Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lord Bellingham and Robert Halfon

Wednesday 15th June 2016 Commons Chamber

[Sir Henry Bellingham (North West Norfolk) (Con)]

1. What progress his Department is making on the creation of a more modern and efficient government estate.

[The Minister without Portfolio (Robert Halfon)]

My hon. Friend will be pleased to know that since 2015 the Government estate strategy has ensured that running costs have fallen by £750 million. We have raised some £1.8 billion in council receipts and reduced the estate size by nearly a quarter. This is a huge achievement and in terms of space it makes the UK Government one of the most efficient organisations in the world.

[Sir Henry Bellingham]

I thank the Minister for that reply and congratulate him and his team on the work they have done. Given that the estate has been reduced by nearly a quarter since 2010, is it not crucial that as much of this land as possible is used for new housing, especially given that quite a bit of it is going to be brownfield?

[Robert Halfon]

My hon. Friend, as so often, hits the nail on the head. A huge Government programme has ensured that available public sector land is used to build more houses for our country.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lord Bellingham and Robert Halfon

Tuesday 1st February 2011 Commons Chamber

[Mr Bellingham]

We are doing all we can to support the transitional federal Government and are pleased that the African Union mission in Somalia has come up to its mandated strength. We are working not only with the TFG, who must get their act together within the next seven months before their mandate runs out, but with the provincial Government of Somaliland and moderate clans in south and central Somalia.

[Robert Halfon (Harlow) (Con)]

Following the Secretary of State’s answer to my hon. Friend the Member for Mid Derbyshire (Pauline Latham) on the release of the Lockerbie bomber, does he not agree that the previous Government hid behind the fig leaf of devolution in order to release a mass terrorist on dubious commercial grounds? Will he take steps to ensure that such a thing never happens again?