§ Mr. Bill WalkerTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he proposes to make any changes to the cash limits for 1990–91 within his responsibility.
§ Mr. LangYes, I intend to make changes to eight of the cash limits within my responsibility as follows.
681WSubject to parliamentary approval of the necessary supplementary estimate, the cash limit for class XV, vote 3, regional and general industrial support, will be increased by £10,460,000 from £140,716,000 to £151,176,000. The increase is to provide for a special payment of grant in aid to the Scottish Development Agency to extinguish the residual public dividend capital and national loans fund debt prior to the establishment of Scottish Enterprise; this has no net effect on public expenditure.
Subject to parliamentary approval of the necessary supplementary estimate, the cash limit for class XV, vote 8, housing, Scotland will be increased by £8,957,000 from £316,364,000 to £325,321,000. The increase to Scottish Homes grant in aid will provide for the acquisition of stock from local authorities and new towns and for publicising the extension of the rents to mortgages scheme. The increases are partially offset by a reduced requirement for housing support grant due to lower interest rates.
Subject to parliamentary approval of the necessary supplementary estimate, the cash limit for class XV, vote 11, administration of justice, Scotland will be increased by £659,000 from £42,790,000 to £43,449,000. This increase reflects a partial take up of capital end year flexibility entitlement announced by the Chief Secretary to the Treasury on 25 July 1990 to meet expenditure on Aberdeen sheriff court delayed from last year.
The cash limit for class XV, vote 15, education, arts, libraries and social work, Scotland will be reduced by £900,000 from £233,975,000 to £233,075,000. This reduction will partially offset the requirement for increased expenditure of £1,517,149 on the St. Helena ship being provided by the Overseas Development Administration. The remainder will be offset by further cash limits reductions of £617,149 to be announced in due course.
The cash limit for class XV, vote 19, general register office for Scotland will be reduced by £200,000 from £7,621,000 to £7,421,000 and the running costs limit reduced by £200,000 from £8,391,000 to £8,191,000.
Subject to parliamentary approval of the necessary supplementary estimate, the cash limit for class XV, vote 20, Department of the Registers of Scotland will be increased by £1,560,000 from £1,000 to £1,561,000 to cover
Estimated period of gestation (weeks) Year of Termination 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 20–23 92 84 69 65 51 41 51 53 44 26 24–27 10 6 5 6 7 5 5 6 5 3 28 + — 1 1 — — — — — — —