HL Deb 27 November 2003 vol 655 cc11-3WA
Baroness Whitaker

asked Her Majesty's Government:

Whether there are any proposals to amend the Department of Health's and Food Standards Agency's departmental expenditure limits and administration cost limits for 2003–04. [HL69]

Lord Warner

Subject to parliamentary approval of the necessary Supplementary Estimate the Department of Health and the Food Standards Agency departmental expenditure limits (DELs) will be decreased by £287,548,000 from £66,009,788,000 to £65,722,240,000 and the administration cost limits (ACL) decreased by £10,377,000 from £349,302,000 to £338,925,000. The Department of Health DEL will be decreased by £304,400,000 from £65,887,613,000 to £65,583,213,000 and the ACL will be reduced by £15,229,000 from £312,677,000 to £297,448,000. The Food Standards Agency DEL is increased by £16,852,000 from £122,175,000 to £139,027,000 and the ACL will increase by £4,852,000 from £36,625,000 to £41,477,000. The impact on resource and capital are set out in the following table.

£ million
New DEL
Change Voted Non-Voted Total
Department of Health
Resource
DEL 39.817 63,070.172 –141.395 62,928.777
Capital DEL –344.217 1,214.994 1,439.442 2,654.436
Total Department of Health DEL –304.400 64,285.166 1,298.047 65,583.213
Depreciation¹ –1.752 –352.648 –44.369 –397.017
Total Department of Health –306.152 63,932.518 1,253.678 65,186.196
Food Standards Agency
Resources 16.840 136.368 0 136.368
Capital 0.012 2.659 0 2.659
Total Food Standards Agency DEL 16.852 139.027 0 139.027
Depreciation¹ 0 –2.004 0 –2.004
Total Food Standards Agency 16.852 137.023 0 137.023
¹ Depreciation, which forms part of resource DEL, is excluded from the total DEL since capital DEL includes capital spending and to include depreciation of those assets would lead to double counting.

The change in the resource element of the departmental expenditure limit for the Department of Health arises from: take up of end-year flexibility (EYF) £349.632 million as set out in table 6 of the public expenditure 2002-03 provisional outturn White Paper Cm 5884 published in July 2003; a transfer from the capital DEL £318 million; additions from the invest to save budget £0.803 million; net transfers from the Home Office of £7.369 million for drug treatment and care and match funded social care projects, offset by contributions to the Home Office invest to save substance misuse project; to the Scottish Executive £-2.565 million (£0.067 million administration cost limit) for out of area treatments, offset by a contribution for the high security infectious diseases unit and national screening committee costs; transfer to the Department for Education and Skills £ — 637.965 million (£-4.976 million administration cost limit) mainly for the machinery of government change for child care policy; a transfer to Department of Trade and Industry £ — 0.056 for a contribution to review body costs; a transfer from Office of the Deputy Prime Minister £0.154 million (£0.162 million administration cost limit) mainly for local government public service agreements; a transfer from Office for National Statistics £0.059 million (administration cost limit) for a neighbourhood survey and a transfer from Department for Work and Pensions £4.386 million for a contribution the residential allowance grant.

The change in the capital element of the department expenditure limit for the Department of Health arises from: a transfer to the resource DEL £ - 318 million; additions from the invest to save budget £0.191 million; a transfer to the Department for Education and Skills £-25.575 million for the machinery of government change for child care policy; a transfer to Cabinet Office £-0.750 million for development of a website and a transfer to Home Office £ — 0.083 million for a contribution to the invest to save budget.

The changes to the Food Standards Agency resource element of the departmental expenditure limit arise from: a claim for end-year flexibility of £16,840,000 (£13,872,000 programme and £1,468,000 administration costs) to fund existing 2003-04 pressures; to incorporate a transfer of £1,500,000 from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs to cover the cost of additional illegal import enforcement and inspection work; to correctly record the split of FSA income between programme and administration income; and to transfer £3,419,000 from the FSA to the Meat Hygiene Service, an executive agency of the FSA.

The Department of Health's administration cost limit has reduced by £- 15.229 million from £312.677 million to £297.448 million as detailed above and by a transfer of £ - 10.541 million to programme costs. The Food Standards Agency administration cost limit has increased by £4.852 million from £36.625 million to £41.477 million as a result of incorporating administration cost EYF and correctly classifying FSA income.