Central controls over departments’ management of their property assets and leases has been “tough but needed”, Cabinet Office minister Francis Maude said on 3 September at the launch of phase two of the government’s One Public Estate (OPE) programme.
Maude explained that Cabinet Office had “introduced tough property controls”, meaning that “no department can take on a new lease or pass a break-point in a significant lease without the explicit agreement of my team”. He added that some people view the approach as “a bit control-freaky”, but added that “it was needed and it worked.” (See Diary in September magazine.)
Maude said that this is the first time the government has obtained strategic oversight of its property estate, and its central London offices have been cut from 185 in 2010 down to 75.
Many departments have moved into others’ buildings, with 1 Horseguards Road now housing five departments and several agencies whilst DCLG has moved in with the Home Office (see interview with Helen Edwards).
At first, Maude said, “some departments and agencies were horrified at the prospect [of co-locating] and came up with many and various original and creative reasons why it couldn’t possibly be done.” But now, he added, “they’re getting on rather well.”
Thanks to the Government Property Unit’s (GPU’s) efforts, Maude said, central government has so far been able to “exit over 1,250 buildings, including over 800 freehold properties, generating £1.4bn of income for the taxpayer – and saving running costs of over £600m compared with 2010.”
With government funding of £750,000, OPE was launched a year ago by the Cabinet Office and the Local Government Association. The scheme has cut running costs in central and local government by £21m in its first year, and the number of councils involved will rise from 12 to 20 in the second phase.
When local authorities co-locate with each other or central government, Maude argued, the benefits include “being able to just walk across and talk to someone from another department or agency.” However, he admitted: “What we haven’t yet got right is the technology, because they’re still all working on [different] technology platforms – but we’re making progress on that too.”
Maude concluded that OPE is “changing the mindset of how we manage property in the public sector – from an approach that was chaotic and fractured to one which is coordinated and coherent.”