House of Lords written statement – made at on 21 November 2006.
Lord Bassam of Brighton
Government Whip, Government Whip
Subject to parliamentary approval of the new estimate, the Deputy prime minister's Office departmental expenditure limits for 2006-07 will be £1,960,000 as set out in the table below.
| New DEL | ||||
| £'000 | Change | Voted | Non-voted | Total |
| Resource DEL | 0 | 1,960 | 0 | 1,960 |
| Of which: | ||||
| Administration Budget | 0 | 1,960 | 0 | 1,960 |
| Near-cash in RDEL | 0 | 1,940 | 0 | 1,940 |
| Capital | ||||
| Depreciation* | ||||
| Total | 0 | 1,960 | 0 | 1,960 |
| *Depreciation, which forms part of resource DEL, is excluded from the total DEL, since capital DEL includes capital spending and to include depreciation of those assets would lead to double counting. | ||||
The administration costs limit for the Deputy Prime Minister's Office will be £1,960,000. This resource will be used for the costs of its administration.
The house of Lords is the upper chamber of the Houses of Parliament. It is filled with Lords (I.E. Lords, Dukes, Baron/esses, Earls, Marquis/esses, Viscounts, Count/esses, etc.) The Lords consider proposals from the EU or from the commons. They can then reject a bill, accept it, or make amendments. If a bill is rejected, the commons can send it back to the lords for re-discussion. The Lords cannot stop a bill for longer than one parliamentary session. If a bill is accepted, it is forwarded to the Queen, who will then sign it and make it law. If a bill is amended, the amended bill is sent back to the House of Commons for discussion.
The Lords are not elected; they are appointed. Lords can take a "whip", that is to say, they can choose a party to represent. Currently, most Peers are Conservative.
The office of Deputy Prime Minister is one that has only existed occasionally in the history of the United Kingdom. Unlike analogous offices in other nations, the Deputy Prime Minister does not have any of the powers of the Prime Minister in the latter's absence and there is no presumption that the Deputy Prime Minister will succeed the Prime Minister.
The post has existed intermittently and there have been a number of disputed occasions as to whether or not the title has actually been conferred.
More from wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deputy_Prime_Minister_of_the_United_Kingdom
