§ Mr. Stephen O'BrienTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what the reasons were for the increase in the total net administration costs of her Department between 2002–03 and 2003–04 as set out in the Departmental Report 2004, Cm 6216, page 161. [171612]
§ Ms HewittAs is the standard approach, the 2004 Departmental Report provides an-actual outturn figure for 2002–03 and an estimated outturn figure for 2003–04. These two figures are not equivalent and cannot be compared directly. The actual outturn figure for 2003–04 will be published in the 2005 Departmental Report.
The actual outturn figure for 2003–04 was lower than estimated, mainly due to the generation of additional receipts, and some technical accounting adjustments. On an equivalent basis, the net administration cost for 2002–03, was £16 million higher than 2002–03, and this was awarded through Spending Review 2002. The reasons for this were an additional £8 million for front line services in the Employment Tribunals Service, ACAS and The Insolvency Service, £5 million for 1561W electronic Government IT services and an additional £3 million covering a range of activities across the Department.