§ Mr. Stephen O'BrienTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the total gross running costs to his Department were in the 12 months ending 30 April 1997 of entertaining by(a) Ministers and (b) officials. [157619]
§ Mr. StrawThe total gross running cost to my Department in the 12 months ending 30 April 1997 of entertaining by Ministers was £14,793 and by officials was £27,036.
In my reply of 27 February 2001, Official Report, column 603W, I reported that the provisional gross running cost to my Department in the 12 months to 31 January 2001 of entertaining by officials was £160,095. It has since been found that a sum of £131,064 relating to the costs of conferences had been incorrectly classified in the accounting system as entertaining costs. Provisional expenditure on entertaining by officials in the 12 months to 31 January 2001 was £29,031.