§ Sir Hector MonroTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he proposes to make any further changes to the cash limits within his responsibility for 1988–89.
§ Mr. RifkindYes. I intend to make changes to five of the cash limits within my responsibility. As already announced on 21 July 1988—Official Report columns 725–28—the cash limits for Class XVI, Vote 14 (Prisons, hospitals and community health services, etc, Scotland) and Class XVI, Vote 15 (Education, Arts, Libraries and Social Work, Scotland) were increased by £7,253,000 and £73,000 respectively to reflect the carry forward of capital underspends in 1987–88 allowed under the end-year flexibility scheme.
508WSubject to parliamentary approval the necessary Supplementary Estimate for the following increase will also be made. There will be a further increase of £12,700,000 in the cash limit for Class XVI, Vote 14 (Prisons, hospitals and community health services, etc, Scotland) from £1,877,006,000 to £1,889,706,000 for the nurses' and midwives' pay.
The cash limit for Class XVI, Vote 10 (Privatisation of the Electricity Supply Industry, Scotland) will be increased by £3 million to £4 million. This reflects a higher than expected level of fees and the involvement of additional advisers, in preparation for the privatisation of the North of Scotland Hydro-Electric Board and the South of Scotland Electricity Board. The increase will be partly met from a reduction in the cash limit for Class XVI, Vote 3 (Regional and general industrial support, Scotland) of £2,000,000 from £136,954,000 to £134,954,000.
The cash limit for Class XVI, Vote 6 (Roads, transport and environmental services) will be increased by £380,000 from £170,897,000 to £171,277,000 to take account of grant in aid to the Housing Corporation. This increase, together with an increase on the non-cash-limited Class XVI, Vote 8 (Housing) will be partly offset by a net reduction of £1,803,000 on the non-voted cash limit SO/LA2, which covers mainly housing capital expenditure by public sector agencies in Scotland. The cash limit will therefore be reduced from £525,553,000 to £523,750,000.
These changes will be met from the reserve and will not therefore add to the planned total of public expenditure.