§ Mr. LawsTo ask the Deputy Prime Minister what his latest estimate is of the amount spent by his Department on official entertainment in each year from 1996–97 to 2004–05. [169010]
§ Yvette CooperThe Office of the Deputy Prime Minister was created following the machinery of Government changes on 29 May 2002. The figures in the following table show how much the Office spent on official entertainment in 2002–3 and 2003–4. Details of the planned expenditure for 2004–5 are not yet available, but are expected to be on similar lines to earlier years.
Entertainment £000 2002–03 3,350 2003–04 1,869 All 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".
The expenditure figures for the Government Offices and the Office's executive agencies for official entertainment are not held centrally and could only be provided at disproportionate cost