§ Mr. St. John-Stevasasked the Under-Secretary of State answering in respect of the arts what was the overspending on the arts budget in the financial year 1982–83; and what it is estimated to be in the financial year 1983–84 on present expenditure levels.
§ Mr. WaldegraveThe total provisional outturn for 1982–83 on the Class X Votes—13 to 23 inclusive—covered by the Office of Arts and Libraries programme was £205.868 million, representing a net underspend of £0.554 million or less than 0.3 per cent. against the total adjusted cash limits for the year. Within the total, only the cash limit for the Victoria and Albert museum—Class X Vote 15—was exceeded, by £0.041 million or 0.4 per cent; this excess will be deducted from the museum's cash limit for 1983–84. Detailed information is not readily available on the 1982–83 outturn for building and maintenance expenditure on the national museums and galleries and the British Library, provision for which forms part of the relevant Votes of the Property Services Agency—Class XIV.
The implications for the OAL programme of the overall 1983–84 cash limit reductions announced on 7 July will be the subject of a separate announcement. There are no present grounds for expecting any overspend against the reduced 1983–84 cash limits.
Local authority current expenditure on public libraries and museums in England, which is not directly cash-limited, is provisionally estimated to be about £343 million in 1982–83, compared with the provision of £302 million underlying the rate support grant settlement for the year. For 1983–84, the outturn is forecast to be around £369 million, compared with £313 million underlying the RSG settlement; the latter figure, however, takes no account of the margin within the overall settlement which was unallocated between individual services. Detailed information is not readily available on the likely levels of local authority capital expenditure on libraries and museums in 1982–83 and 1983–84.