What it is
Chancellor George Osborne has published his Emergency Budget, setting out plans for reducing the UK’s budget deficit.
When it came out
22 June 2010
Why it is important
This spells out the new coalition’s agenda for cutting costs and raising taxes in detail for the first time. It features important moves for property, including the retention of capital spending levels on infrastructure and the relaxation of planning laws in growth areas.
To read the full document, click here: Emergency Budget 2010

I’m a council property manager. What can I learn about Total Place to help me save money?
Peter Parkes, head of property services at Worcestershire County Council, which undertook one of the pilot projects as part of the Total Place initiative responds:
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Our first task in the Total Place pilot scheme task was to create a database and map of the entire public estate in the county.
We created a Geographic Information System map (see bottom of page) of the entire estate, encompassing all local agencies, with the help of the Office of Government Commerce, …

Former Reed Elsevier chief executive Ian Smith gave his verdict on the burning issues around civil service relocations at a briefing on 31 March, following the publication of his recommendations on the subject alongside Budget 2010.
On Whitehall
There is an incredible national asset in Whitehall and Westminster in that it’s been there since Henry VIII and it’s a very efficient way of policitians and civil servants interacting. The power of the London magnet is very strong. If left to themselves, civil servants would locate in central London in high cost property …

Government departments have hinted at how property will contribute to £11bn of efficiency savings announced in yesterday’s Budget.
Property-related plans released by departments following Chancellor Alistair Darling’s speech yesterday include:

the Ministry of Justice saving £41m a year by 2015 through reducing the number of court buildings in London from 18 to four;
the Ministry of Defence improving its estates management and its procurement practices to help save £120m;
the Department for Communities and Local Government sharing services to find £130m of savings including better management of estates;
the Department for Environment, Food and …

The government is to set up companies to run public sector property by April 2011 as it bids to save £1.5bn in property running costs and make £2bn from central government property sales by 2013/14.
In today’s Budget, chancellor Alistair Darling announced the government would set up these strategic property vehicles by next year’s Budget to manage public sector property. This is part of the government’s target in the Operational Efficiency Programme to save £5bn a year in property running costs and make £20bn disposals by 2020.
The Property Unit – part …

The government plans to scrap 150 quangos as part of its reform of arm’s length bodies, announced in today’s Budget.
Liam Byrne, chief secretary to the Treasury, revealed that the government would cut 20% of the UK’s quangos by 2012-13 in a bid to save up to £500m a year in public spending.
The announcement is the result of a review of arm’s length bodies that was launch in the summer of 2009 as part of the public value programme. Among the recommendations made in the final report, Reforming Arm’s Lengh Bodies, …

What it is: former Reed Elvesier chief executive Ian Smith has examined the case for relocating civil service jobs out of London and the South East in order to save money.
When it came out: Wednesday 24 March 2010
Why it is important: The review expands on recommendations made in the 2004 Lyons Review, which said 20,000 civil servants should be moved out of London and the South East. This latest report says that a further 15,000 should be moved within the next five years.
To read the full report, click here: Budget …

The Treasury wants Regional Development Agencies and the Homes and Communities Agency to share offices in one area in a bid to save money.
Chancellor Alistair Darling’s Budget 2010 outlines proposals to save £255m from 2012-13 by making the HCA, RDAs and government departments share offices in a particular region.
It says this will simplify regional government as part of a drive to increase its overall power, through giving regional ministers extra responsibilities.
These will include allowing them to decide where funding goes, and giving them a greater role in promoting regional growth.
The …

The government is to set up Accelerated Development Zone pilot schemes, allowing it to test Tax Increment Financing (TIF) for funding developments in England and Wales.
Chancellor Alistair Darling has today announced that pilot schemes for TIF projects will be introduced in 2011-12, through designating certain areas as Accelerated Development Zones.
TIF projects, which are already advancing in Scotland, allow local authorities to borrow money for projects based on the future tax increases that a new development will bring.
Areas will have to enter a bidding process in order to benefit from the …

The government should relocate 15,000 jobs out of London in the next five years, Ian Smith has recommended in his report on government relocation today.
The former Reed Elsevier chief executive’s much-anticipated report on civil service relocations was published alongside today’s Budget 2010. It says the government should look to reduce the civil service in London by one third.
This follows the Lyons Review of 2004, which proposed the relocation of 20,000 posts outside London and the South-East.
The Ian Smith Review was announced as part of December’s Smarter Government report. It recommends …