HC Deb 22 January 1988 vol 125 cc913-4W
Mr. Quentin Davies

To ask the Secretary of State for Employment whether any changes will be made to his Department's cash limits or running costs limits for 1987–88.

Mr. Cope

Subject to parliamentary approval of the neccesary Supplementary Estimates, the following changes will be made. The cash limit on class VII, vote 1, will be increased by £10 million from £1,414,276,000 to £1,424,276,000. This is due to additional expenditure of £15 million on the community programme, on which take-up is running higher than expected, partly offset by reduced expenditure of £5 million on the job release scheme, where take-up is slightly lower than expected. The net £10 million increase in the cash limit on class VII, vote 1, is more than offest by a reduction of £13,999,000 in the cash limit on class VII, vote 5, (Manpower Services Commission), from £1,949,853,000 to £1,935,854,000, due to lower than expected take-up of the new job training scheme. There is a token £1,000 increase in the DE administration cash limit (class VII, vote 2). Therefore, overall there is a net reduction in DE group cash limits of £3,998,000.

The Department of Employment's running costs limit on class VII, vote 2, will be reduced by £2,590,000 from £474,347,000 to £471,757,000 and the MSC's running costs limit on class VII, vote 5, will be correspondingly increased by £2,590,000 from £346,543,000 to £349,133,000. This is to adjust for an over-provision on DE's running costs when expenditure for the employment service was transferred from MSC to DE in the Winter Supplementary Estimates. The running costs total for the Department of Employment Group as a whole remains unchanged at £924,159,000.