§ Mr. SwinneyTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will provide a breakdown for each department, by accounting heading of the amount spent in the years 1995–96 and 1996–97 on central administration and associated expenditure as set out in Table 5.4 of Public Expenditure Statistical Analyses 1997–98 (Cm 3601, March 1997); and if he will identify for each department and each accounting heading the amount of such expenditure defined as identifiable and non-identifiable in terms of allocation by geographic area of the UK. [40095]
§ Mr. Darling[holding answer 29 April 1998]The most recent data for central administration expenditure by department for 1995–96 and 1996–97 were published in table 5.7 ofPublic Expenditure: Statistical Analyses 1998–99 (Cm 3901, published on 3 April 1998). Information regarding the breakdown of these departmental administration figures across specific functional categories is not held centrally.
223WThe latest analysis of expenditure by country is presented in Section 7 of the same publication. For most government departments, nearly all central administration costs are included in the identifiable spending which has been apportioned between England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. However, where the expenditure which the administration supports is deemed to have been incurred for the benefit of the UK as a whole, central administration expenditure has not been allocated between countries, and is included in non-identifiable expenditure. With the exception of Scottish Office, Welsh Office and Northern Ireland Departments (whose administration expenditure is assigned to the relevant country), precise information as to the allocation by country of departmental administration costs, separate from the rest of a department's expenditure, is not collected and held centrally.