Department of Health and Social Care: Empty Property
(asked on 19th June 2023) - View Source
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 19 June 2023 to Question 187396 on Department of Health and Social Care: Empty Property, if he will provide a breakdown of each property's (a) original use or purpose, (b) location and (c) reason for vacancy.
The empty property details are shown in the following table.
Body | Original Use | Location | Reason for vacancy |
Department of Health and Social Care - ‘Retained Estate’: property retained in the ownership of Secretary of State for Health following the establishment of National Health Service trusts | Former hospital | Radlett | No longer vacant - property disposed. |
Department of Health and Social Care - ‘Retained Estate’: property retained in the ownership of Secretary of State for Health following the establishment of National Health Service trusts | Former care homes | Various | Former care homes ready for disposal |
NHS Digital | Offices | Exeter | Impacted by introduction of alternative working patterns. Property to disposed in September 2023 |
Background
- The former Harperbury Hospital which closed in 2001. Harperbury was a large site and incurred significant security costs until it was sold in October 2017.
- Costs pertaining to Harperbury were included in the answer of 19 June 2023 to Question 187396 as that PQ asked for costs of empty property spent since June 2015. We have therefore included Harperbury in this answer as the question is to breakdown the properties that the costs from Question 187396 originated from.
- DHSC also owns a small number of vacant ex-care-homes, which it is in the process of marketing, individually, based on the circumstance of each property and local market conditions. Security is appropriate in some locations until they are disposed.
- Due to staff absences we cannot provide a categorically accurate list on these care home properties at the moment. This is an area actively pursued with officials having sold a property in London on Friday 16th June
Hembury House, Rydon Lane, Pynes Hill, Exeter was used as an office space to accommodate approximately 200 NHS Digital staff. New ways of working introduced during the pandemic enabled NHS Digital to accommodate all staff in Exeter in a single, adjacent building, Hexagon House. Hembury House is surplus and ready for exit when the lease expires in September 2023.