§ 21. Mr. Ian BruceTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what estimate he has made of the cost of running a separate parliament in Scotland; and if he intends this sum to be raised exclusively from Scottish tax payers. [2349]
§ Mr. McLeishIt is not possible to provide an estimate of the annual running cost of a Scottish Parliament as a number of decisions on the Parliament have yet to be made. The White Paper to be published before the Summer Recess will set out our detailed proposals.
Under Government accounting arrangements it is not possible to identify separately those services funded by particular groups of tax payers.