§ Mr. Ron DaviesTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) what were the percentage increases in(a) the total expenditure of Department of Trade and Industry, Department for the Environment, Transport and the Regions, Department for Culture, Media and Sport and Department for Education and Employment in 1999–2000 and in the Welsh block for the same year, (b) each Department's expenditure relevant to the purposes of calculating the formula consequences for the Welsh block and (c) the expenditure within the Welsh block comparable to (b) above; [63613]
(2) what changes he has made in the method of calculating the formula consequences for the Welsh block of expenditure by the DTI, DFEE, DETR and DCMS; [63550]
(3) what comparability factor he used in calculating the formula consequences for the Welsh block of expenditure by the DTI, DETR, DCMS and DFEE in (a) 1997–98, (b) 1998–99 and (c) 1999–2000. [63549]
21W
§ Mr. Milburn[holding answer 14 December 1998]: No changes have been made to the method of operating the Barnett formula. The Government have already set out a statement of principles to govern changes to the devolved administrations' budgets in a reply by the then Chief Secretary to the Treasury to my hon. Friend the Member for East Ham (Mr. Timms) on 9 December 1997, Official Report, columns 510–13.
The Government maintained the 1997–98 and 1998–99 allocations to the Welsh Office determined by the previous Government in the 1996 Public Expenditure Survey.
The percentage increases in the total Departmental Expenditure Limits can be derived from the tables in "Modern Public Services for Britain: Investing in Reform" (Cm 4011).
Changes in the total departmental programme expenditure provide the basis for calculating formula consequentials for the Welsh Office budget. Each Departmental Expenditure Limit has a specific comparability determined by the coverage of Welsh Office services. In the Comprehensive Spending Review these are, for the Welsh Office:
Percentage DTI 27.0 DETR—non-local government 70.0 DETR—local government 100.0 DCMS 87.3 DfEE 75.8 As the Secretary of State for Wales, and in turn the National Assembly for Wales, are free to allocate expenditure within the Welsh block as they see fit, the structure of programmes within the Welsh block does not exactly mirror the departmental structure in England. It is therefore not possible to calculate the percentage increases in expenditure within the Welsh budget which are comparable to each Department's expenditure.