§ Mr. BercowTo ask the Deputy Prime Minister what plans he has to reduce his Department's underspend in 2003–04 from that of 2002–03. [112777]
§ Yvette CooperThe Office of the Deputy Prime Minister has a Budget Management team working to improve the budgeting, monitoring and forecasting of the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister's expenditure. The team includes experts on budgeting and forecasting who are available to assist the major budget holders in108W the Office. A financial training guide has been made available to all staff. This enables staff and their managers to identify the financial skills necessary to carry out their tasks and the training and development available to teach those skills. These measures should lead to a significant improvement in financial performance for 2003–04.