§ Mr. HopeTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what changes he plans to announce to cash limits and running costs limits within his responsibility for 1998— 99. [47412]
§ Dr. HowellsSubject to Parliamentary approval of the necessary Revised Estimate, the cash limit for Class IX, Vote 1, Department for Education and Employment: programmes and central services will be amended as follows:
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£ Class Vote Existing cash limit Change New cash limit IX 1 10,359,290,000 -2,870,000 10,356,420,000 The reduction is the net effect of a machinery of government change in policy responsibility whereby £1,130,000 of provision for early years is being transferred from Class XI, Vote 2 (the Department of Health), offset by a transfer of £4,000,000 to Class XI, Vote 1 (the Department of Health) to take account of changes arising from the Dearing Review. The transfer is part of an overall transfer of £6,600,000 to the Department of Health, the remainder of which is being found from the Department's non-cash limited expenditure. £4,300,000 is also being transferred from our non-cash limited provision to Class XIV, Vote 2 (the Welsh Office) as a result of the Dearing changes.
The running costs provision within the Control Total will be increased by £715,000 from £249,833,000 to £250,548,000. £75,000 of this increase is due to the machinery of government change and the remaining £640,000 is as a result of a virement from Section B of the Vote to cover increased administration costs in connection with the Skills Programme.
The non-voted cash limit, DfEE/ERDF, will be decreased by £1,395,000 from £ 26,912,000 to £25,517,000 as a result of a transfer to the Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions (Class VI, Vote 2) in connection with the Liverpool institute of Performing Arts.
The control total elements of the increases will be offset by transfers or charged to the Reserve and will not therefore add to the planned total of public expenditure.