Press Release - Maintaining the Occupied Royal
Palaces
10 December 2008
The National Audit Office reported today that the Royal
Household has improved value for money by tightening up the way it
plans and manages its maintenance of the Occupied Royal Palaces.
Without an agreed way of measuring the condition of the estate,
however, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport cannot show
how far the Palaces are being maintained in line with its
objectives.
In 2007-08, the Property Section of the Royal Household received
£15 million from public funds to run and maintain the Occupied
Royal Palaces, broadly the same level of funding as in 2000-01,
which is a reduction of 19 per cent in real terms.
The Department for Culture, Media and Sport is ultimately
responsible for the upkeep of the Estate, but does not currently
have a clear basis for assessing the extent to which its aim of
maintaining the Palaces to a standard consistent with their royal,
architectural and historic status is being achieved. The Property
Section has identified a backlog of maintenance work, but there is
not yet an agreement between the parties about how the backlog
should be measured or how to manage it.
The Property Section has recently strengthened its approach to
planning maintenance work and has put in place the key elements of
a sound maintenance strategy.
In addition to public funding, in 2007-08 the Property Section
generated almost £3 million from visitors to Windsor Castle and
from renting out accommodation on the estate. Since 2000-01, it has
more than doubled the number of properties available to let from 16
to 36. The Royal Household’s approach to generating income could be
strengthened by developing a formal Estate strategy.
Tim Burr, head of the National Audit Office, said
today:
"For a number of years, the grant given to
run and maintain the Royal Palaces has been static – and has fallen
significantly in real terms. The Royal Household is making efforts
to be more efficient in how it uses its funds, but there is no
measure of how effectively the Palaces are being maintained. The
Royal Household and Department for Culture, Media and Sport need to
develop a way of measuring the condition of the estate over time,
so that the Department has confidence that the future of these
national assets is secure."
Notes for Editors:
- The Occupied Royal Palaces are Buckingham Palace, St James’s
Palace, Windsor Castle, and parts of Kensington Palace, Hampton
Court Mews and the Home Park. The Palaces are used to support the
Sovereign’s role as Head of State and are held in Trust for the
Nation by the Sovereign. The cost of maintaining the Palaces falls
to the Government. The Department for Culture, Media and Sport is
ultimately accountable to Parliament for the maintenance and
provision of services to the Palaces. Since 1991, however, the
day-to-day responsibility for planning and managing the maintenance
work has rested with the Royal Household.
- Where presented movements in costs are in real terms, the
Retail Prices Index has been used.
- Press notices and reports are available from the date of
publication on the NAO website, which is at www.nao.org.uk. Hard
copies can be obtained from The Stationery Office on 0845 702
3474.
- The Comptroller and Auditor General, Tim Burr, is the head of
the National Audit Office which employs some 850 staff. He and the
NAO are totally independent of Government. He certifies the
accounts of all Government departments and a wide range of other
public sector bodies; and he has statutory authority to report to
Parliament on the economy, efficiency and effectiveness with which
departments and other bodies have used their resources.
Press Notice 55/08
All enquiries to Mark Anderson,
NAO Press Office: Tel: 020 7798 7558
Mobile: 07796 937 119