§ Mr. FlightTo ask the Minister of State, Department for International Development what the running costs have been of Ministers' private offices in his Department in each year since 1997. [123113]
§ Hilary BennIt is difficult to separate out completely DFID's expenditure on the running costs of Minister's Private Offices from that of Top Management Group as a whole. However, best estimates for DFID Ministers' Private Office running costs (including staff costs of the parliamentary and correspondence units) for 2001–02 are, £838,040 and 2002–03 are £1,156,445. Estimated costs for previous years could be provided only at disproportionate cost.