Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many buildings his Department sold in (a) 2010, (b) 2011, (c) 2012, (d) 2013 and (e) 2014.

The Ministry of Justice is committed to reducing the cost of its estate. Where surplus property assets have been identified, the MoJ will dispose of them expeditiously and will always seek the best value for the taxpayer.

The number of buildings sold by the MoJ in each year since 2010 is provided below.

Note: figures exclude sales of land sites and numerous garages at various former prison sites.

The MoJ is also rationalising its estate through exiting properties on lease expiry or break option if earlier in accordance with Cabinet Office National Property Controls. Since the start of the Spending Review (SR10) the size of the MoJ estate has reduced by over 600 properties to less than 1,500 properties. As a result, lower business as usual costs have been achieved.