§ Mr. Proctorasked the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what has been the total cost of administration of his Department expressed in constant prices in each of the last five years.
§ Mr. ButlerThe total cost of administration of the Northern Ireland Office and the Nortern Ireland Departments expressed in 1982–83 prices, in the last two years, was as follows:
£ million 1981–82 386 1982–83 384.9 This information has been taken from the annual scrutinies of Department running costs. Corresponding information is not available on a comparable basis for earlier years when the scrutinies excluded many of the staff of the Northern Ireland Departments.