§ Mr. BercowTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what proportion of the increase in the departmental expenditure limit from 2001–02 to 2002–03 will be accounted for by wage costs. [20673]
§ Ms HewittDecisions on the funding of wage costs for 2002–03 will be taken as part of my Department's internal resource allocation process early in the new year. It is therefore not possible to say how much of any increase in the departmental expenditure limit will be accounted for by wage costs.
However, figures on my Department's spending plans for 2001–02 and 2002–03 were set out in the 2001 Expenditure Plans Report (Cm 5112), a copy of which is in the Library of the House. Over the 2001–02 to 2002–03 period, pay costs for the Department (including gross and net controlled agencies and ACAS but excluding trading funds) were planned to increase from £256 million to £271 million, as shown in table B9.