§ Mr. Martyn JonesTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what proposals there are to amend the Forestry Commission Departmental Expenditure Limit for 2000–01. [151102]
§ Mr. MorleySubject to parliamentary approval of the necessary Supplementary Estimate for Class X, Vote 3 (Forestry Commission), the Forestry Commission Departmental Expenditure Limit for 2000–01 will be increased by £4,100,000, form £76,065,000 to £80,165,000. The increase is required to meet the net cost of a fall in receipts from sales of timber offset by savings in other net expenditure. The increase will be a charge on the DEL Reserve and will not therefore add to the planned total of public expenditure.
§ Mr. Martyn JonesTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what changes are proposed to the gross running cost control and Departmental Expenditure Limits for the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food and the Intervention Board for 2000–01. [151232]
§ Mr. Nick BrownThe Gross Running Cost Control Limit for the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food will be decreased by £9,605,000 from £316,371,000 to £306,766,000 and the Gross Running Cost Control Limit for the Intervention Board will be increased by £954,000 from £70,092,000 to £71,046,000.
The Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food and the Intervention Board's joint Departmental Expenditure Limit (DEL) will be increased by £101,326,000 from £1,362,859,000 to £1,464,185,000.
The increase is the net effect of an Intervention Board (IB) increase of £83,884,000 comprising administration transfers of £980,000 from the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food and £120,000 from HM Customs and 235W Excise and a transfer of £146,000 to the National Assembly for Wales Agriculture Department; and increases in programme provision of £71,489,000 for the Over Thirty Months Scheme (BSE), £398,000 for the Selective Cull Scheme (BSE) and £11,043,000 for Dairy Agrimonetary Compensation; and a net MAFF increase of £17,442,000 comprising an increase of £1,646,000 for the BSE Inquiry—funded by transfers from the Department of Health, the Scottish Executive, the Northern Ireland Executive and the National Assembly for Wales; £2 million for flood defence works—being part of the £51 million Flood Defence package announced on 23 November 2000; £1.87 million from the Scottish Executive as a contribution to the development costs of web-based access to Cattle Traceability Scheme data; and £14.5 million in respect of the Agrimonetary Compensation scheme for Arable Area Payments announced on 2 November 2000. These increases are offset by net transfers to the DETR of £41,000 in respect of work carried out by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA); £654,000 to the Department of Health in respect of surveillance work on Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathies (TSEs); £470,000 to the Cabinet Office for Government Pathway costs; and a decrease of £429,000 in net provision for the Centre for Environment. Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (CEFAS) resulting from projects under the Wider Markets Initiative.
Within the DEL there will be a transfer of £980,000 from MAFF to IB to cover the cost of administrative work on Pig Welfare Disposal, Modernising Government and the Over Thirty Months Scheme (OTMS).
The Supplementary Estimate also provides a transfer of £5.691 million Supplementary Credit Approvals capital and £1.35 million programme provision from the MAFF non-voted DEL to voted DEL.