HC Deb 04 December 1995 vol 268 cc142-3W
Mr. Spring

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what assessment she has made of the accuracy of the published information on the value of Suffolk TEC's contract with the Employment Department in the financial year 1994–95; and if she will make a statement. [4190]

Mr. Paice

The published figure is incorrect. The value of Suffolk TEC's budget in the financial year 1994–95 was overstated by £4.52 million: the correct figure should be £15.6 million. This error was caused by a change to the method by which the TEC's youth credits programme was funded, midway through the year.

This led to a clerical error when part of the budget was double counted. I should stress that this was purely an administrative error and at no time were public funds at risk. The administrative systems have now been changed to ensure that this mistake cannot be repeated.

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