§ Mr. MacleanTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what methods of depreciation his Department will apply in the current financial year to fixed assets in the preparation of departmental resource accounting balance sheets. [97043]
§ Mr. WillsAll fixed assets are depreciated on a straight line basis to zero. Exceptions are land, which is not depreciated, and cars, which retain a 20 per cent. residual value. Depreciation methods are in accordance with the Treasury's Resource Accounting Manual. The requirements in the Manual regarding those methods will be underpinned by Financial Reporting Standard 15 'Tangible Fixed Assets' issued by the Accounting Standards Board. Details of the period over which assets are depreciated are as follows:
Asset type Depreciation policy Buildings Up to 50 years Land No depreciation Furniture 7-10 years Fittings 10 years Office machinery 3–10 years Cars 5 years with residual value of 20 per cent. Vans 8 years Telecoms 8–10 years Computers-mainframe 7 years Computers-non mainframe 3 years Computer-software 5 years