§ Mr. WigleyTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how much expenditure is forecast to be incurred by his Department in Wales in 1998–99 as part of UK-and Britain-wide expenditure programmes; and what provision will be made in relation to this expenditure once the National Assembly for Wales has been established. [63479]
§ Mr. MandelsonThe Government of Wales Act 1998 provided for a Transfer of Functions Order to be made to transfer Ministerial functions to the National Assembly for Wales. This Order was published in draft for public consultation on 12 November. Work is continuing within Government to finalise the text of the Order and until the content of the Order has been finalised, it is not possible to state with certainty what functions will transfer. It is therefore too early to say to what extent programme expenditure which is currently administered by my Department may relate to functions which will transfer to the National Assembly for Wales. Work is taking place to establish the extent of any such expenditure and to assess the need for any consequential transfer of funds to the Assembly.
My Department does not make forecasts of how much of its expenditure will be incurred in each country of the United Kingdom, although such information is published on a retrospective basis in the Public Expenditure Statistical Analyses (PESA).