§ Mr. BercowTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what the running costs were of(a) her Ministers' private offices, separately identifying expenditure on staff and (b) her Department in each year from May 1997 to the nearest date for which the information is available. [41037]
§ Ms HewittThe Appropriation accounts published by my Department for 1997–98, 1998&99, 1999–2000 and 2000–01 show total running costs for my Department and its agencies of £398 million, £419 million, £450 million and £484 million respectively.
Of these running costs the amounts spent on Ministers' private offices were:
- £3.8 million (1997–98) of which staff costs totalled £2.27 million.
- £4.2 million (1998–99) of which staff costs totalled £2.26 million.
- £3.4 million (1999–2000) of which staff costs totalled £1.94 million.
- £3.6 million (2000–01) of which staff costs totalled £2.08 million.
Complete data are not yet available for 2001–02.