§ Mrs. GillanTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to his answer of 3 February 2000,Official Report, column 739W, on departmental expenditure, how much is (a) the transfer from another departmental expenditure limit of DFID and (b) the charge on the departmental expenditure limit reserve. [110514]
§ Mr. HainOur answer to the question of my hon. Friend the Member for Waveney (Mr. Blizzard) regarding the Foreign and Commonwealth Office's Departmental Expenditure Limits contained an administrative error. The closing statement should have begun "The increase will be offset by a transfer from another Departmental Expenditure Limit (DEL)", not "Departmental Expenditure Limit (DFID)". This is a standard Treasury line used when a department increases its DEL.
Our answer detailed an increase in our DEL of £5,157,000 and a breakdown of how this sum was made up. The breakdown detailed a variety of transfers between the FCO and other Government Departments internal movements and a claim on the reserve to support peacekeeping operations.
§ Mrs. GillanTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to his answer of 3 February 2000,Official Report, column 739W, on departmental expenditure, what is the reason for the increase of £2 million in the capital expenditure and £2 million in the appropriation in aid for FCO estates rationalisation. [110515]
§ Mr. BattleThe reason for the increase in appropriations in aid is that the FCO was able to sell assets worth £2 million more than projected. The increase in capital expenditure reflects the recycling of those proceeds into other FCO capital programmes.