§ Mr. DoranTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what proposals he has to amend the Scotland Office departmental expenditure limit and running costs limit for 1999–2000.[108700]
§ Dr. ReidSubject to Parliamentary approval of the necessary Supplementary Estimate for Class XIII, Vote I Scotland and Transfers to the Scottish Consolidated Fund, the Departmental Expenditure Limit for 1999–2000 will be increased by £74,385,000 from £14,123,448,000 to £14,197,833,000.
The change consists of: increases of £21,500,000 for the 2000 Hill Livestock Compensatory Allowances Scheme; £4,852,000 for local authority funding of Kosovan evacuees; £26,440,000 for the cost of the Lockerbie trial (which are to be met from the Reserve); £32,583,000 from a draw forward of ERDF funds; £13,857,000 for clinical negligence costs (announced in the Chancellor's pre-budget report); £3,980,000 transferred from the Home Office (Class IV Vote I) for the costs of grants to Asylum Seekers; £1,500,000 from the Department of Education for Northern Ireland for tuition fees for students domiciled in Northern Ireland undertaking courses of higher education in Scotland; and £3,600,000 from the DEL reserve for additional support to the Forestry Commission; a decrease of £35,000,000 for a transfer to the Department of the Environment, 278W Transport and the Regions (Class III, Vote 6) for the bus fuel duty rebate scheme; and other minor transfers giving rise to a net increase of £1,073,000.
These increases will be offset by transfers to and from other Departmental Expenditure Limits or be treated as a charge on the DEL reserve and will not therefore add to the planned total of public expenditure.