§ Mrs. FyfeTo ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what plans he has to amend his Department's Departmental Expenditure Limits and the Northern Ireland Office expenditure limits for 2000–01. [138027]
§ Mr. IngramSubject to parliamentary approval of the necessary Supplementary Estimate for Class XV, Vote 1 the Northern Ireland Office Departmental Expenditure Limit for 2000–01 will be increased by £96,362,000 from £1,025,202,000 to £1,121,564,000. The running costs limit will be increased by £37,490,000 from £227,371,000 to £264,861,000.
An increase of £36,465,000 is required for costs associated with the implementation of the Patten Report, an additional £36,300,000 to cover prison officer redundancy costs, an increase of £1,390,000 in respect of costs arising from the Good Friday Agreement and £25,174,000 is required to cover increased costs of compensation payments under the various compensation schemes. Additionally £1,733,000 will be transferred from the Northern Ireland Departments DEL to cover costs incurred during the suspension of the Northern Ireland Assembly. The Northern Ireland Departments DEL decreases from £5,201,636,000 to £5,199,903,000.
At the time of the presentation of the Main Estimates the Northern Ireland Office DEL was overstated by £4,700,000 and this has been included in the revised DEL stated.
These increases will be offset by a transfer from the Northern Ireland Departments DEL and a charge on the DEL Reserve and will not therefore add to the planned total of public expenditure.