Douglas Carswell (Harwich, Conservative)

To ask the hon. Member for North Devon, representing the House of Commons Commission

(1) how many unutilised square metres of office space there were on the House of Commons part of the parliamentary estate in each year since the opening of the 2005 Parliament;

(2) how many empty offices there are on the House of Commons part of the parliamentary estate.

Nick Harvey (North Devon, Liberal Democrat)

The number of vacant rooms on the House of Commons estate fluctuates constantly as requirements change or maintenance work is carried out. Only records of current vacancies are maintained.

At present there are 14 unoccupied offices on the estate with a total area of 230m⁽²⁾. Six of these offices are vacant to enable major roof works to take place in the area known as the "Yellow Submarine" north of Speaker's Court.

There are 2,100m⁽²⁾ of, open plan offices leased in No. 4 Millbank for use as decant space. Of this, 500m⁽²⁾ is currently vacant, awaiting fit-out.

There are also 2,800m⁽²⁾ of vacant, open plan space which is the House of Commons' area of No. 14 Tothill street, a building leased in October 2007 and shared with the House of Lords. This area will be fitted out and available for use by the Department of Resources in autumn 2010.