§ Mrs. GilroyTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what changes are planned in cash limits and running cost limits on votes within his responsibility for 1997–98. [14450]
§ Dr. HowellsSubject to parliamentary approval of the necessary supplementary estimate, the cash limit or class IX, vote 1, Department for Education and Employment: programmes and central services, and class IX, vote 3, Employment Department will be amended as follows:
229W
Existing cash limit Chance New cash limit Class Vote £ £ £ IX 1 9,419,464,000 85,613,000 9,505,077,000 IX 3 1,155,101,000 80,376,000 1,235,477,000 The cash limit for class IX, vote 1 (Department for Education and Employment) will be increased by £85,613,000 (of which £84,930,000 is in respect of the welfare-to-work programme and is outside the Control Total) from £9,419,464,000 to £9,505,077,000.
This is the result of an increase in £83,500,000 in capital expenditure on schools and £1,330,000 in running costs in connection with the welfare-to-work programme, and £100,000 in current expenditure on millennium volunteers, all to be financed from the windfall tax as announced in the Budget on 2 July and outside the Control Total.
The Department has also taken up part of end year flexibility amounts announced by the Chief Secretary to the Treasury on 17 July, Official Report columns 245–50 of £1,602,000 under the capital scheme and £172,020,000 under the structural funds scheme. An increase of £1,019,000 in expenditure on specialist schools in Section T has been offset by a corresponding decrease in the DfEE/LACAP cash limit from £73,126,000 to £72,107,000; and £40,000 has been switched from Section 0 (a cash limited section) to Section P (a non-cash limited section) to support additional expenditure on school council pensions.
A transfer of £300,000 has been made to class XI, vote 1 (Department of Health) for the Drugs Challenge Fund and £162,000 to class XIV, vote 2 (Welsh Office) in respect of National Vocational Qualifications. In addition, a transfer of £3,015,000 in running costs and £1,579,000 in appropriations in aid has been made to class IX, vote 3 (Employment Service) in respect of the lease for the 236 Grays Inn Road building in London. The opportunity has also been taken to transfer £600,000 from running costs to current expenditure in Section 0 to reclassify some expenditure on publicity.
The cash limit for class IX, vote 3 (Employment Service) will be increased by £80,376,000 from £1,155,101,000 to £1,235,477,000. The increase results from the following: £78,000,000 in respect of the welfare-to-work programme of which £48,000,000 is running costs, £25,000,000 is capital provision, and £5,000,000 is current expenditure, all financed from the windfall tax; a transfer of £3,015,000 in running costs and £1,579,000 in appropriations in aid from class IX, vote 1 (DfEE) in respect of the lease for the 236 Grays Inn Road building in London; and a transfer of £640,000 in running costs and £300,000 in capital expenditure from class XVII, vote 1 (Cabinet Office) for the lease of Ebury House, Aberdeen.
I also wish to take this opportunity to announce that the Office for National Statistics has advised that with immediate effect, Remploy Limited, should be classified as a public corporation in order to comply with the requirements of the 1995 european System of Accounts. This is a technical change only and will not affect Remploy's status as a non-Departmental Public Body, not its relationship with the Department.
As a result of these changes, the running costs provision within the Control Total for class IX, vote 1 (DfEE) will be decreased by £3,577,000 from £255,564,000 to £251,987,000 whereas the running costs provision within the Control Total for class IX, vote 3 (Employment Service) will be increased by £3,655,000 from 230W £801,576,000 to £805,231,000. The overall running costs limit for the DfEE is therefore increased by £78,000 from £1,057,140, to £1,057,218,000.
As a result of provision relating to the welfare-to-work programme, running costs provision outside the Control Total for class IX, vote 1 (DfEE) is £1,330,00 and for class IX, vote 3 is £48,000,000, giving a non-Control Total running costs limit of £49,330,000.
The control total element of the increases will be offset by transfers or charged to the Reserve and will not therefore add to the planned total of public expenditure.