Meat Hygiene Service: Finance

Mr. Roger Williams

To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the operating budget of the Meat Hygiene Service (a) is in 2007-08 and (b) was in (i) 2004-05, (ii) 2005-06 and (iii) 2006-07. (181445)

The gross expenditure of the Meat Hygiene Service (MHS) is as follows:

*£ million*
	Forecast	Actual
2007-08	¹88.1	—
2004-05	—	83.7
2005-06	—	88.2
2006-07	—	91.3
¹ Excluding transformation costs. Note: The MHS is currently implementing a significant transformation programme in order to carry out its role at less cost, in line with Food Standard Agency’s review of the delivery of official controls.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the operating budget for the Meat Hygiene Service is in (a) England, (b) Wales, (c) Scotland and (d) each region in 2007-08. (181446)

The gross expenditure of the Meat Hygiene Service (MHS) is not budgeted by country. Analysis is however undertaken following the finalisation of the annual accounts to show gross expenditure by country. For 2006-07 this was:

	Gross expenditure (£ million)
England	70
Wales	12
Scotland	9

The MHS gross expenditure budgets by region for 2007-08 are:

	Gross expenditure (£ million)
North	18
Central	22
South and West	15
Wales¹	10
Scotland²	10
¹ The MHS Wales region includes parts of Gloucestershire and Herefordshire. ² The MHS Scotland region includes part of Cumbria.

The gross expenditure budget for the corporate overhead for 2007-08 is £14 million.

Volume 471: debated on Tuesday 29 January 2008