Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what comparative assessment he has made of the benefit to the public purse of using surplus public land to (a) generate long-term revenue and (b) generate capital from the sale of that land.

Over the course of this Parliament, Departments have exited unnecessary leases and sold vacant buildings. As a result, we have generated £1.4 billion in capital receipts, and saved £625 million by reducing the annual running cost of the estate. The Government has exited in aggregate more than one building every day since May 2010, reducing the size of our estate by 20%.

The One Public Estate programme has already shown that, with small levels of investment and support, a great deal can be achieved. The 12 pilot areas that joined the programme in year 1 expect to cut running costs in the order of £21 million and to raise £88 million in capital receipts by 2018, as well as creating 7,500 new homes and 5,500 new jobs.

Local 'capital and asset pathfinder' pilots have found that savings of around 20% are possible from a cross-public sector approach. Public sector assets are worth an estimated £385 billion, with almost two thirds owned by councils. ( Local Government Association Capital and Asset pathfinders Wave 2 summary report). The Government estimates this could potentially save £35 billion over 10 years through better property management. (DCLG press release, 5 August 2011).

Further research has suggested that local government could reduce the space that it occupies by 20-30%, with potential savings in running costs of up to £7 billion a year. (Westminster Sustainable Business Forum, Leaner and Greener: Delivering Effective Estate Management, February 2011).