HC Deb 23 February 1998 vol 307 cc103-5W
Mr. Hanson

To ask the President of the Board of Trade what changes will be made to the cash and running cost limits for her Department, the Office of Gas Supply and the Office of Electricity Regulation for 1997–98 and to the external financing limits of the British Coal Corporation and British Shipbuilders for 1997–98. [30413]

Mrs. Beckett

Subject to Parliamentary approval of the necessary supplementary estimate, the cash limit for Class IV Vote 1—programmes and administration—will be increased by £3,949,000 from £1,349,066,000 to £1,353,015,000. This net increase results from:

  1. (i) additional provision amounting to £9,000,000 for the settlement of nuclear liabilities;
    • offset by:
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  2. (ii)the transfer of £100,000 from the non-voted provision of the Northern Ireland Department for Economic Development to the Sectoral Support budget;
  3. (iii)a net reduction of £3,000,000 in the provision for Privatisation Expenses;
  4. (iv)a net reduction of £2,100,000 in the provisions for the Local Competitiveness and Telecommunications and Posts budgets;
  5. (v)the transfer of £51,000 to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Class II Vote 2) in respect of the UK's subscription to the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.

Within this total, the gross running costs limit for the Department of Trade and Industry is being reduced by £74,000 from £371,937,000 to £371,863,000. This change results from the machinery of government change involving the transfer of responsibility for insurance matters to the Treasury.

The increase will be charged to the Reserve and will not, therefore, add to the planned total of public expenditure.

Subject to Parliamentary approval of the necessary supplementary estimate, the cash limit for Class IV Vote 2—science—will be increased by £7,693,000 from £1,330,543,000 to £1,338,236,000. This net increase results from:

  1. (i)the take up of capital end-year flexibility (£6,747,000) as announced by my right hon. Friend the Chief Secretary to the Treasury on 17 July 1997, Official Report, columns 245–50.
  2. (ii)the transfer of £983,000 from the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (Class III, Vote 2) in respect of further redundancies at Horticulture Research International;
    • offset by:
  3. (iii)the transfer of £37,000 to the Department for Education and Employment (Class IX Vote 1) to reflect the transfer of responsibility for the Advisory Group on Computer Graphics from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council to the Joint Information Systems Committee of the Higher Education Funding Council for England.

The increase will be charged to the Reserve and will not, therefore, add to the planned total of public expenditure.

Also, subject to Parliamentary approval of the necessary supplementary estimate, the cash limit for Class IV Vote 9—Office of Gas Supply—will be increased by £100,000 from £11,128,000 to £11,228,000. This change reflects the extra resources required for infrastructure servicing and associated health and safety work on the Leicester estate. The increase will be charged to the Reserve and will not, therefore, add to the planned total of public expenditure.

Additionally, subject to Parliamentary approval of the necessary supplementary estimate, the cash limit for Class IV Vote 10—Office of Electricity Regulation—will be increased by £350,000 from £15,950,000 to £16,300,000 and the running costs limit will be increased by £300,000 from £16,635,000 to £16,935,000. Also an increase in receipts to the consolidated fund of £1,000,000 is provided for in the Estimate. These changes reflect the extra resources required for new work concerning the preparation for a fundamental review of the electricity trading arrangements and give effect to the end-year flexibility carry forward of £50,000 on capital announced by my right hon. Friend the Chief Secretary to the Treasury on 17 July 1997, Official Report, columns 245–50. The increase will be charged to the Reserve and will not, therefore, add to the planned total of public expenditure.

In addition to these changes, the External Financing Limits of British Coal and British Shipbuilders have been adjusted. British Coal's External Financing Limit has been reduced from £71,000,000 to £58,800,000 to reflect a transfer of responsibility for residual property liabilities to the Coal Authority. British Shipbuilders' External Financing Limit has been adjusted from £–1,300,000 to £–25,564,000 to reflect a payment from GEC in respect of deferred consideration following the sale of VSEL. The payment had been expected in 1998–99 but has been made in this financial year.