HC Deb 20 December 1994 vol 251 cc1197-8W
Mr. Butler

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what changes he has to announce to the class I cash limits and running costs limit for 1994–95.

Mr. Rifkind

The class I cash limits will be amended as follows:

Class I cash limits
Vote Current cash limit Change Revised cash limit £000s
1 11,554,200 -4,549 11,549,651
3 6,404,169 -11,230 6,392,939

These changes reduce the block defence cash limit by £15,779,000 from £22,777,039,000 to £22,761,260,000.

They reflect decreases to compensate for an overspend on class I, vote 3 in financial year 1993–94.

The Ministry of Defence's running cost regime has been replaced by a much broader defence operating costs limit covering all front-line and support budgetary expenditure. The new limit will be £17,399,500,000 in 1994–95. This is an administrative change only, with no effect on the defence block cash limit or on the vote structure. Controls analogous to those of the running costs regime will continue to apply to defence operating costs.