HC Deb 02 February 1995 vol 253 cc831-3W
Mr. Gallie

To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what changes he intends to make to the cash limits and running costs provision for 1994–95 within his responsibility.

Mr. Lang

Subject to parliamentary approval of the necessary supplementary estimates, I intend to make changes to seven voted cash limits, one non-voted cash block, one non-voted cash limit and four running costs limits:

  1. a. The cash limit for class XIV, vote 3, training programmes, roads and transport services and industrial support, Scotland, will be increased by £25,487,000 from £876,652,000 to £902,139,000. The increase includes a transfer of £400,000 from the Department of Trade and Industry to provide innovation and technology support to small and medium sized businesses: a transfer of £16,000 to class XIV, vote 9 in respect of additional revenue support grant for air passenger duty inter-island services: increased provision of £15,984,000 for roads and transport to meet revised expenditure plans; and increased provision of £9,103,000 transferred from Department of Transport for grants to Strathclyde passenger transport authority to meet the revised costs of supporting rail services resulting from the restructuring of the railways.
  2. b. The cash limit for class XIV, vote 7, housing and environmental services, Scotland will be decreased by £1,018,000 from £433,798,000 to £432,780,000. The reduced cash limit takes account of a reduced requirement of £1,267,000 for housing support grant; and a decrease in provision of £2,000 in appropriations in aid. There is a £250,000 increase in Scottish Homes's grant in aid to assist housing associations in the acquisition of local authority and new town development corporation housing stock. This increase will be fully offset by a reduction in the SO/LA2 non-voted cash limit. Gross running cost provision for Historic Scotland will be increased by £396,000 from £14,704,000 to £15,100,000, which will be offset fully by a matching increase in appropriations in aid for the agency.
  3. c. The cash limit for class XIV, vote 9, revenue support grants, etc, Scotland, will be decreased by £14,000 from £4,882,291,000 to £4,882,277,000. The decrease takes account of a reduced requirement of £100,000 for council tax valuation grant offset by a transfer of £70,000 from Department of Social Security for additional revenue support grant arising from the transfer of Scottish Homes property to the WESLO housing association: and a transfer of £16,000 from class XIV, vote 3 in respect of additional revenue support grant for air passenger duty inter-island services.
  4. d. The cash limit for class XIV, vote 14, hospital, community health, family health (part) and other health services, Scotland will be decreased by £1,712,000 from £3,012,073,000 to £3,010,361,000. The decrease takes account of a transfer of £1,500,000 to class XIV, vote 13, for changes in the requirements for GP practice fundholders: and a decrease of £212,000 as a result of an increase in the non-voted element of the NHS trusts' external financial limit. Overall, the NHS trusts' external financing limit has been increased by £6,714,000.
  5. e. The cash limit for clause XIV, vote 21, Scottish Office administration, will be decreased by £75,000 from £168,734,000 to £168,659,000 with the provision being transferred to class XIV, vote 22.
  6. f. The cash limit for class XIV, vote 22, Scottish Record Office, will be increased by £75,000 from £9,027,000 to £9,102,000. Within this total, the SRO running cost limit increases by £30,000 from £5,203,000 to £5,233,000 in order to give archive advice to local governments as a result of local government reorganisation. This increase will be offset fully by a matching increase in appropriations in aid. The additional capital provision is needed for the early installation of mobile shelving for the new purpose built repository.
  7. g. The cash limit for class XIV, vote 23, General Register Office (Scotland), will be increased by £1,000 from £5,994,000 833 to £5,995,000. Within this total, the running cost limit for GRO(S) increases by £95,000 from £7,380,000 to £7,475,000 to offset unforseen delays attributed to the Census output programme. This increase will be mostly offset by excess income related to the census programme and as a result the appropriations in aid increase by £94,000.
  8. h. The cash limit for class XIV, vote 24, the registers of Scotland, will be increased by £1,000 from £1,000 to £2,000. Within this total, running cost provision increases by £611,000 to allow for the compensation payments for the increased number of staff taking voluntary early retirement and also the costs associated with the advancement of the agency's information technology strategy. The increase will be met from additional fee income of £610,000.
  9. i. The non-voted cash limit SO/LA2, which covers housing capital expenditure by local authorities and capital expenditure by new towns, will be reduced by £250,000 from £276,207,000 to £275,957,000. This will fully offset the increase in Scottish Homes's grant in aid in class XIV, vote 7.
  10. j. The overall running cost limit for the Scottish Office together with its agencies, including the new student awards agency for Scotland, will be increased by £396,000 from £338,589,000 to £338,985,000.
  11. k. The non-voted cash limit SO/ERDF which covers European regional development fund payments in Scotland will be decreased by £24,000,000 from £124,000,000 to £100,000,000. This reflects slower than expected claims for payment and delays in new programmes coming on stream. (The cash limit of £124,000,000 was incorrectly shown as £122,977,000 in "Supply Estimates 1994–95: Summary and Guide", printed in March 1994 by HM Treasury, although the figure was correct in the estimate itself).

The net increase will be charged to the reserve and will not therefore add to the planned total of public expenditure.