asked Her Majesty's Government:How many people are on the home based and overseas staff of the Department for International Development; how many people are on the Brussels-based and overseas staff of the European Commission covering comparable work; and what is the current size of the Department for International Development budget and that of the European Union for comparable work. [HL3375]

Current staff numbers and overall budgets for the Department for International Development (DFID) and equivalent figures for the European Union (EU) are as follows:

DFID staff numbers (home and overseas)	1,370
European Commission equivalent	2,566
DFID Budget (2000ߝ2001)	£3.2 billion
EU Budget (2000)	£6.0 billion

Staff numbers do not include local staff appointed in country (SAIC) as EC figures are not available. The DFID figure for SAIC is 410.DFID budgets are set out by financial year whereas those for the EU are set by calendar year. Otherwise the figures are broadly comparable.