Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what steps his Department is taking to co-ordinate the use of public land for development.

The Office of Government Property coordinates the development of public land through the One Public Estate (OPE) programme. This drives efficiencies by supporting opportunities for co-location, disposals, relocations, land assembly and multi-portfolio collaboration. OPE has recently been extended to include the Place Pilot initiative which brings together central and local government partners to review future estate needs and opportunities.

To date it has supported over 800 projects, spanning 98 per cent of English councils, helping transform local communities and public services right across the country. OPE partnerships have delivered 37,332 jobs, releasing land for 37,733 new homes, raising £593 million in capital receipts and cutting running costs by £119 million.

In addition, OPE delivers the £180m Brownfield Land Release Fund 2 (BLRF2) in conjunction with DLUHC. This awards funding to Local Authorities across England for land remediation of local authority owned brownfield sites ready for housing.