To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what the cost was of redundancies in the Department in the 12 months preceding (a) 30 June 2004, (b) 30 June 2005 and (c) 30 June 2006. (159872)

The Department for Communities and Local Government (CLG) was created following the machinery of government changes on 5 May 2006.

The following table sets out the total expenditure on early severance or early retirement for CLG and its predecessor Department the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM).

The costs shown reflect the demands of resource accounting, so, as well as payments made in the 12 months' period, also include the liability cost for payments due in later years until those leavers aged over 50 at departure, reach pension age.