Departmental Expenditure and Running Costs Limits (Hansard, 3 February 2000)

§ Mr. Byers

Subject to parliamentary approval of the necessary Supplementary Estimate, the voted element of the Departmental Expenditure Limit for the Department of Trade and Industry will be increased by £61,879,000 from £3,181,682,000 to £3,243,561,000. The net provision of Class IX Vote 1 will be increased by £43,696,000, which results from:

(i) an increase of £59,700,000 in the net provision for Coal Health liabilities, which has arisen exclusively from a forecast shortfall in Coal Pension Fund Surpluses which are appropriated in aid;
(ii) a reduction of £5,970,000 in the provision for the Coal Authority grant in aid;
(iii) an increase of £14,000,000 in the gross expenditure provision for the Aerospace budget in order to facilitate the repayment to Rolls Royce plc of certain amounts that have been overpaid by that company, which is offset by an increase of £14,000,000 in the appropriations in aid provision;
(iv) the transfer of £10,000,000 from the Local Competitiveness budget to the Inland Revenue (Class XVI Vote 4) for providing payroll support for new employers;
(v) the transfer of £34,000 from the Coal Health Liabilities budget to the Department of Social Security (Class XII Vote 3) to facilitate access to miners' medical records held by the Benefits Agency.

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The opportunity of a Supplementary Estimate is also being taken to switch resources between certain lines of the Vote and to accommodate an increase of £300,000 in the appropriations in aid provision for the Departmental Capital budget as a result of the sale of a property, together with an equivalent increase in the gross expenditure provision for that budget.

The net provision of Class IX Vote 2 will be increased by £18,183,000, of which £16,183,000 represents the take up of End Year Flexibility entitlements as announced by my right hon. Friend the Chief Secretary to the Treasury on 27 July 1999, Official Report, column 393W, and £2,000,000 represents a transfer of provision in respect of work commissioned of the British Antarctic Survey, which is part of the Natural Environment Research Council, by the Ministry of Defence. This is offset by an equivalent reduction in the provision for Class VI Vote 1 (Defence: operational and support costs, logistics services, and systems procurement and research). The opportunity of a Supplementary Estimate is also being taken to switch resources between certain lines of the Vote and to accommodate an increase in the amount of recovered VAT, together with an equivalent increase in costs incurred on the Vote.

The overall increase of £61,879,000 for Class IX Votes 1 and 2 will be charged to the Reserve and will not therefore add to the planned total of public expenditure.

In addition, subject to parliamentary approval of the necessary Supplementary Estimate, the voted element of the Departmental Expenditure Limit of Class IX Vote 7—the Office of Fair Trading—will be increased by £725,000 from £30,722,000 to £31,447,000 and the gross running costs limit will be reduced by £400,000 from £24,184,000 to £23,784,000. The increase in the Departmental Expenditure Limit results from the take up of End Year Flexibility entitlement of £725,000, as announced by my right hon. Friend the Chief Secretary to the Treasury on 27 July 1999, Official Report, column 393W. The reduction in the gross running costs limit is offset by an increase of £400,000 in the provision for "Direct Expenditure: Other current". The increase in net provision will be charged to the Reserve and will not therefore add to the planned total of public expenditure.