To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform what the operating budget of the Defence Export Services Organisation was prior to its move from the Ministry of Defence to become the UKTI Defence and Security Organisation; what the current budget is of the UKTI Defence and Security Organisation; and how much of that budget was moved from the Ministry of Defence. (202235)

[holding answer 6 May 2008]: For financial year 2007-08 the net operating costs for the Defence Export Services Organisation was £12.6 million. For the current financial year, the comparable budget allocated directly to the UKTI Defence and Security Organisation for administration costs is £11.7 million.

In line with the Machinery of Government transfers, the budget for defence trade promotion was transferred from the Ministry of Defence. The total budget transferred was £19.5 million/£19.2 million/£18.0 million for 2008-09/2009-10/2010-11, reducing, in line with the cost savings recently announced by the MOD. This transfer is for the full cost of UKTI DSO including the Defence Assistance Fund, the cost of staff based in our overseas offices, and all the central overheads and support costs previously incurred by other MOD budgets.