Ministers claim to have saved more than £100m in the first nine months of the financial year through greater control and rationalisation of central government property.
LThe Cabinet Office yesterday released data on the central civil estate which showed it numbers nearly 14,000 properties.
Many of the savings are attributed to national property controls and the disposal of assets. Efforts are also underway to use space more efficiently, such as moving Cabinet Office staff into the Treasury building earlier this year.
Minister for the Cabinet Office, Francis Maude, said his office was ‘getting a grip on the Government estate’ - having already saved £90m last year through controls and rationalisation.
‘We expect even greater savings by the end of the Parliament as we make better use of space and put an end to the days where the government estate was bigger, inefficient and went without scrutiny.’
But the data also revealed central government still owns 552 vacant properties.
This includes a 1,000 square metre office block held by Communities and Local Government in the centre of Birmingham that has been unused since 2005, with annual rent estimated at £178,000.
