§ Mr. Hanleyasked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will propose to make any changes in the Foreign and Commonwealth cash limits and running costs limit for 1986–87.
§ Mr. EggarSubject to parliamentary approval of the necessary Supplementary Estimates, the cash limit for Class II, Vote 1, (Overseas Representation) will be increased by £6,310,000 from £393,260,000 to £399,570,000 and the running costs limit by £6.225,000 from £369,300,000 to £375,525,000; the cash limit for 571W Class II, Vote 2 (Other External Relations) will be increased by £4,061,000 from £99,557,000 to £103,618,000 and the cash limit for Class II, Vote 4 (British Council) will be increased by £2,060,000 from £50,694,000 to £52,754,000. In all cases the increases take account of unavoidable increased costs. These include those associated with the introduction of a visa regime for certain Asian and African countries net of offsetting savings including reduced fuel and rent costs and increases in visa fees receipts.
Subject to parliamentary approval of the necessary Supplementary Estimate for Class II, Vote 3 (BBC External Broadcasting and Monitoring) the cash limit for this Vote will be reduced by £3,403,000 from £113,280,000 to £109,877,000. The cash limit increase of £1,643,000 announced by the Chief Secretary on 22 July 1986 under the end year flexibility scheme has been surrendered as well as a further reduction reflected by a declared underspend of £1,760,000.
The net increases reflecting these changes will be charged to the reserve.