asked Her Majesty's Government:

Whether they have made an assessment of the use that the Information Commissioner has made of the extra funds granted to him by the Government to reduce the number of complaints being investigated by his office.

On 26 October 2006 the Information Commissioner laid before Parliament a report on his progress. This report explains the changes he has made to his office and sets out the improvements in complaints handling that he has made since the beginning of 2006.

The ICO's grant-in-aid forms part of the DCA's delegated expenditure limit, and the DCA's principal accounting officer is responsible to Parliament for ensuring adequate management controls to safeguard the public funds granted to the commissioner. My department meets regularly with the Information Commissioner to discuss performance and expenditure.