HC Deb 20 December 1995 vol 268 cc1248-9W
Mr. Malcolm Bruce

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what is his estimate of the cost of running his departmental office, and that of his predecessor, for each year since 1990–91 including the current year, broken down into(a) telephone bills, (b) total staff costs, (c) press and communications, (d) entertainment, (e) alcoholic drinks, (f) non-alcoholic drinks, (g) stationery, (h) office refurbishment and (i) other. [6395]

Mrs. Angela Knight

Figures for running the departmental office of the Chancellor are given in the table.

1990–91 1991–92 1992–93£ 1993–94 1994–95 1995–964
Press2 468,125 503,474 493,517 600,761 591,192 383,607
Other3 98,498 178,738 142,844 211,025 196,426 96,502
1 The increase in costs between 1992–93 and 1993–94 largely reflects the delegation of the costs of the Reuters service.
2 Press and Communications have been defined as the running costs of the Press Office.
3 Figures for entertainment and drinks are not separately identifiable and have been included in Other.
4 To end November.

Stationery costs are centrally funded.

Figures for refurbishment are not readily available but are included as part of the running cost expenditure shown in the departmental annual report.

This table does not include the Chancellor's car, as this cost is not distinguishable from the other Ministers' cars.