Departmental Expenditure Limit (Hansard, 11 February 2000)

§ Mr. Wills

Subject to Parliamentary approval of the necessary Supplementary Estimates for Class I, Vote 1 (Department for Education and Employment: programmes and central services and Vote 3 (the Employment Service), the Departmental Expenditure Limit (DEL) for 1999–2000 (excluding Welfare to Work) will be increased by £268,380,000 from £15,792,190,000 to £16,060,570,000.

This overall increase is made up of DEL increases on Votes 1 and 5 (Sure Start) of £330,887,000 and £1,000 respectively, decreases to DEL on Votes 3 and 4 (Office of Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Schools in England) of £21,758,000 and £5,000,000 respectively and a decrease of £35,750,000 in non-Voted expenditure. As a result, the Voted element of the Departmental Expenditure Limit (excluding Welfare to Work) will be increased by £304,130,000 from £14,547,638,000 to £14,851,768,000 and the non-Voted element will be reduced by £35,750,000 from £1,244,552,000 to £1,208,802,000.

The changes in Vote 1 are the result of the take up of £282,114,000 of the end-year flexibility entitlement announced by the Chief Secretary to the Treasury on 27 July 1999, Official Report, column 393W; a net switch from non-Voted credit approvals of £15,750,000; transfers of £5,000,000 from Class I, Vote 4 (OFSTED) towards teaching materials for Thinking Skills, Early Years Learning and Education Action zones, of £1,000,000 to Class IV, Vote 1 (Home Office) as a contribution to the Youth Inclusion Programme, of £653,000 from the Northern Ireland Departments for changes in the funding of Oxbridge colleges, of £2,000,000 to Class XI, Vote 1 (Department for Culture, Media and Sport) for the Dance and Drama Interim Funding Scheme, of £442,000 to Class XII, Vote 1 (Department of Social Security—central Government administered social security benefits and other payments) in respect of severe hardship payments to those young people who would normally be receiving Bridging Allowance, of £95,000 to Class VI, Vote 1 (Ministry of Defence—operational and support costs, logistic services and systems procurement and research) in respect of MOD Modern Apprentices, of £180,000 to the Scottish Executive in connection with educational qualifications, of £32,000 from Class XVII, Vote 1 (Property Advisers to the Civil Estate) in respect of Qualifications and Curriculum Authority premises, of £60,000 to Class II, Vote 2 (Department of Health administration, miscellaneous health and personal social services, England) as a contribution to the staffing costs of the Teenage Pregnancy Implementation Unit, of £200,000 to the National Assembly for Wales for fees charged by external bodies, of £12,260,000 from Class I, Vote 3 (the Employment Service) for Employment zones, external reprographic services, and ONE marketing and policy; of £945,000 to Class 1, Vote 3 for salary costs of surplus staff and travel costs incurred by a member of the ES; and the draw down of £20,000,000 from the Department's non-Voted Departmental Unallocated provision (DUP).

The Employment Service provision has decreased by the net transfer of £11,315,000 to Class 1, Vote 1 (Department for Education and Employment: programmes and central services) to cover work on Employment zones now undertaken by DfEE and the marketing of ONE, and the net transfer of £10,443,000 to Class XII, Vote 3 340W (Department of Social Security: administration) for costs associated with ONE JSA related activities and to cover work on Employment zones now undertaken by DSS.

The Departmental running costs limit (excluding Welfare to Work) will be decreased by £10,294,000 from £1,060,748,000 to £1,050,454,000 as a result of the transfer of £9,062,000 to the DSS, of £60,000 to the Department of Health, the net movement of £1,497,000 out of running costs into programme provision and an increase of £325,000 on the EU PHARE twinning project offset by matching receipts. The Supplementary estimates also include a net transfer of £740,000 of running costs from Vote 1 to Vote 3 which does not affect the running costs limit.

The Department's Welfare to Work provision is being increased by £1,454,000 from £1,388,373,000 to £1,389,827,000. The increase is made up of changes on Votes 1 and 3 of £276,000 and £1,178,000 respectively. The change on Vote 1 is as the result of the take up of £241,000 of end-year flexibility, and a transfer of £35,000 of running costs from Vote 3. The change on Vote 3 is as a result of the take up of £1,000,000 end-year flexibility for New Deal Partners; the transfer of £213,000 from Class XII, Vote 3 (Department of Social Security: administration) for New Deal for Lone Parents and New Deal for 50 plus; and the transfer of £35,000 to Vote 1 for New Deal for Disabled People pilots.

The Departmental Welfare to Work running costs limit will be increased by £1,575,000 from £162,321,000 to £163,896,000 as a result of the take up of £1,030,000 of end-year flexibility, the movement of £340,000 from programme money into running costs and a net transfer of £205,000 form Vote 3 to the Department of Social Security.

The increases are the result of transfers or will be charged to the Reserve and will not therefore add to the planned total of public expenditure.