WIREDGOV

The Welsh Government continues to make year on year improvements across its Estate, generating significant savings and efficiencies, Finance and Government Business Minister Jane Hutt said yesterday.

The findings are part of the sixth annual ‘State of the Estate’ report, which sets out the efficiency and environmental performance of the Welsh Government’s administrative estate during the financial year 2013-14.

The report concentrates on three main priorities – reducing the size of the overall estate; increasing efficiency of administrative offices; and improving environmental performance of buildings across the estate.  

The report also sets the background against which the estate is managed against the targets in the Location Strategy Programme 2010-15.  It confirms that the Welsh Government is on track to exceed original targets within the Strategy and by April 2015 anticipates gross savings of £19.3m over the five year term of the Strategy.

Key findings include:

• the number of offices reducing from 35 to 29, a 4.42% reduction in the overall size of the estate from the previous year;
• 5.68% reduction in rent from the previous year and circa 35% over the past five years;
• A reduction of £409,000 in the overall occupancy cost from the previous year;
• Greenhouse gas emissions reduced by 27% since 2010;
• A further reduction of carbon emissions by 11.3%, cutting CO2 from 10,392 tonnes to 9,220 tonnes this year;
• Emissions from electricity this year reduced by 9.9%; and
• Emissions from gas consumption decreased by 17.8% from previous years.

Welcoming the report, Jane Hutt said:  

“At a time of reducing budget settlements by the UK Government, it is vitally important that we make the best use of our resources.  The State of the Estate report provides a useful snapshot of the performance of our estate and how we manage our property assets.

“In these difficult times, it is pleasing to see that the effective and proactive management of our administrative estate means we continue to make year on year improvements in terms of cost, efficiency and environmental performance. We must continue to build on these successes, not only by making best use of Welsh Government resources but by ensuring our buildings are safe and managed sustainably and efficiently.

Related Links