Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether his Department has plans to assess other countries’ practice in respect of the disposal of surplus government land, including Italy, France and Germany where redundant defence sites are given to agencies separate from defence ministries.

The Ministry of Defence works in accordance with HMT guidelines for the disposal of land. Once a site is declared surplus to Defence it is first advertised on a cross-Government database to see if it is required for other Government purposes, before if that is not the case being advertised on the open market. On sale we seek to maximise sales receipts for the taxpayer.