To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what has been the expenditure of the National Criminal Intelligence Service in each of the last five years for which figures are available devoted to gathering information on child pornography. [5451]

Gathering information on child pornography is only one area of the work of the National Criminal Intelligence Service (NCIS) Paedophile Section and it is not possible to separate expenditure for that purpose from the other activities of the Section. Figures for expenditure by the Paedophile Section, available for the last two years only, are as follows:

• 1995–96: £53,027
• 1996–97: £61,672.

These figures are based on staff costs and running expenses but exclude costs of accommodation and other central expenditure.Other units in NCIS, such as Interpol and Europol, also conduct work to combat paedophilia and child pornography, but their expenditure on such activity is not separately recorded.