Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, with reference to (a) SOPS 1.1. in the Department's 2024/5 Annual Report, a breakdown of the £209,590,000 spent in gross administration costs on capability and (b) Table 1, Annex A: Common Core Tables in the Department's 2020/21 Annual Report, a breakdown of the £118,965,000 spent on Capability in 2019/20, on what basis there is a difference between the two figures.
The 2024-25 outturn for Capability gross administration costs is broken down as below:
Staff costs* | £84.078m |
Other operating costs | £43.484m |
Purchase of goods and services* | £40.218m |
Matrix programme* | £28.295m |
Depreciation and other non-cash expenditure | £11.455m |
Other costs, including finance costs and grants | £2.059m |
Total | £209.590m |
*As one of DSIT’s major projects, Matrix programme costs have been presented separately i.e. deducted from other totals above.
2019-20 outturn for the Capability line as shown within the 2020-21 Annual Report and Account was prepared for the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, DSIT’s predecessor department. Since then, multiple Machinery of Government (MoG) changes have taken place, resulting in significant movements of policy responsibilities across government departments, including DSIT, DESNZ, DBT, DCMS and the Cabinet Office.
It should be highlighted that the Matrix programme - representing a material element of 2024-25 expenditure has only come into operation in more recent years. For these reasons, the two financial years are therefore not readily comparable.