§ 28. Mr. HindTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport what changes he proposes to make to the cash limits and running costs limits for his Department.
§ Mr. RifkindSubject to parliamentary approval of the necessary supplementary estimates, the following changes will be made:
Class and Vote Current cash limit Changes Revised cash limit VII, 1 1,953,664,000 1-21,435,000 1,932,229,000 2 234,438,000 23,176,000 237,614,000 4 148,254,000 8,660,000 156,914,000 5 349,585,000 37,600,000 357,185,000 1 Transfers of £2,835,000 for research and development to class VII, vote 2, £8,850,000 for the Black Country spine road to class VIII, vote 3, £8,660,000 to class VII, vote 4 in respect of reduced appropriations in aid. There is a further reduction of £1,090,000 as a result of the demand financing arrangements for the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency. 2 An increase of £451,000 for railways inspectorate service from Department of Employment (class VI, vote 3). There is also a reduction of £110,000 in the running costs on this vote. 3 It was announced on 1 July 1991 (Official Report column 6) that I would seek to introduce at an early opportunity legislation to write off or suspend those parts of the debt of the Humber Bridge Board that cannot be financed from the board's revenues. The board's borrowings are from the Public Works Loan Commissioners and from my Department. Until powers to write off or suspend debt are available, it would be inappropriate for further loans to be made by my Department to the board as there is no reasonable expectation of those loans being properly serviced and repaid and I understand that the Public Works Loan Commissioners have also decided that it would be inappropriate to make further advances to the board. To enable the board to meet its commitments I propose to make grants to it amounting to £7,600,000. These grants will be made on the sole authority of the estimate and the subsequent Appropriation Act. My Department's running costs limit has been reduced by £110,000 from £378,984,000 to £378,874,000.
The changes described will not add to the planned total of public expenditure.