Departmental Initiatives (Hansard, 13 June 2000)

§ Mr. Don Foster

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment, pursuant to his answer of 19 May 2000,Official Report, column 292W, on departmental initiatives, if he will list the amount originally budgeted for in (a) 1997–98, (b) 1998–99 and

£ million
	FY 1997–98 Budget	FY 1997–98 Outturn	FY 1998–99 Budget	FY 1998–99 Outturn	FY 1999–2000 Budget	FY 1999–2000 Estimated Outturn
Education Action Zones (Rounds 1 and 2)	0	0	10.8	10.2	30	29.2
Employment Zones¹	4.0	1.0	29.0	5.0	16.0	16.0
Neighbourhood Support Fund	0	0	0	0	20.0	20.0
Sure Stare²	0	0	0	0	80.8	19.0
Excellence in Cities	0	0	0	0	32.0	32.0
Early Excellence Centres³	0	0.12	9.0	1.9	10.0	4.1
Early Years Nursery Education Grant funding for education places for 3 year olds	0	0	0	0	38.0	38.0
New Start⁴	1.75	0.97	4.75	3.85	5.9	5.6
Millennium Volunteers⁵	0	0	0	0	5.0	4.0
Community Champions⁶	0	0	0	0	0.5	0.46
Adult and Community Learning Fund⁷	0	0	5.0	2.5	6.56	6.1
New Deal for Schools⁸	83.0	78.0	250.0	223.0	250.0	282.35
¹ Employment Zones: funding in 1997–98 and 1998–99 was for prototype EZs. The underspends result from the fact that these took longer to set up and develop than anticipated—the first prototype did not start until February 1998. There has been no carry forward of unspent funds within the initiative.
² Sure Start is a cross-departmental programme, which is overseen by a steering group involving Ministers from the Departments of Education and Employment, Health, Social Security, Environment, Transport and the Regions, Culture, Media and Sport and the Home Office, the Lord Chancellor's Department and the Treasury. Spending in the first year was lower than originally planned. The budget for Sure Start is ringfenced and any underspends are automatically carried forward.
³ Early Excellence Centres: the programme was established in year in 1997–98, and no money was budgeted, but £0.12 million was spent from savings from the wind up of the Nursery Voucher Scheme and a small contribution from New Deal for Schools. Build up of the programme was phased, resulting in slower draw on allocation than expected. The Manifesto commitment was 25—there are 29 EECs and they are receiving full funding contribution. There has been no carry forward of unspent funds within the initiative.
⁴ New Start: underspends were due to projects taking longer than anticipated to progress. In 1998–99 £0.90 million was carried over to 1999–2000, and is included in the budget figure for that year.
⁵ Millennium Volunteers: although no budget/underspend is shown, £0.4 million was spent and met from the Windfall Tax.
⁶ Community Champions: underspend due to the development and launch of the initiative in year which meant it was not fully under way until January 1999.

588W

§ Mr. Wicks

[holding answer 5 June 2000]The following table shows, for each of the initiatives listed in the previous reply, the budget for 1997–98, 1998–99 and 1999–2000, along with the outturn figures for 1997–98 and 1998–99. Estimated outturn figures for 1999–2000 are as given in the response to the previous question. Final outturn figures will not be available until the publication of the Appropriation Accounts in October.

Arrangements for carry forward of unspent funds have changed over the period. There was no facility to carry forward within the Department unused recurrent funds from 1997–98 to subsequent years. As announced in the Comprehensive Spending Review White Paper in July 1998, end year flexibility for Departments was introduced in 1998–99.

The New Deal for Schools, funded from the windfall tax, was announced in the Budget in July 1997, and now totals some £1.376 billion over the Parliament, including the extra £250 million announced in the March Budget and the further £43 million announced in the pre-Budget report in November 1999. A total of £452 million from 1999–2000 to 2001–02 was announced in July 1998 for the Sure Start programme. The budgets for both these programmes are ringfenced and any underspends are automatically carried forward.

The footnotes in the table indicate whether the 1998–99 underspends on other programmes were carried forward rather than being allocated to other priority areas.

589W

⁷ Adult and Community Learning Fund: the budget/outturn figures given for 1998–99 do not include the £3.27 million spent on the Laptop Programme for Adult and Community Learning Tutors, which was not part of the original budget. Programme underspend is due to the fact that the initial application process took longer than expected and projects therefore started later in the year. Money for the Adult and Community Learning Fund has been re-profiled over the lifetime of the initiative so that the £20 million originally announced for the fund remains available.

⁷ New Deal for Schools: underspends denote slippage in claiming funds by LEAs. All NDS funds have been allocated to schools. The budget for NDS is ringfenced and any underspends are automatically carried forward.