Oral Answers to Questions

Gavin Newlands Excerpts

Thursday 26th October 2017 Commons Chamber

The right hon. Member for Carshalton and Wallington, representing the House of Commons Commission, was asked—

[Gavin Newlands (Paisley and Renfrewshire North) (SNP)]

6. What recent progress has been made on the Palace of Westminster restoration and renewal programme.

[Jo Swinson (East Dunbartonshire) (LD)]

12. What recent progress has been made on plans for the restoration and renewal programme for the Palace of Westminster.

[Tom Brake (Carshalton and Wallington) (LD)]

Substantial progress has until now been hampered by the lack of a decision in principle by the two Houses on the preferred way forward. The report of the Joint Committee on the Palace of Westminster was published in September last year, and I am pleased that the Leaders of both Houses have indicated that they will make time for a debate before the end of this year.

[Gavin Newlands]

I thank the right hon. Gentleman for that answer, but the replacement of major systems in the Palace has been due for more than a decade. The Leader of the House is now appointing yet another Committee, delaying the repairs yet again, despite warnings that delays increase the risk of serious events such as fires. Has the Commission made any estimate of how much longer the deployment of a new body to consider costings will delay the timeline of the work?

[Tom Brake]

The expectation is that once the shadow sponsor board and the delivery authority have been established, it might take them something of the order of 12 to 18 months to consider the options for decanting. That would therefore add to the timescales. I welcome the fact that we are going to have the debate by the end of this year. We really need that, because meanwhile the fabric of the building continues to deteriorate and the very high maintenance costs that we incur as a result also continue apace.