HC Deb 13 June 2000 vol 351 c533W
Maria Eagle

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what proposals he has for changes to the 2000–01 Department expenditure limits within his responsibility. [126025]

Mr. Straw

Subject to Parliamentary approval of the necessary Supplementary Estimate, the Departmental Expenditure Limit (DEL), which covers Class IV Vote 1 (Home Office administration, police, probation, immigration and other services, England and Wales) and Vote 2 (Prisons, England and Wales), will be increased by £42,050,000 from £8,068,786,000 to £8,110,836,000.

The changes are the net effect of the following transfers: £1,200,000 to the Department for the Environment, Transport and the Regions (Class III Vote 1) in respect of neighbourhood wardens; £20,200,000 from the DEL Reserve for police modernisation; £2,900,000 from the Capital Modernisation Fund for the electronic chipping of goods; and £20,150,000 from the Capital Modernisation Fund for the national strategy for police information systems.

The increases will be offset by a charge on the Reserve and will not, therefore, add to the planned total of public expenditure.

Changes to the budgeted amount for the Immigration and Nationality Directorate, which includes the costs of dealing with the asylum seekers, have yet to be confirmed.