Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 13
13
We asked the Department if it had taken on any more leases on a 25-year...
Conclusion
We asked the Department if it had taken on any more leases on a 25-year non- breakable basis in the last year. HMRC said its estate strategy had not changed in the last year and it did not think it had taken on any more 25-year leases but it would need to check.36 It subsequently confirmed that the only new 25-year lease with no break since the April 2018 evidence session was for the regional centre in Nottingham, signed in November 2018. The only other new leases since April 2018 have been for specialist sites in Worthing and Ipswich. Worthing will be a 17-year lease and Ipswich (which is a refurbishment of part of an existing building) is three leases for different floors, each for 15 years with breaks after ten years.37
Government Response
Acknowledged
HM Government
Acknowledged
3.1 The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Target implementation date: July 2021 3.2 The department is satisfied that its estates strategy continues to offer value for money in the light of the likely short- and long-term impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the department’s requirement for office space and on office rents. 3.3 Before making contractual commitments for its regional centres, the department obtained independent qualified professional advice which confirmed that the flexible lease terms they negotiated offer the best balance of value when building modern offices in locations with a large long-term government presence. It also built in terms enabling the department to sublet space if needed and build in future flexibility. 3.4 While the experience of working during the COVID-19 pandemic is likely to have longer term implications for ways of working, the department expects to continue to be an office-based organisation, requiring high-quality workspaces where people can work together and develop their careers. The department will review what this means in terms of space requirements and work with the Government Property Agency to ensure space freed up by HMRC is made available to other departments who wish to secure long-term space, to support the government’s Places for Growth Programme. The high quality of the department’s regional centre office accommodation, and their prime location in Government Hubs, mean that they are eminently suitable for use by other government departments and there has already been demand from other departments for space in HMRC’s regional centres. 3.5 The lease terms negotiated by the department ensure optimum rental costs in the light of the expected long-term occupation of the offices by HMRC and other government departments.