§ Lord Gainfordasked Her Majesty's Government:
What changes are proposed in the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food's cash limits for l995–96.
Lord Lucas:Parliamentary approval is being sought for a Supplementary Estimate for Class III, Vote 3 (Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food: operational expenditure), in which the cash limit will he increased by £6,385,000 from £402,545,000 to £408,930,000. Subject to Parliamentary approval of the necessary Supplementary Estimate the cash limit will then he reduced by £4,672,000 from J:408,9300)0, to £404,258,000. Within this provision, the cash limit will he reduced by £1,622,000 as a result of a transfer to Vote 4, by a transfer of £2,60,000 to the Office of Science and Technology to cover the cost of redundancies arising amongst staff of the Biotechnology 24WA and Biological Science Research Council seconded to Horticulture Research International, and by a transfer of £450,000 to the Department of Agriculture for Northern Ireland for the decommissioning of Nephrops vessels.
In addition, Vote 3 (operational expenditure) will be reduced by a further £1,877,000 from £404,258,000 to £402,381,000. This is a result of a transfer to Class III non-voted expenditure on supplementary credit approvals.
Subject to Parliamentary approval of the necessary Supplementary Estimate, the cash limit for Class III, Vote 4 (Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food: departmental research, advisory services and administration, executive agencies and certain other services) will he increased by £3,622,000 from £330,408,000 to £334,030,000. The £3,622,000 arises as a result of a transfer from Vote 3 where it is reflected as reduced provision of £1,622,000 and by end year flexibility of £2,000,000. The gross running costs limit for the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food will decrease by f 11,954,000 from £334,694,000 to £322,740,000.