following buildings already within the CLG group estate where further co-locations would bring potential operational efficiencies.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|Region                  |Building                                                                    |Comments                                                 |
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|Yorkshire and the Humber|Government office, 2nd floor, Lateral House, 8 City Walk, Leeds             |Existing co-location with Government office              |
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|West Midlands           |Government office, 5 St. Philips Place, Colmore Row, Birmingham             |Co-location with Government office in progress           |
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|East Midlands           |Government office, The Belgrave Centre, Talbot Street, Nottingham           |Existing co-location with Government office              |
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|South West              |Government office, 1st floor, Aztec Centre, Aztec West, Almondsbury, Bristol|Co-location with Government office staff being considered|
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|North West              |Government office, 4th floor, 1 Piccadilly Gardens, Manchester              |Co-location with Government office staff being considered|
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


While not strictly a co-location, the East of England HCA are proposing to occupy surplus Government office accommodation, which again makes efficient use of the CLG group estate.

Kelvin Hopkins
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (1) whether her Department and its agencies have received recent representations from representatives of the Homes and Communities Agency on the co-location of staff;

(2) whether recent discussions have taken place between her Department and its agencies and representatives of the Homes and Communities Agency on the availability of office space leased or owned by her Department.

John McDonnell
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what discussions officials in her Department have had with the Homes and Communities Agency on the future location of its offices.

Margaret Beckett
The Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) property team actively participate in the quarterly Department for Communities and Local Government (CLG) Property Asset Management (PAM) Board meetings. The last PAM Board meeting took place on 21 April 2009. The Department's PAM policies can be accessed through the following link:

www.communities.gov.uk/publications/corporate/assetmanagementplan

In addition to the PAM process, as a consequence of the creation of the new non-departmental public body, officials from my Department have been meeting with representatives of the HCA to discuss estate and property matters on a monthly basis. There is an ongoing dialogue between officials from my department and the HCA on estates matters.