Louise Haigh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Louise Haigh on 2016-01-11.

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to the Autumn Statement and Summer Budget 2015, paragraph 2.172, what the (a) annual income and (b) running costs of the Government Property Unit is.

Matthew Hancock

The Government Property Unit was established in 2010 to work with central government departments to drive savings across the central civil mandated estate. Since May 2010, we have reduced our Estate by 2 million square metres, saving over £750 million in running costs and generating nearly £1.8 billion in capital receipts.

Funding was agreed at Spending Review for the work which the Government Property Unit is taking forward. This includes our Government Office Hubs Programme, which is driving a radical reshaping of the Civil Service office estate, the One Public Estate Programme which works with local authorities to deliver better services, achieve savings and deliver local growth including releasing land for new homes and jobs.

We are also taking a more commercial approach to property through the creation of a New Property Model which will help drive better strategic oversight and management of the estate, and provide greater incentives for departments to rationalise the space they occupy.

The Government Property Unit’s administrative running costs for the FY 2015/16 is forecast as £7.4m.