To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many consolatory payments have been made by his Department with regard to the operation of his Department's (a) debt management organisations and (b) Recovery from Estates Debt Management Unit in each year since 1997 for which information is available. (249374)

Information is available from April 2007 to date. We are not able to separate the data between payments made for debt management and recovery from estates. Information prior to this period is not held centrally and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost

The available information is in the following table: