Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what the (a) budget and (b) costs have been for his Department's offices on King Charles Street, London in 2019.

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) pays business rates on the King Charles Street building, calculated on a financial year basis. In the current financial year (1 April 2018 to 31 March 2019) the total cost of rates payable is £4,304,070. On a pro rata basis, the rates cost so far for 2019 (1 January to 5 February) is £424,511. The FCO has not yet been informed of its business rates liability for the financial year beginning 1 April 2019. The FCO does not pay rent on the King Charles Street building, which it owns outright.

The total expected utilities costs for the King Charles Street building for the current financial year (including actual spend to the end of December 2018, and forecast spend for January, February and March 2019) is £1,752,611. These costs are broken down into the following: