§ Judy MallaberTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what changes he plans to announce to cash limits and running cost limits within his responsibility for 1997–98. [30274]
§ Dr. HowellsSubject to Parliamentary approval of the necessary Supplementary Estimate, the cash limit for Class IX, Vote 1, Department for Education and Employment: programmes and central services, and Class IX, Vote 3, Employment Service will be amended as follows:
£ Class Vote Existing cash limit Change New cash limit IX 1 9,505,077,000 34,653,000 9,539,730,000 IX 3 1,235,477,000 -15,657,000 1,219,820,000 The cash limit for Class IX, Vote 1 (Department for Education and Employment) will be increased by £34,653,000 from £9,505,077,000 to £9,539,730,000. This is a result of machinery of government changes whereby provision for disability issues is being transferred from the Department of Social Security (Class XII, Vote 1) and the Scottish Office (Class XIII, Vote 3); and provision for Women's issues is being transferred to the Department of Social Security (Class XII, Vote 1). The Employment Service (Class IX, Vote 3) are to transfer £25,000,000 to finance additional expenditure on section A, £175,000 for work in connection with the New Deal for Young People to be done by Government Offices, and £40,000 for Employment Zones. Transfers to that Vote comprise £500,000 for a Challenge Fund publicity campaign, £1,600,000 for restructuring costs, and £90,000 for Central Dispatch. Section W will increase by £6,050,000 for funding on the further education element of the Welfare to Work programme and £125,000 for additional running costs on that programme. Net provision on Section B will be increased by £521,000,000 as a result of fewer than expected appropriations in aid, financed through a claim on the Reserve. Transfers to the Department of Social Security (Class XII, Vote 1) comprise £150,000 in connection with the single school leaving date and £1,700,000 in connection with Severe Hardship Allowances. £89,000 will be transferred from that Vote for Lone Parents. Section O will increase by 110W £1,600,000 in respect of consultancy costs in connection with the sale of the student loans debt. £37,000 will be transferred from the Department of Trade and Industry (Class III, Vote 2) in connection with the Advisory Group on Computer Graphics. £6,000,000 for European Social Fund projects will be funded in advance of receipts from the European Commission from two new sections of the Vote. £15,000 will be transferred to the Cabinet Office (Class XVIII, Vote 3) for the Drugs Tsar. In addition, £408,000 will be vired to section P from section D and £8,000,000 to section R from section B.
The cash limit on Class IX, Vote 3 will be decreased by £15,657,000 from £1,235,477,000 to £1,219,820,000. The running cost provision (within the control total) on this Vote will be increased as a result of the following changes: a net transfer of £4,498,000 in running cost provision from Class XII, Vote 3 (Department of Social Security: administration) due to the recalculation of the cost of the implementation of the jobseeker's allowance; transfers from Class IX, Vote 1 (Department for Education and Employment: programmes and central services) of £1,600,000 in relation to restructuring costs and £90,000 for Central Dispatch work now undertaken by the Employment Service (ES); the transfer of £40,000 in running costs provision to that Vote to cover work Government Offices will undertake on Employment Zones; and the transfer of £170,000 in running costs provision from Class XII, Vote 3 (Department of Social Security: administration), £140,000 of which is to cover the cost of work undertaken by ES in preparation for New Deal for Lone Parents and £30,000 for Decision Making Advice in connection with Adjudication work. In addition, "other current expenditure" will be reduced as a result of: a transfer of £25,000,000 to Class IX, Vote 1 (Department for Education and Employment: programmes and central services) for additional spending on section A of that Vote, offset by a transfer of £500,000 from Class IX, Vote 1 to the Challenge Fund publicity campaign.
The running cost provision for the Welfare to Work programme (outside the control total) on this Vote has been increased as a result of the following changes: expenditure of £2,700,000 required for the preparation for the New Deal for Lone Parents which will be funded from the Windfall Tax; and a transfer of £175,000 from the New Deal running costs provision (outside the control total) to Class IX, Vote 1 to cover Government Offices costs on the implementation of New Deal for Young People.
As a result of these changes, the running costs provision within the Control Total for Class IX, Vote 1 (DfEE) will be increased by £277,000 from £251,987,000 to £252,264,000. The running costs provision within the Control Total for Class IX, Vote 3 (Employment Service) will be increased by £6,318,000 from £805,231,000 to £811,549,000. The overall running costs limit for the DfEE is therefore increased by £6,595,000 from £1,057,218,000 to £1,063,813,000.
As a result of changes to provision relating to the Welfare to Work programme, running costs provision outside of the control total on Vote 1 has increased by £300,000 from £1,330,000 to £1,630,000 and on Vote 3 by £2,525,000 from £48,000,000 to £50,525,000. The revised non-control total running costs limit is therefore £52,155,000.
111WThe control total elements 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.