[holding answer 10 November 2008]: The gross operating cost of the Meat Hygiene Service (MHS) by region—including inspection activities in abattoirs, tasks for Government Departments such as Food Standards Agency and Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs, and administrative and managerial support costs—is shown in the following table for 2003-04 to 2007-08.
Regional information for 1998-99 to 2002-03 is not readily available in the required format.
£ million 2003-04 2004-05 2005-06 2006-07 2007-081 North 16.5 16.3 17.0 18.4 17.7 Central 22.0 21.1 21.7 22.9 22.2 South and West 14.0 14.1 14.7 15.6 14.4 Wales2 10.5 10.8 11.7 11.1 9.8 Scotland2 9.2 9.4 10.2 11.0 10.3 Headquarters3 9.8 12.0 12.9 12.3 12.7 Total 82.0 83.7 88.2 91.3 87.1 1 Costs in 2007-08 exclude transformation programme costs of £10.6 million. 2 The Wales and Scotland regions both include parts of England. 3 Headquarters costs include some costs that relate to the regions but which are not allocated. These include: pension costs, depreciation, relocation costs and redundancy payments. Note: The MHS regional management structure was disbanded between April and July 2008 as part of a transformation programme.