§ Mr. MossTo ask the Deputy Prime Minister what was the budget of the regional co-ordination unit(a) last year and (b) this year; and what the projected figure is for next year.[12522]
§ Mrs. RocheThe regional co-ordination unit's (RCU) budget for administrative running costs is £9.716 million in 2001–02. Funding for 2002–03 has yet to be finalised, but is expected to be in the region of £9.116 million.
The RCU was formed during 2000–01 and overall expenditure on the RCU and its predecessor unit, the Government office co-ordination unit (GOCU) for that year totalled £5.55 million.
203WA large element of the budget of the RCU and its predecessor unit is for funding that is managed centrally on behalf of the Government office network as a whole, such as for IT and communications systems. For the current financial year, £6.689 million is in respect of centrally managed budgets.