18. To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what recent assessment she has made of the effect of restricting to 1 per cent. the real terms growth of her Department’s spending for 2009-10. (264814)

The Home Office budget for 2008-09 is £9.8 billion, and in 2009-10 it will rise to £10.1 billion, which represents real terms growth of 1.5 per cent. A growth in real terms of 1 per cent. would reduce the budget by £54 million.