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Treasury;Office for National Statistics

Answer

Mr. Laws: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will list the buildings owned by the Office for National Statistics, broken down by (a) purpose and (b) value; and if he will make a statement. [156762] Ruth Kelly: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician, who has been asked to reply. Letter from Len Cook to Mr. David Laws, dated 1 March 2004: As National Statistician I have been asked to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question concerning the buildings owned by the Office for National Statistics (ONS), broken down by (a) purpose and (b) value. The value and purpose of Office for National Statistics (ONS) buildings are as follows: £ million _________________________________________________________________________________________________. Site Purpose Building value Land value Southport, Merseyside Office 3.166 1.071 Christchurch, Dorset Store 1.323 0.811 Titchfield, Hampshire Office 5.658 1.946 Newport, South Wales Office 7.408 3.268 _________________________________________________________________________________________________. Note: These building were valued in 2000 by GVA Grimly, a firm providing estates and valuation services, in accordance with established professional standards. These valuations are adjusted annually using Treasury indices, and are shown for the Financial Year 2002-04. Data for the buildings occupied in London by ONS at Drummond Gate and Bessborough Tower, Pimlico and the Family Records Centre, Islington are not included in this table as they are leased, and not owned by the ONS. Refurbishment works carried out by ONS on its leased properties in Pimlico were capitalised, and their written-down value at 31 March 2003 was £22.946 million. The value of these works is not shown in the above table, but was included in an estimate of the total value of ONS buildings given in answers to a previous Written Question on this subject (Official Report, 22 January 2003, column 417W). The General Register Office (GRO) is part of ONS, and is responsible for the registration of births, marriages and deaths in England and Wales. It operates from the ONS sites in Southport, Merseyside and Islington, London.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

418 c692W;418 c712W; 156762

Session

2003-04

Subjects

Costs Buildings Property Office for National Statistics Repairs and maintenance

Contains statistics

Yes

Link

View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk