§ Mr. Michael BrownTo ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will make a statement about the cash limit for Northern Ireland departmental services for 1990–91.
§ Mr. BrookeSubject to parliamentary approval of the main estimates for Northern Ireland departmental services through the Draft Appropriation (No. 2) (Northern Ireland) Order 1990 which was laid before Parliament today, the following changes will be made to the cash limit for Northern Ireland departmental services (NIDI) for 1990–91 (only the first of these affects the level of public expenditure resources available to Northern Ireland). The changes are:
- (a) an addition of £6.7 million in respect of the 1990 Health Service review body awards. This provides additional public expenditure provision for the health and personal social services boards in Northern Ireland: the addition will be charged to the reserve and will not therefore add to the planned total of United Kingdom public expenditure;
- (b) a reduction of £15 million, reflecting an increase in the estimates of the employers' and employees' contribution to the Health Service. As a transfer within central Government this does not affect public expenditure;
- (c) a reduction of £10 million, reflecting higher forecast repayments of borrowings by Northern Ireland Electricity;
- (d) a reduction of £4.6 million, reflecting reduced expenditure on the rundown of the gas industry in Northern Ireland.
The last two items reflect reallocation of resources within existing plans from cash-limited services to non-cash-limited services.
The net effect of these changes is a reduction of £22.9 million in the cash limit NIDI, from £2,972.194 million to £2,949.294 million.