Cash Limits (Hansard, 1 November 1993)

§ Mr. Patten

Subject to parliamentary approval of the necessary supplementary estimates, the cash limits for class X, vote 1, schools, research and miscellaneous services, vote 2, higher and further education, vote 4, administration, and vote 6, Office of Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Schools in England, will be amended. The cash limit changes are as follows:

Class and vote	Current cash limit£	Change£	Revised cash limit£
X.1	742,847,000	-1,615,000	741,282,000
X.2	5,399,269,000	+5,562,000	5,404,831,000
X.4	92,472,000	+1,829,000	94,301,000
X.6	55,607,000	-6,788,000	48,819,000

The reduction on class X, vote 1 is in respect of a transfer of £1,250,000 to class X, vote 2 for a preliminary scheme of school-centred initial teacher training; a transfer of £250,000 to class X, vote 2 to provide grant to the Adult Literacy and Basic Skills Unit for the initial costs of the family literacy initiative; and a transfer of £115,000 to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, class II, vote 2, as a contribution towards the tuition costs of students coming to the United Kingdom under the European Community TEMPUS programme.

The increase on class X, vote 2 includes an increase of £4,060,000 in grant-in-aid to the Higher Education Funding Council comprising a transfer of £2,460,000 from the Department of Health in respect of the costs of extended and upgraded courses in social work, and a transfer of £1,600,000 from the Cabinet Office (Office of Science and Technology) following the transfer of responsibility to the HEFC for the direct funding of the Institute of Cancer Research. There is also provision of £1,250,000 for a preliminary scheme of school-centred initial teacher training and of £250,000 for the costs of setting up and running the family literacy initiative, both fully offset by a cash limit reduction on class X, vote 1; and an increase of £2,000 in grant-in-aid to the Further 56W Education Funding Council, offset by a transfer from the Chessington Computer Centre, for provision of payroll services upon the centre becoming an agency on 1 April 1993.

The increase on class X, vote 4 takes account of an increase of £1,600,000 under the capital (£1,122,000) and running costs (£478,000) end-year flexibility scheme announced by my right hon. Friend the Chief Secretary to the Treasury on 14 July 1993, Official Report, cols 512–17; transfers of £24,000 running costs from the Department for National Heritage, £8,000 running costs from the Office of Public Service and Science and £8,000 running costs from the Office of Population Censuses and Surveys in respect of services provided by my Department; and a reduction of £189,000 in forecast receipts by the Teachers' Pensions Agency to be appropriated in aid of the Vote. The Department for Education's gross running costs limit has been increased by £1,499,000 from £88,824,000 to £90,323,000 as a result of these changes.

The change on class X, vote 6 is in respect of a reduction of £7,172,000 in expenditure related to the inspection of schools, forecast to fall in 1993–94. This is partly offset by an increase of £384,000 in forecast expenditure on the restructuring of Her Majesty's inspectorate. OHMCI's gross running costs limit has been increased by £235,000, from £31,725,000 to £31,960,000.

The increases will be offset by savings transferred from other votes and changes to the Reserve and will not therefore add to the planned total of public expenditure.