§ Mr. BatisteTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will make a statement about the Civil Aviation Authority's external finance limit. [8966]
§ Mr. NorrisThe Civil Aviation Authority's external finance limit for 1995–96 will be £35.954 million. This amount is made up of the following:
- (i) the original external finance limit of £27.9 million as agreed in the 1994 public expenditure survey;
- (ii) plus £8.054 million, in respect of;
- (a) the carry forward of an underspend of £5.975 million from 1994–95 under Treasury end-year flexibility rules, which will be funded from the reserve and will not therefore add to the planned total of public expenditure; and
- (b) £2.079 million, resulting from a one-off cash transfer from the CAA to Highlands and Islands Airports Ltd. The cash transfer relates to the transfer of ownership of HIAL from the CAA to the Scottish Office, and is in respect of HIAL liabilities expected to arise in this financial year.
The CAA's external finance limit for future years will be as follows:
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- 1996–97: £13.4 million
- 1997–98: £22.9 million
- 1998–99: £22.9 million.
The limits are negative because in these years the CAA's repayment of past Government loans will exceed its new borrowing.