§ Mr. Proctorasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science what has been the cost of administration of his Department expressed in constant prices in each of the last five years.
§ Sir Keith JosephThe total cost of administration of the Department, including Her Majesty's Inspectorate expressed in 1983–84 prices in the last five years was:
£ million 1979–80 46.889 1980–81 49.977 1981–82 49.334 1982–83 49.651 1983–84 51.604 The figures for all years include the Office of Arts and Libraries which became an independent Department on 1 July 1983 and whose running costs are included in the DES totals in the annual scrutinies of Departmental running costs (from which the information is derived) up to and including 1983–84.