§ Mr. GallieTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what changes he intends to make to the cash limits and running costs provision for 1996–97 within his responsibility. [31596]
§ Mr. Michael ForsythSubject to parliamentary approval of the necessary supplementary estimates, I intend to make changes to three voted cash limits and two non-voted cash blocks.
The cash limit for class XIII, vote 2, local government, housing, transport, other environmental services and European funds, Scotland, will be increased by £23,075,000 from £5,545,508,000 to £5,568,583,000. The increase will be offset by savings of £12,000,000 from cash limit Scottish Office European regional development fund; £5,000,000 from cash limit SO/LA1 and £6,075,000 from class XIII, vote 3.
The cash limit for class XIII, vote 3, education, industry, arts, and libraries, Scotland, will be reduced by £6,075,000 from £1,602,605,000 to £1,596,530,000. The reduced cash limit takes account of the transfer of £75,000 to class XIII, vote 2, in respect of consultancies in relation to European Community structural funds and the transfer of £6,000,000 to class XIII, vote 2, in respect of increased support for local authorities. Provision for self-governing schools in respect of annual recurrent grant has been increased by £540,000. This has been offset by a corresponding amount taken as appropriations in aid.
The cash limit for class XIII, vote 5, law, order and protective services, police grant and social work services, Scotland will be decreased by £810,000 from £625,209,000 to £624,399,000. This reduction takes account of a transfer of £500,000 to the non-voted SO/LA1 cash limit to meet the costs of a Scottish DNA database; and a reduction of £310,000 in police capital grant. The reduction in the grant will result in a corresponding increase in net capital allocations.
The non-voted cash limit SO/LA1, which covers non-housing capital expenditure by local authorities, will be decreased by £4,500,000 from £431,120,000 to £426,620,000. This reflects a reduction of £5,000,000 transferred to class XIII, vote 2 and an increase of £500,000 transferred from class XIII, vote 5.
The non-voted cash limit SO/ERDF which covers European regional development fund payments in Scotland will be decreased by £12,000,000 from £109,079,000 to £97,079,000. This reflects the transfer to class XIII, vote 2.
These increases will be offset by savings and will not therefore added to the total of planned expenditure.