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Written question asked by Oliver Heald (Conservative) on Tuesday, 7 February 2006, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Thursday, 9 February 2006. It was answered by Jack Straw (Labour) on Tuesday, 14 February 2006 on behalf of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

Official Residences

Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will list the official residences for which his Department is responsible; who occupies each one; what the annual cost is of running each property; what contribution the occupants of each make towards running costs; what the total capital and refurbishment expenditure was on those properties in 2004–05; how much was spent in each property on (a) flowers and plants, (b) wine and entertaining, (c) food, (d) telephone bills and (e) electricity and gas in 2004–05; how many (i) domestic and (ii) maintenance staff are employed at each property, broken down by post; and what the total cost of staff employment was in 2004–05.
Answer

In the UK, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) maintains official residential accommodation and conference facilities at 1 Carlton Gardens, London. The running costs in 2004–05 for the residential accommodation, on the second and third floors and currently unoccupied, are as follows:

2004–05 (£)
Maintenance 1,109
Renovation (Capital and refurbishment) Nil
Council Tax 1,089
Running costs
Rent 54,772
Utilities 735
Total 57,705

No maintenance or domestic staff are employed. There are no separate records available for expenditure on (a) flowers and plants, (b) wine and entertaining, (c) food, (d) telephone bills at this property but as the premises are currently unoccupied no expenditure on these items will have arisen apart from the phone rental.The separate conference facilities on the ground and first floor are used frequently for official meetings and entertainment.The FCO is also responsible for running Head of Missions' Residences overseas. The budgets for this are held at Posts; the information requested could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
50877; 442 c1905-6W;442 c1905-6W
Session
2005-06
Subjects
Costs Catering Expenditure Government departments Property Staff Plants Repairs and maintenance Wines Telephones Foreign and Commonwealth Office Flowers Official residences Official hospitality Operating costs
Contains statistics
Yes
Link
View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk