§ Dr. GibsonTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what changes he proposes to make in his Department's cash limits and running cost limits for 1997–98. [14286]
§ Mr. FatchettSubject to parliamentary approval of the necessary supplementary estimates the following changes will be made:
The cash limit for class II, vote 1 (Overseas Representation) will be increased by £9,050,000 from £619,826,000 to £628,876,000. The increase is required to cover the costs of major conferences, specifically the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, the EU Presidency and the Asia Europe Meeting, which total £9,000,000. There is also a transfer in of £50,000 from the Home Office for a contribution towards the fight against international drug trafficking.
The gross running costs limit on class II, vote 1 will be increased by £9,050,000 from £525,763,000 to £534,813,000.
The cash limit for class II, vote 2 (Other External Relations) will be increased by £12,600,000 from £217,215,000 to £229,815,000. The increase is required to cover UK contributions to certain OSCE, United Nations and WEU Missions of £12,000,000 and also for a transfer of £600,000 from the Home Office towards certain Overseas Drugs Assistance Programmes.
In addition, the cash limit for class H, vote 3 (BBC World Service) will be reduced by £2,558,000 from £169,906,000 to £167,348,000. This reduction takes account of transfers to the Ministry of Defence of £3,444,000 and to the Cabinet Office of £327,000 to reflect the movement of the BBC World Service Monitoring Service to subscription-based funding. This is partially offset by the take-up of a capital end-year flexibility amount of £1,213,000 as announced by the Chief Secretary to the Treasury on 17 July, Official Report, columns 245–50.
The increases will be offset by transfers or charged to the Reserve, and will not, therefore, add to the planned total of public expenditure.