§ Mr. ArbuthnotTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he proposes to make any changes in his Department's diplomatic wing cash limits and running costs limits for 1990–91.
§ Mr. Lennox-BoydSubject to parliamentary approval of the necessary supplementary estimates, the following changes will be made: The cash limit for class II, vote 1 (overseas representation) will be increased by £18,058,000 from £534,722,000 to £552,780,000. In addition, the running costs limit on vote 1 will be increased by £14,986,000 from £477,103,000 to £492,089,000. These changes reflect increased costs due to the Gulf crisis; construction of buildings and adverse effect of overseas price movements.
The cash limit for class II, vote 2 (other external relations) will increase by £11,402,000 from £176,019,000 to £187,421,000. This takes account of increased costs on Vietnamese boat people; international conferences; FCO scholarships; military assistance; consular expenditure in the middle east as a result of the Gulf crisis and higher than forecast expenditure on our contributions to international organisations due to the adverse effect of overseas price movements.
The cash limit for class II, vote 3 (external broadcasting and monitoring) will increase by £4,760,000 from £142,685,000 to £147,445,000 to take account of increased rental for Bush house and increased costs as a result of the Gulf crisis.
The cash limit for class II, vote 4 (the British Council) will increase by £2,076,000 from £76,233,000 to £78,309,000 to take account of the adverse effect of overseas price movements. These increases are within the forecast outturn for the planning total published today in the statistical supplement to the 1990 autumn statement.