§ Mr. LawsTo ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what his estimate is of the total spending of his Department on entertainment in each year from 1994–95 to 2002–03; and if he will make a statement. [92401]
§ Mr. McCartneyAll expenditure on official entertainment is made in accordance with published departmental guidance on financial procedures and propriety, based on the principles set out in Government Accounting.
It is not possible to provide expenditure figures back to 1994–95 for the Department for Work and Pensions as it was only created with effect from 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, 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, information on entertainment expenditure by ES is only 22W available from 1996–97 onwards, whereas expenditure by the former DfEE Policy Divisions is not separately identifiable.
Estimated expenditure on this basis is set out as follows:
£ Department 1994–95 127,000 DSS 1995–96 100,000 DSS 1996–97 147,000 DSS and ES 1997–98 46,000 DSS and ES 1998–99 86,000 DSS and ES 1999–2000 327,000 DSS and ES 2000–01 127,000 DSS and ES 2001–02 155,000 DWP 2002–03 100,000 DWP (Estimated outturn) Notes:
- 1. Figures rounded to the nearest £000.
- 2. Expenditure for the 2002–03 financial year represents estimated outturn.