The following table indicates how much the Department of Communities and Local Government has spent on administration, legal fees, external advisers, the website and other costs associated with the Home Information Pack Programme from April 2004 up to the end of January 2007. Consumers spend billions of pounds each year on the transaction costs they incur when buying and selling homes. HIPs are designed to cut waste from home buying and selling as well as providing important energy information to help cut carbon emissions. The money has been spent on: developing and testing the home condition report and other components of the pack; putting in place a quality assurance framework to protect consumers and guarantee standards; developing the necessary systems; and explaining the changes to the public and industry stakeholders.
Total (£) Admin spend—including salaries of those working on HIPs policy and implementation 1,529,450 Legal fees 153,903 External advisers 5,52,629 Website 103,588 Other costs—including research and area trials 2,645,151 Communications 1,800,004 Total programme spend 10,155,275 Grand total 1 11,684,725 1 Expenditure as recorded in the Department’s accounting system from April 2004 to January 2007 inclusive. The budget for the programme for the period 2004-05 to 2006-07 is £16 million.