§ Mr. KeyTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he intends to make any changes to the 1987–88 cash limits within his responsibilities and to his Department's running cost limit.
§ Mr. HurdSubject to parliamentary approval of the necessary Supplementary Estimate, the cash limit on class XI, vote 2, Prisons, England and Wales, will be increased by £38,159,000 which, after the surrender of the increase of £3,233,000 for end year flexibility announced by my right hon. Friend, the Chief Secretary to the Treasury on 23 July 1987 at columns434–8, will increase from £681,137,000 to £716,063,000.
The Home Office running cost limit will also be increased by £22,387,000 from £758,815,000 to £781,202,000.
This additional provision is necessary partly to cover the cost of accommodating prisoners in police cells and the measures taken to cater for the unforeseen surge in the prison population during the first half of the year, and partly to meet extra costs incurred as a result of the delayed and phased implementation of the Fresh Start package of reforms in working practices and management structures in penal establishments.
This additional provision now required for class XI, vote 2, is found partly from money set aside to meet possible additional costs associated with Fresh Start when this cash limit for 1987–88 was agreed, partly from savings on the Central Administration, Miscellaneous and Community Services and Civil Defence, England and Wales, class XI, vote 3 and partly from the reserve. There is therefore no increase to the planned total of public expenditure.
The cash limit for the Central Administration, Miscellaneous and Community Services and Civil Defence, England and Wales, is reduced by £10,500,000 from £408,320,000 to £397,820,000. This reduction includes the surrender of the increase of £2,000,000 for end year flexibility announced 23 July 1987.