5 Resourcing the work
5.1 The table below shows the cost of running this
office in 2008-09 compared to previous years.Table
4: Costs of running the Commissioner's office
| 2004-05
£
| 2005-06
£
| 2006-07
£
| 2007-08
£
| 2008-09
£
|
| Staffing etc | 298,869
| 308,121
| 379,609
| 419,816
| 494,005
|
| Other running costs |
3,964 | 8,713
| 6,939 |
5,881 | 5,850
|
| Total | 302,833
| 316,834
| 386,548
| 425,697
| 499,855
|
5.2 The increase in staffing costs this year was due mainly to
the employment from March 2008 of two new members of staff (supplemented
by occasional agency secretaries to cover particularly busy periods),
and to a lesser extent to pay progression. One of the two posts
was secretarial, the other was a newly created post of a Complaints
Officer, who helps with the investigation and processing of complaints
and also deals with general correspondence and press enquiries.
The Committee on Standards in Public Life had noted in their Eighth
Report a staff inspection recommendation for an investigative
support officer.[42]
Having reviewed the nature and volume of work in my office,
I decided to accept this recommendation and was pleased to have
the support of the Committee on Standards and Privileges and the
House authorities in doing so.
5.3 There was a reduction in costs relating to conference attendance
and travel and subsistence but an increase in routine printing
costs. The result was a slight overall drop in our total expenditure
on other running costs.
42 Standards of Conduct in the House of Commons,
Eighth Report of Committee on Standards in Public Life, November
2002, Cm 5663 Back
|
