Departmental Expenditure

Alan Duncan
To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how much his Department spent on (a) the Employment Tribunals Service, (b) the Insolvency Service, (c) the Patent Office, (d) the National Weights and Measures Laboratory and (e) Companies House; and if he will make a statement.

Jim Fitzpatrick
[holding answer 24 October 2006]: In 2005-06 the Department's expenditure on the Employment Tribunals Service was £69.023 million, on the Insolvency Service £24.048 million and on the National Weights and Measures Laboratory £2.285 million. The figures for the latter two organisations reflect the Department's contribution, not the full cost of these bodies, which are partly funded by charges for their services.

Companies House and the Patent Office are trading funds, and in the case of the Patent Office its costs are entirely covered by fee income. The only funding provided by the Department for Companies House was £3.600 million to cover the costs of collecting late filing penalties. All other Companies House costs are met by fee income.