§ Mr. SquireTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport what changes he proposes to make to the cash limits on his votes and to his Department's running costs limit.
§ Mr. ChannonSubject to parliamentary approval of the necessary Supplementary Estimates, the cash limits for my votes are to be changed as follows:
£'000 Current cash Change Revised cash limit limit Class VIII Vote 1 1,027,307 14,145 1,041,452 2 215,838 3,390 212,448 4 122,453 1,130 123,583 The increase in class VIII, vote I will be charged to the Reserve and will not therefore add to the planned total of public expenditure. This increase takes account of a reduction of £1,585,000 to compensate for an overspend of the cash limit in 1987–88. This follows the normal practice of reducing the cash limit for one financial year by the amount of the previous year's overspend.
The reduced cash limit on class VIII, vote 2 takes account of transfers of:
- (a) £1,130,000 to class VIII, vote 4 to offset an equivalent increase on that vote;
- (b) £2,110,000 to class VIII, vote 5 as a partial offset to increased public expenditure on rural bus grants on that vote; and
- (c) £150,000 to class XI, vote 3 in respect of a transfer of civil defence provision to the Home Office.
The balance of the increased requirement for rural bus grants will be offset by savings on class VIII, vote 5 and will not therefore add to the planned total of public expenditure.
The running costs limit of the Department of Transport has been reduced by £38,000 from £257,017,000 to £256,979,000. This amount will be transferred to the running costs limit of Her Majesty's Treasury to cover the cost of additional work incurred in respect of the forthcoming transfer of the Department of Transport payroll to the Chessington computer centre.