Cash Limits (Hansard, 1 November 1994)

§ Mrs. Virginia Bottomley

The cash limit for class XII, vote 1—Hospital, community health, family health services (part) and related services, England—will be reduced by £44,104,000, from £21,778,220,000 to £21,734,116,000. That reduction allows for transfers of £44,500,000 to class XII, vote 4—Family health services (part), England—for pharmaceutical services, following a reappraisal of general practitioner fundholders' drugs budget requirements; £120,000 to class XII, vole 3—Department of Health, administration, miscellaneous health services and personal social services, England—for Special Hospitals Services Authority audit services; £241,000 to class XIV, vote 14—Hospital, community health, family health (part) and other services, Scotland—and £165,000 to the Department of Health and Social Services, Northern Ireland for de-designated supra regional services; £904,000 to class XV, vote 8—Hospital, community health, family health services (part) and related services, Wales—£289,000 to class XIV, vote 14—Hospital, community health, family health (part) and other health services, Scotland—and £24,000 to the1086W Department of Health and Social Services, Northern Ireland for London post-graduate teaching hospitals special health authorities services and £48,000 to class XIV, vote 17—Education, arts and libraries, Scotland—for clinical placements in England of Glasgow Caledonian university students. The overall reduction is partially offset by £1,647,000 from class XII, vote 3—Department of Health, administration, miscellaneous health services and personal social services, England—for work of the NHS Estates Management and Health Building Agency£1,447,000—and for the regional health authorities print budget for NHS forms—£200,000; £333,000 from class XII, vote 6—Office of Population Censuses and Surveys—for the NHS central register superannuation costs and £207,000 from class VII, vote 3—Regeneration initiatives, England—for the urban programme.

The cash limit for class XII, vote 3—Department of Health, administration, miscellaneous health services and personal social services, England—will be reduced by £2,946,000—from £1,594,202,000 to £1,591,256,000. This reduction allows for transfers of £1,647,000£200,000 running costs—to class XII, vote 1—Hospital, community health, family health services (part) and related services, England—as mentioned above; £1,158,000 to class XIV, vote 14—Hospital, community health, family health (part) and other services, Scotland—for work of the NHS Estate Management and the Health Building Agency–1318,000—and the Prescription Pricing Authority—£840,000; £195,000—£183,000 running costs—to class XIX, vote 3—Privy Council Office—for the drugs co-ordination unit; £56,000—running costs—to class X111 vote 4—Department of Social Security, administration and miscellaneous services—for the departmental records office; and £10,000—running costs—to class III, vote 4—Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food: agriculture, food and fishing services—for the Committee on Novel Foods and Processes. The overall decrease is partially offset by a transfer of £120,000 from class XII, vote 1 as mentioned above.

The non-voted cash limit for supplementary credit approvals for personal social services —DoH/LACAP—in England is to be increased by £1,185,000—from £26,100,000 to £27,285,000—in respect of the take-up of entitlement to carry forward of underspends from the 1993-94 financial year under the end year flexibility arrangements as announced by the Chief Secretary to the Treasury on 14 July 1994, at Official Report, columns 729–34.

The Department's gross running cost limit will be reduced by £449,000 from £258,302,000 to £257,853,000. This reflects the transfers mentioned above.

All increases will either be offset by savings, increased receipts or transfers to or from other votes or charged to the reserve and will not therefore add to the planned total of public expenditure.