Departmental Furniture

Grant Shapps
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how much was spent by (a) his Department and (b) its agencies on furniture in each of the last five years.

Mr. Woodward
Departmental and agency expenditure on furniture in the last five years is shown in the following table:

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|       |Department|Agencies|
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|2004-05|201       |166     |
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|2005-06|189       |149     |
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|2006-07|325       |176     |
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|2007-08|340       |226     |
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|2008-09|233       |183     |
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The Northern Ireland Office procures furniture across a number of sites which are mainly located in Belfast and London. This furniture is required to facilitate staff in providing a quality service and the expenditure has been incurred in accordance with the principles of Managing Public Money and the Treasury handbook on Regularity and Propriety.