§ Mr. Austin Mitchellasked the Prime Minister if she will publish figures broken down by Department for the cost of Government boarding allowance schemes for public servants in 1983–84; and if she will set out the circumstances for each scheme in which allowances are paid.
§ The Prime Minister[pursuant to her reply, 10 January 1985, c. 528]: I regret that the final two paragraphs were omitted. The complete answer is as follows:
The figures requested for 1983–84 are as follows: £ million Armed Forces 76.5 Diplomatic Service 5.9 British Council 1.2 Overseas Development Administration 0.7 Ministry of Defence (Civilians) 0.5 Other Departments 0.2 Total 85.0 The total differs slightly from that given in my reply to the hon. Member on 14 December 1984 at column 606 because that reply covered only the Ministry of Defence and the Diplomatic Service.
It also excludes £1.8 million from the overseas aid programme paid in boarding school allowances to British supplemented staff employed by overseas governments and organisations.
As to the circumstances in which boarding school allowances are payable I refer the hon. Member to my reply to a similar question from my hon. Friend, the Member for Cornwall, South-East (Mr. Hicks) on 31 October 1984 at columns 974–975.