§ Mr. Ian BruceTo ask the President of the Board of Trade what is the total amount of the pre-paid fees liability to be transferred from the National Measurement Accreditation Service to the United Kingdom Accreditation Service. [1252]
§ Mr. Ian TaylorThe closing accounts have now been completed showing the total liability as £1,119,804. A first payment of £670,000 was made on 2 August and a second payment of £449,804 on 16 November.
Parliamentary approval for this new service will be sought in a winter supplementary estimate for the Department of Trade and Industry's programmes and administration vote, class IV, vote 1. Pending that approval, urgent expenditure of the above amount is being met by repayable advances from the contingencies fund.