HC Deb 04 February 1994 vol 236 cc998-9W
Mr. Day

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what changes he proposes to the class I cash limits and running costs limits for 1993–94.

Mr. Rifkind

Subject to parliamentary approval of the spring supplementary estimates, the following changes will be made:

Class I Cash Limits
£000
Vote Current cash limit Change Revised cash limit
1 12,405,216 +264,594 12,669,810
2 3,844,613 + 45,969 3,890,582
3 7,153,498 -383,998 6,769,500

These changes decrease the block defence cash limit by £73,435,000. They allow for increased expenditure on class I, votes 1 and 2, which will be offset by lower expenditure on class I, vote 3. The changes additionally take account of a decrease of £75,000,000 to reflect a forecast underspend against provision for recovery from Operation Granby which is subject to specific limits. Also reflected is the net effect of transfers between the Ministry of Defence and other Government Departments. The running costs limit will be increased by £55,069,000 from £5,475,310,000 to £5,530,379,000, £53,232,000 of this increase results from the continued rationalisation of activities to meet the new force structure. This involves the transfer of certain administrative tasks into the running costs total and does not add to the overall level of defence expenditure. The increase also reflects minor changes of £1,837,000 principally due to interdepartmental transfers.

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