The Security Service's budget is paid from the Single Intelligence Account (SIA), which carries the budget provision for all three security and intelligence agencies (namely the Security Service, SIS and GCHQ).
The Cabinet Secretary, Sir Gus O'Donnell, is the Accounting Officer for the SIA.
The SIA's budget provision is decided by Ministers through the biennial Spending Review mechanism which determines the budgets for all Whitehall departments. Those arrangements are designed to enable Ministers to decide the amount to spend on security and intelligence, in line with decisions on the overall level and allocation of government spending.
The Spending Review 2004 (new window), announced to Parliament on 12 July 2004, provided additional resources for the security and intelligence agencies to support a significant expansion of their counter-terrorism capabilities. A further £85 million was announced on 5 December 2005 (new window), to be split over the three years 2005-08, which enabled the early delivery of increased capacity to counter the threat of international terrorism.
| 2004/05 | 2005/06 | 2006/07 | 2007/08 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Resource (£ million) | 1,156.8 | 1,156.4 | 1,266 | 1,324 |
| Capital (£ million) | 156.9 | 204.9 | 214 | 229 |
| TOTAL (£ million) | 1,313.7 | 1,361.3 | 1,480 | 1,553 |
Detailed breakdowns showing the division of funding between the three agencies are not published for security reasons.
A further annual increase in expenditure on counter-terrorism and intelligence was announced on 9 October 2007 (new window) (Adobe PDF, 406 Kb), with an extra £220 million per year to be added to the Home Office budget by 2010/11. In addition, the management of counter-terrorist and intelligence spending will be reformed through the creation of a new Single Security and Intelligence Budget to bring together all dedicated funding for the security and intelligence agencies, the police and other government bodies responsible for countering the terrorist threat. The total annual expenditure on counter-terrorism and intelligence will increase to £3.5 billion by 2010/11
We are subject to close budgetary scrutiny and challenging efficiency targets. Our accounts are subject to audit by the National Audit Office (new window) (NAO) in the same way as those of other public sector organisations. NAO staff have access to relevant Service records for this purpose.
In addition, the expenditure and resource allocations of the Service and its sister Agencies are scrutinised by Parliament's Intelligence and Security Committee (new window) (ISC). The ISC's annual reports provide further details of the Agencies' funding and expenditure.