§ Mr. David ShawTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what proposals he has for changes to the 1996–97 cash limits within his responsibilities. [2374]
§ Mr. HowardSubject to parliamentary approval of the necessary supplementary estimates, the cash limit for class VII, vote 1—Home Office administration, police probation, immigration and other services, England and Wales—will be increased by £2,388,000 from £4,597,305,000 to £4,599,693,000 and for vote 2—prisons, England and Wales—will be increased by £120,646,000 from £1,521,670,000 to £1,642,316,000.
The increase for vote 1 is the net effect of transfers from the Ministry of Defence in respect of charging for meteorological services, from the Security Facilities Agency in respect for charging for its services, to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in respect of drug prevention; to the department for Education and Employment and Welsh Office in respect of sponsorship of probation students; to the Department of Health in respect of drugs challenge funding; from the Department for Education and Employment and Welsh Office in respect of provision of closed circuit television in schools; to the Department for National Heritage in respect of the transfer of responsibility for voluntary services; from the Prison Service in respect of boards of visitors' training and to non-cash limited police special grant within this vote in respect of pilot private finance initiative projects.
For vote 2 the increase is the net effect of additional provision of £120,650,000 from the reserve to meet the costs of the implementation of phase 2 of the recommendations of the Woodcock report and to increase the capacity of the Prison Service to meet the projected increase in the prison population, which includes the take-up of £750,000 end year flexibility towards the costs of Colchester young offenders institution; and the transfer of £4,000 to class VII, vote 1, Home Office, for external training of staff of the boards of visitors secretariat.
The non-voted cash limit—HO/LACAP—is reduced by £490,000 from £98,382,000 to £97,892,000 due to a transfer to non-cash limited police special grant within vote 1 in respect of pilot PFI projects.
In consequence of the changes the Home Office gross running cost limit will be increased by £12,334,000 from £1,801,481,000 to £1,813,815,000.
The increases will be offset by savings, transfers or charges to the reserve and will not therefore add to the planned total of public expenditure.