§ Mr. LawsTo ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what his estimate is of the level of social security spending for each year from 1996–97 to 2003–04; and if he will make a statement. [20308]
997W
§ Malcolm Wicks[holding answer 6 December 2001]: Social security spending is under control. The rate of growth under this Government is around half that under the previous Government. Indeed, without the extra spending of around £3 billion on families and £7.5 billion on pensioners, forecast spending in 2003–04 would be lower in real terms than it was in 1996–97. We can spend more on priority groups because we have reduced the costs of social and economic failure. For example, spending on benefits for unemployed people this year will be around £4 billion less than in 1996–97.
Expenditure on social security benefits in Great Britain is shown in the table1.
Expenditure on social security benefits in Great Britain £ billion Year 2001–02 prices2 1996–97 104.5 1997–98 102.6 1998–99 102.2 1999–2000 103.5 2000–01 103.5 2001–02 107.2 2002–03 108.4 2003–04 110.9 1 Figures show total expenditure on social security benefits. This includes all spending on housing and council tax benefits funded by
1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 20011 Total Cabinet Office 9 4 13 6 32 Privy Council Office 0 0 1 0 1 Charity Commission 5 13 13 7 38 Department for Culture, Media and Sport 1 1 2 0 4 Ministry of Defence 7 88 43 8 146 Department for Education and Skills2,3 12 77 51 6 146 Office for Standards in Education 1 0 0 0 1 Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs4 5 33 35 24 97 Intervention Board 2 1 1 0 4 Export Credits Guarantee Department 4 0 0 0 4 Foreign and Commonwealth Office 3 1 5 2 11 Government Communications Headquarters 0 0 2 0 2 Department of Health 8 19 30 15 72 Home Office2 1 72 26 21 120 Department for International Development 0 1 6 0 7 Law Officers' Departments 0 10 11 2 23 Lord Chancellor's Department 0 21 34 9 64 National Assembly for Wales 5 28 3 3 39 Northern Ireland Office 0 11 3 0 14 Scottish Executive (includes Scottish Office) 12 19 33 34 98 Registers of Scotland 1 0 0 0 1 Department of Trade and Industry 22 21 26 3 72 Department for Transport, Local Government and the Regions4 6 5 57 44 112 Health and Safety Executive 0 6 12 10 28 Office of the Rail Regulator 0 0 0 1 1 Office of Water Services (OFWAT) 0 0 1 0 1 Ordnance Survey 0 1 0 0 1 Shadow Strategic Rail Authority (NDPB with effect from 1 February 2001) 0 0 1 0 1 HM Treasury 2 0 2 3 7 Office of Government Commerce 1 0 0 0 1 HM Customs and Excise 1 34 77 17 129 Inland Revenue (includes NICO and Valuation Office Agency) 4 252 145 62 463 Office for National Statistics 0 10 1 0 11 Royal Mint 3 0 0 0 3 Department for Work and Pensions3 356 1,758 1,177 397 3,688 Total 471 2,486 1,811 674 5,442 1 To 1 October 2001 2 One New Dealer transferred from DfES to the Home Office 3 Five New Dealers transferred from DfES to DWP 4 Four New Dealers transferred from DTLR to DEFRA Note:
This table monitors the number of starts and does not reflect transfer of staff under recent machinery of government changes (see 2,3,4 above)
998Wcentral and local Government. The figures do not include spending on tax credits, which are the responsibility of Inland Revenue. Spending on family credit and disability working allowance, which are superseded by tax credits, is included: £2.4 billion in 1996–97, £2.6 billion in 1997–98, £2.6 billion in 1998–99 and £2.0 billion in 1999–2000 (2001–02 prices).
2 Real terms figures in 2001–02 prices are calculated using the GDP deflator published by the Office for National Statistics on 24 September 2001.