Written question asked by Willie Rennie (Liberal Democrat) on Thursday, 13 November 2008, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Tuesday, 18 November 2008. It was answered by Lord Beamish (Labour) on Tuesday, 18 November 2008 on behalf of the Ministry of Defence.

Departmental Location

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what consideration he has given to relocating his Department's sites to areas of high unemployment.

Answer: Under the Government's Lyons relocation programme, the MOD plans to relocate some 5,000 civil service and military posts out of London and the south east by March 2010. This is against the target of 3,900 that was agreed and published as part of the 2004 spending review. These moves, and other collocations, are coherent with our strategy to have an estate of the right size to meet the military and business need, concentrated on larger sites and releasing resources to the front line.

Secondary information