§ Mr. FishburnTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he can announce any changes to the defence cash limits for 1990–91.
§ Mr. Archie HamiltonSubject to parliamentary aproval of the necessary summer supplementary estimates, the following changes will be made:
Defence cash limits Class and Vote Current cash limit Increase/decrease Revised cash limit £'000s £'000s £'000s I, 2 8,482,308 +48,900 8,531,208 I, 4 1,875,960 +55,000 1,930,960 These changes total an additional £103,900,000. Of this sum, £110,000,000 is an increase to the defence budget in respect of the special payments to pre-1973 war widows (announced by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Defence on 11 December 1989, Official Report, columns 677 and 678). Funding for these special payments was included in supply estimates 1990–91 in class I, vote 3 (as announced on 30 March 1990, Official Report, column 329), but total class I provision was not increased over that announced in the autumn statement and detailed in the public expenditure White Paper (Cm. 1001). These increases will be charged to the reserve and they will not therefore add to the planned total of public expenditure.
378WThe changes also take account of a transfer of £6,100,000 to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (class II, vote 2) from class I, vote 2 to cover the provision of military assistance to the Government of Portugal.