§ Mr. GillTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food whether it is intended to change the cash and running cost limits on any Department vote for which he has responsibility.
§ Mr. MacGregorYes. Subject to parliamentary approval of the necessary revised Estimate the cash limit for class IV, vote 2, (Intervention Board for Agricultural Produce; administration) will be reduced by £1,284,000 from £39,509,000 to £38,225,000, and that for class IV,474W vote 5 (Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food; departmental research, advisory services and administration) will be reduced by £72,000 from £257,014,000 to £256,942,000. The running cost limit for class IV, vote 2 will also be reduced by £76,000 from £19,957,000 to £19,881,000 and that for class IV, vote 5 will be reduced by £72,000 from £262,458,000 to £262,386,000.
The reductions in the running cost limits on votes 2 and 5 reflect the transfer of provision to the Scottish Office administration vote (class XVI, vote 21) for processing data from England and Wales in connection with the beef special premium scheme. The remainder of the reduction to the cash limit of £1,208,000 on vote 2 arises on IBAP's agency payments to DANI in respect of the beef variable premium scheme which has ended.