§ Patrick Mercer:To ask the Secretary of State for Health what new appropriations have been authorised to fund the Health Protection Agency. [128667]
§ Miss Melanie Johnson:As staled in the consultation document in summer 2002, the creation of the Health Protection Agency (HPA) was cost neutral in terms of 64W public expenditure. Departmental funds allocated to the HPA were drawn largely from those sums previously allocated to its predecessor bodies and organisations.