To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what the administration costs of the Government Offices for the Regions were in 2007-08; and what the budget for each is for 2008-09. (252482)

The administration costs for the Government Offices for the Regions in 2007-08 were as follows:

The budgets for the Government Offices for the Regions for 2008-09 are as follows:

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government with reference to the answer to the hon. Member for Brentwood and Ongar (Mr. Pickles) of 23 October 2008, Official Report, column 489W, on Government Office for the Regions: finance, for what reason the Government Office Network has stopped retaining records of the total programme expenditure of the Government Offices for the Regions; and which bodies audit the overall expenditure of the individual Government Offices. (252738)

The Government office network does not undertake an annual exercise to review departmental programme expenditure that passes through the GOs since all programme budgets administered by the Government offices are the responsibility of the Secretaries of State for the relevant sponsor Departments. Departments can delegate authority to the regional directors, though all expenditure incurred is recorded in the accounts of the Department concerned.

The Government offices are audited by the Government office audit team and the National Audit Office, although programme expenditure is audited by sponsor Department audit teams.