§ Dr. HampsonTo ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will make a statement on the cash limits for the Northern Ireland Office and for Northern Ireland Departmental Services for 1987–88.
§ Mr. StanleySubject to parliamentary approval to the necessary Supplementary Estimate, the cash limit for the Northern Ireland Office — class XVIII, vote 1 — for 1987–88 is being increased by £32,203,000 from £512,405,000 to £544,608,000 to cover increased requirements for expenditure on law, order, protective and miscellaneous services. The increase is mainly due to higher than anticipated police activity levels, prison officers' overtime costs, and rent allowance payments for police and prison officers, expansion of the police capital works programme and an increase in the level of criminal damage compensation claim settlements, partly offset by savings arising from slippage in various capital works programmes.
This increase is partly covered by a decrease of £22.6 million in the cash limit for Northern Ireland departmental services, NIDI, from £2,447.8 million to £2,425.2 million: this reflects emerging savings in that 672W sector. The balance of £9.6 million is being met from the Reserve and there is therefore no increase in total public expenditure.
In addition, the Northern Ireland public expenditure total for 1987–88 has been increased by £2.1 million for health and personal social services, as announced by my right hon. Friend the Minister for Health on 16 December, at columns 1093–1106, and by £1.7 million in respect of the costs to Northern Ireland Departments of the weather damage in October. These are also being met from the Reserve and do not increase total public expenditure, I do not propose to increase NIDI correspondingly.