To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what the cost to her Department of the Office of the local government ombudsman has been in each of the last five years. (274779)

The amount of grant paid by this Department to the local government ombudsman from 2004-05 to 2008-09 is set out in the Local Government Finance Report and is as follows:

For 2009-10 we have made provision in the Main Estimates of £16,155,000 for grants to the local government ombudsman, including a provision for possible future redundancies and a provision to fund the additional remit the ombudsman will have for schools and health matters, if and when the relevant provisions in the Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning Bill and Health Bill currently before Parliament are enacted and come into force.