§ Ms LawrenceTo ask the Secretary of State for Wales what changes he is proposing to make to the(a) voted and (b) non-voted cash limits for his Department and the office of Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Schools in Wales for the current financial year. [58155]
§ Mr. MichaelSubject to Parliament's approval of the related Supplementary Estimates, I propose the following changes
The cash limit on class XIV, vote 1 will be increased by 1,307,000 from £41,428,000 to £42,735,000. This increase reflects the take up of £2,000,000 of capital end-year flexibility amounts as announced by the Chief Secretary to the Treasury on 14 July 1998, Official Report, columns 131–36, for arterial drainage and coast protection schemes and the transfer of £693,000 to class XIV, Vote 3 for Tir Gofal start-up costs.The cash limit on class XIV, vote 2 will be increased by £6,713,000 from £833,063,000 to £839,776,000. This increase mainly reflects the take-up of end-year flexibility amounts for schools capital of £2,357,000 (including £991,000 of windfall tax resources); an increase in the budget for Regional Selective Assistance of £5,217,000, a transfer of £1,045,000 to class XIV, vote 4 for health related training and a transfer of £293,000 to class XIV, vote 3 for the National Childcare Strategy.The cash limit on class XIV, vote 3 has been increased by £17,094,000 from £397,101,000 to £414,195,000 and the running costs limit will increase by £6,124,000 from £73,613,000 to £79,784,000. This increase results mainly from the take up of end-year flexibility amounts totally £14,900,000. Of which £2,820,000 has been allocated to the Central Government Roads Programme, £4,028,000 to cover slippage on local authority road scheme, £428,000 to Cadw, £1,000,000 to cover the costs of the North Wales Child Abuse Inquiry and £500,000 to the Mental Handicap Strategy. There are also a number of transfers in and out of the vote including £693,000 from class XIV, vote 1 for Tir Gofal start up costs, £200,000 from class IV, vote 2 for cattle passports and £293,000 from class XIV, vote 2 for the National Childcare Strategy.The cash limit on class XIV, vote 4 has been increased by £23,389,000 from £2,093,541,000 to £2,116,930,000. This increase mainly reflects the take up of end-year flexibility amounts to meet the revenue costs of Health Authorities (£12,960,000) and the identified capital requirements of NHS Trusts (£17,000,000); the transfer of £8,000,000 into the provision for non-cash limited family health services; the transfer of £1,045,000 from class XIV, vote 2 in respect of health related courses; a transfer of £185,000 from class XI, vote 2 in respect of the Medical Devices Agency evaluation and £210,000 transferred from class IX, vote 1 relating to 331W students taking higher education courses in professions allied to medicine. The Trust external financing limit has increased by £18,368,000 from £4,308,000 to £52,676,000.The cash limit on class XIV, vote 5 has been increased by £80,000 from £2,449,735,000 to £2,449,815,000 to cover the costs of the review of Standard Spending Assessments.The cash limit on class XIV, vote 6 has been reduced by £2,448,000 from £10,216,000 to £7,768,000. The increases are mainly as a result of savings in the nursery inspections programme which has been partially offset by an increase in running costs and the running costs limit has been increased by £323,000 from £3,147,000 to £3,470,000.The non-voted cash limit local authority capital cash limit WO/LACAP has been increased by £3,003,000 from £370,441,000 to £373,444,000. This increase reflects the take up of £6,385,000 of end-year flexibility mainly to meet slippage on projects supported under (i) Transport Grant (£2,506,000), (ii) Strategic Development Scheme (£2,054,000), (iii) Capital Challenge (£1,372,000). The increase is offset by a reduction of £3,382,000 in the provision for local government reorganisation costs due to lower than expected claims from local authorities.The non-voted housing cash limit WO/TC has been reduced by £1,168,000 from £74,364,000 to £73,196,000 as result of a transfer within class XIV, vote 3 of supported housing revenue grant from the housing to the personal social services sections.The increases will be offset by transfers or charges to the Reserve and will not therefore add to the overall level of planned public expenditure.