To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what his estimate is of his Department's total budget as a share of total public spending in each year from 1979–80 to 2003–04, planned. [96813]

The Department for Work and Pensions came into being on 1 April 2001. Consequently there are no comparable figures prior to this date. The final provision for 2002–03 has yet to receive Parliamentary approval and therefore a comparison with expenditure for 2001–02 or planned expenditure for 2003–04 cannot be made. The current expenditure plans for the Department are contained in Tables 1–11 of the Departmental Report: The Government expenditure plans 2002–03 to 2003–04, Cm 5424.