To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the total cost was to the public purse of running the National Savings and Investment Department in the last complete financial year (a) before and (b) after the public private partnership. (108231)

The total cost to the public purse of running National Savings and Investments, as measured by the Department's net operating costs, in the last complete financial year before the public private partnership (1998-99) was £180,337,000. The cost in the last complete financial year (2005-06) was £175,203,000.