WELSH Government staff only account for just over half of the intended capacity of their Aberystwyth office, a Freedom of Information request by the Cambrian News has revealed.

Despite having the capacity for 535 staff at the Rhodfa Padarn offices in Llanbadarn Fawr, built in October 2009 at a cost of £20.8m to the taxpayer, the offices are only occupied by 288 members of Welsh Government staff — or 277.7 full time equivalent.

However, the Welsh Government told the Cambrian News this week the office, which has 7,600 square metres of office space, is in fact occupied by “around 450 individuals” when staff from other organisations are taken into account.

A Welsh Government spokesperson told the Cambrian News: “The Aberystwyth Rhodfa Padarn office is occupied not only by Welsh Government staff, but also by staff from organisations such as Natural Resources Wales and the Valuation Tribunal Service.

“In addition, contractors working on behalf of the Welsh Government, such as ICT service providers and maintenance contractors, also occupy space in the building.

“In total, this amounts to an occupancy level of around 450 individuals.

“We also provide hot-desking facilities for visiting officers and locally-based homeworkers who routinely need to visit the office.”