Government Social Research Service

Mr. Harper
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the cost was of the Government Social Research Service in his Department in each of the last five years; how many projects have been completed by the service in that period; and how many people are employed in the service in his Department.

Mrs. McGuire
The Department's expenditure on social research for the last five financial years is given in the following table:

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|Financial year|Expenditure|
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|2001-02       |11.8       |
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|2002-03       |10.2       |
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|2003-04       |12.5       |
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|2004-05       |14.2       |
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|2005-06       |16.92      |
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The number of projects completed during the last five years, based on the number of social research reports published, is 430 (all social research undertaken by the Department is published).

The latest available staffing figures (for the year 2004-05) indicate there are 84 social researchers employed within this Department at a cost of around £4.4 million.