Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to dispose of offices currently (1) owned by, (2) leased to, or (3) vacated by, civil service departments.

The Government Estate Strategy 2018 set out our goals for better use of the estate. This included reducing the number of office buildings in which central government operates and a long-term ambition to reduce the number of offices within London (from over 65 in 2018) to no more than 20, enabled by our Places for Growth programme to relocate civil service roles from the Capital to across the UK. A new Government Property Strategy is being prepared, which continues to focus on consolidating the government estate. It is the aim of the government to critically review and seize opportunities to break a lease or dispose of a property, where possible and appropriate.

Each civil service department is required to develop and maintain a strategic asset management plan which sets out their occupational needs. Summary plans are usually published on gov.uk; publication was paused during the COVID-19 pandemic but is planned to resume this financial reporting year.