A total of £16.246 million provided in the 1996 Votes of Government Departments and Offices in respect of the costs of holding the EU Presidency this year. This represents the estimated costs of ensuring an efficient discharge of the additional functions and responsibilities arising from EU Presidency.
As with all public expenditure my Department has an ongoing role in monitoring this expenditure. To facilitate monitoring, where the Department or Office has such an EU Presidency allocation, it is "ring fenced" and identified separately in the published 1996 Revised Estimates for Public Services. Expenditure is monitored on the basis of monthly returns from Departments and Offices to the Department of Finance.