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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 Andrew Mitchell (Conservative) on Wednesday, 21 July 2010 on behalf of the Department for International Development.

Departmental Public Expenditure

Question
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development 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

The following table shows net operating costs and the annual average full-time equivalent staff (UK-based and locally engaged) as set out in DFID's Resource Accounts. These figures have been restated using HMT GDP deflators to constant prices as at 2010-11. Figures are not available on a comparable basis before the creation of DFID in 1997.

Financial year Net operating cost as per resource accounts (£000) At constant price (£000) Total FTE
1995-96 n\a n\a n\a
1996-97 n\a n\a n\a
1997-98 1,582 2,157 n\a
1998-99 1,770 2,302 n\a
1999-2000 2,717 3,466 2,260
2000-01 3,097 3,951 2,270
2001-02 2,447 3,082 2,530
2002-03 2,733 3,366 2,807
2003-04 2,959 3,531 2,874
2004-05 3,252 3,774 2,902
2005-06 3,892 4,395 2,802
2006-07 4,714 5,228 2,660
2007-08 4,546 4,878 2,563
2008-09 5,205 5,430 2,400
2009-10 6,050 6,141 2,383

DFID's resource accounts from 2001-02 onwards report capital spending as follows:

Financial year Net operating cost as per resource accounts (£000) At constant price (£000)
2000-01 27 34
2001-02 20 25
2002-03 17 21
2003-04 27 33
2004-05 755 876
2005-06 20 23
2006-07 694 769
2007-08 739 793
2008-09 876 914
2009-10 1,353 1,373

From April 2006, grants to certain International Financial Institutions were reclassified as Capital Del for budget purposes, but continue to be included as a resource cost in the accounts and the estimates.DFID's annual reports state that the numbers of Home civil service and staff appointed in country at the end of each financial year were as follows:

Home civil service Staff appointed in country
March 2005 1883 989
March 2006 1801 932
March 2007 1719 865
March 2008 1612 834
March 2009 1600 759
March 2010 1573 764

Figures are not available on a comparable basis for earlier years DFID's financial management system shows spending on consultants for the last three years as follows:

Consultancy spending (£000)
2007-08 21,200
2008-09 24,500
2009-10 19,100

Information on a comparable basis is not available for earlier periods. Amounts recorded in DFID systems as consultancy include some items which fall outside the definition of consultancy from the Office of Government Commerce. DFID is now working to bring its account coding system in line with the Office of Government Commerce definition.

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
10145; 514 c350-2W
Session
2010-12
Subjects
Department for International Development Public expenditure
Contains statistics
Yes
Link
View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk