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Written question asked by Jack Straw (Labour) on Thursday, 15 July 2010, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Wednesday, 21 July 2010. It was answered by Alistair Burt (Conservative) on Tuesday, 27 July 2010 on behalf of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

Departmental Public Expenditure

Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what his Department's total (a) capital and (b) current spending was in each year since 1995 in (i) cash and (ii) constant prices; how many full-time equivalent (A) UK-based and (B) locally-engaged staff his Department employed in each such year; and how much his Department spent on consultants (1) contracted to his Department and (2) employed by other organisations under contract to his Department in each such year.
Answer

[holding answer 21 July 2010]: Capital and current spending for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) is only available on a consistent basis, including Machinery of Government changes and changes to the classification of central Government spending, back to 2004-05. This has been published in Table 1 of annex A to the 2009-10 Resource Accounts (HC 74).The figures are reproduced in the following table along with their equivalent at constant prices:

£ million
Capital spending Current (Resource) spending¹
Cash Constant prices Cash Constant prices
2004-05 113 128 1,683 1,900
2005-06 133 147 1,811 2,008
2006-07 161 173 1,813 1,945
2007-08 228 238 1,819 1,897
2008-09 227 230 2,000 2,030
2009-10 201 201 2,192 2,192
¹ Deflated by GDP index, 2009-10=100

With regard to the information requested about full-time equivalent UK-based and locally-engaged staff, the FCO is currently reviewing the basis on which workforce information is supplied and we are, therefore, unable to reply fully at this stage. We will, however, place a copy of this information in the Library of the House as soon as possible.An accurate, comparable breakdown of spend on consultants from 1995 to the present can be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
10143; 514 c966-7W
Session
2010-12
Subjects
Public expenditure Foreign and Commonwealth Office
Contains statistics
Yes
Link
View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk