HC Deb 18 December 2003 vol 415 cc1093-4W
Mr. Webb

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what his Department's hospitality budget was for(a) 2003–04 and (b) each of the last six years; and if he will provide a breakdown of the expenditure by main budget heading. [141524]

Mr. Browne

Information is not available in the format requested. Such information as is available is set out in the following table.

All expenditure on official hospitality is made in accordance with published departmental guidance on financial procedures and propriety, based on the principles set out in Government Accounting. It is typically incurred by the various DWP Businesses to mark the launch of significant initiatives–for example: the introduction of New Deal 50+; the national introduction of New Deal for Partners; launching call centres for jobseekers; implementation of Employment Zones; and launch of ONE pilots in conjunction with local authorities and the private and voluntary sectors.

The Department does not allocate specific budgets for official hospitality and it is not possible to provide expenditure information back to 1997–98 for the Department for Work and Pensions, which has existed only since 1 April 2001. The figures for 2001–02 and 2002–03 therefore are the only expenditure figures relating to the Department for Work and Pensions.

In order to provide figures which are reasonably comparable, information for the earlier years has been provided by combining expenditure on "official hospitality" by the former Department of Social Security (DSS), and on "official entertainment" by the former Employment Service (ES) which, together with relatively small numbers of staff from the Employment Policy Divisions of the former Department for Education and Employment (DFEE), combined to form the new Department for Work and Pensions. However, the expenditure incurred by the Employment Policy Divisions of DFEE is not separately identifiable.

Estimated expenditure1 on official hospitality on this basis is as follows:

1Figures rounded to the nearest £000.

£
1997–98 46,000 DSS+ES
1998–99 86,000 DSS+ES
1999–2000 327,000 DSS+ES
2000–01 127,000 DSS+ES
2001–02 155,000 DWP
2002–03 250,000 DWP

Note.

Outturn figures for 2003–04 will be available in spring 2004.