Departmental Expenditure Limits (Hansard, 28 November 2001)

§ Mr. Byers

Subject to Parliamentary approval of the necessary Supplementary Estimate, the Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions' Departmental Expenditure Limits for 200–02 will change as follows.

(a) The DTLR Main Programmes DEL will be decreased by £263,092,000 from £12,384,874,000 to £12,121,782,000 and the DTLR administration costs limit will be decreased by £61,190,000 from £776,525,000 to £715,335,000 and the DTLR HSE administration costs limit has increased by £2,500,000 from £193,732,000 to £196,232,000. Within the DEL change, the impact on resources and capital are as set out in the table:

£000
	Resources	Capital
Change	-380,102	117,010
New DEL	4,744,850	7,376,932

949W

The change in the resource element of the DEL arises from:

(i) The changes for Request for Resources 1 are as follows:

Take up of End Year Flexibility of £39,609,000 comprising £3,000,000 for Pneumoconiosis grants, £2,359,000 for Housing Action Trusts, £2,842,000 for building regulations, £4,582,000 for the Coalfields Regeneration Trust, £6,782,000 for the Coalfield Enterprise Fund, £2,300,000 for the Ordnance Survey, £5,500,000 for planning, £1,583,000 for the Single Regeneration Budget, £300,000 for Fire Services, £5,000,000 for social exclusion, £707,000 for Rent Assessment Panels administration costs, £1,786,000 for The Rent Service administration costs and £2,868,000 for the Planning Inspectorate Executive Agency administration costs. An increase of £344,000 from Request for Resources 4 in respect of civil service reform funding for The Rent Service Executive Agency (£97,000) and The Planning Inspectorate Executive Agency (£247,000). An increase of £438,917,000 from non-voted provision for Regional Chambers (£5,000,000), the Regional Development Agencies (£336,124,000), the London Development Agency (£23,337,000) and a technical adjustment (£74,456,000) to remove contributions from other departments to Regional Development Agencies. A net decrease of £253,606,000 arising from the following inter-departmental transfers: Machinery of Government changes of £245,646,000 (£231,556,000 to Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (to whom end year flexibility entitlement of £21,365,000 is also being transferred), £22,158,000 to Department of Trade and Industry; £174,000 to British Trade International; and £8,242,000 from the Home Office); £250,000 from the Home Office for Rough Sleepers, £190,000 from Department for Work and Pensions for Rough Sleepers, £3,800,000 to Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs to contribute to costs associated with foot and mouth disease, £3,000,000 from the Home Office for neighbourhood wardens, £5,000,000 to the Department of Health for social exclusion, £5,000,000 to the Home Office for community facilities, £100,000 to Lord Chancellor's Department for Local Authority efficiency and £2,500,000 from the Policy Innovation Fund for (New Ventures) street wardens. There is also a reduction of £450,000 to reflect additional receipts for the Planning Inspectorate Executive Agency.

(ii) The changes for Request for Resources 2 are as follows:

Take up of End Year Flexibility of £76,268,000 comprising £1,293,000 to meet the costs of shipping inquiries and shipping programmes; £2,959,000 for the Maritime and Coastguard Agency for administration costs (£1,761,000) and project slippage (£1,198,000); £6,088,000 for Civil Aviation programmes and the Air Transport White paper; £197,000 for international subscriptions; £6,767,000 for the Highways Agency to repay a loan to Department of Transport. Local Government and the Regions (£6,630,000) and administration costs (£137,000); £10,584,000 for multi-modal studies, consultancy projects, advertising, minicab licensing, transport research, Traveline, the Ultra project, road haulage modernisation projects and to settle the Park Lane UK Single Vehicle Approval claim; £11,000,000 for London Underground PPP advisers and 950W rail consultants; £800,000 for the Commission for Integrated Transport; £1,993,000 for Channel Tunnel Rail Link costs; £5,000,000 for the extension of bus fuel duty rebates to coaches; £7,469,000 for the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency including £6,140,000 for administration costs; £2,900,000 for vehicle and traffic enforcement; £11,170,000 for the Powershift and cleaner vehicles programme; and £8,048,000 for the Strategic Rail Authority to reflect the Rail Regulator's Review of Access Charges. A net decrease of £1,556,000 arising from the following inter-departmental transfers: £1,100,000 from Department for Education and Skills for maritime training; £150,000 from Department of Health for Mobility Centres; £452,000 from Home Office to the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency; £3,200,000 to Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs towards foot and mouth costs and the Energy Efficiency Best Practice Programme; and £58,000 to Department of Trade and Industry for Framework 5 Helpline. A net transfer of £416,000 from Request for Resources 4 for Civil Service Reform (£1,305,000) and net internal adjustments (£889,000). A transfer of £7,150,000 to the capital element of the DTLR DEL.

(iii) The changes for Request for Resources 4 are as follows:

Take up of End Year Flexibility of £20,323,000 for Department for Transport, Local Government and the Regions administration costs (£19,936,000) and other expenditure (£387,000). A net decrease of £106,908,000 arising from the following inter-departmental transfers: machinery of government changes of £111,004,000 (£11,064,000 from Home Office, £72,690,000 to Cabinet Office, £6,684,000 to Department of Trade and Industry and £42,694,000 to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs); £290,000 for Local Government PSA costs to Department for Education and Skills (£100,000), Department of Health (£100,000), Home Office (£25,000), Department for Work and Pensions (£25,000), Department for Culture, Media and Sport (£20,000) and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (£20,000); and £4,389,000 from the Cabinet Office Civil Service Modernisation Fund. An increase of £8,500,000 to meet administration costs from non-voted provision. A transfer of £1,436,000 to Requests for Resource 1 and 2 for Civil Service Reform funding, and a net transfer of £889,000 from Request for Resources 2 for a technical adjustment. A reclassification of £2,500,000 from the capital element of the DEL for the provision of IT services to the Health and Safety Commission.

(iv) Provision within the non-Voted resource element of the DTLR Main Programmes Departmental Expenditure Limit will be decreased by £596,765,000. This reflects take up of End Year Flexibility of £86,957,000 comprising £82,429,000 for Large Scale Voluntary Transfers, £4,246,000 for the Housing Corporation and £282,000 for the Commission for New Towns. A decrease of £236,305,000 arising from machinery of government transfer to Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. £438,917,000 will be transferred to voted provision on Request for Resources 1 and £8,500,000 will be transferred to voted provision on Request for Resources 4.

(v) As a result of the changes to Requests for Resources 1, 2 and 4 the DTLR administration provision has been decreased by £58,690,000 from £1,015,839,000 to £957,147,000.

951W

The change in the capital element of the DEL arises from:

(vi) The changes for Request for Resources 1 are as follows:

Take up of End Year Flexibility of £5,115,000 comprising £2,477,000 for The Rent Service Executive Agency, £2,306,000 for coalfields, and £332,000 for the Single Regeneration Budget. A net decrease of £183,000 arising from the following Machinery Of Government changes: £363,000 to Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (to whom end year flexibility entitlement of £71,719,000 will also be transferred) and £180,000 from the Home Office. A transfer of £602,764,000 from non-voted resources as a technical adjustment to remove contributions from other departments to Regional Development Agencies.

(vii) The changes for Request for Resources 2 are as follows:

Take up of End Year Flexibility of £237,066,000 comprising £1,758,000 for the International Maritime Organisation building; £1,816,000 for Maritime and Coastguard Agency project slippage; £12,864,000 for the Highways Agency to repay a loan to Department for Transport, Local Government and the Regions (£5,370,000) and to meet the additional costs of the Strategy for Financial Management project (£7,494,000); £1,336,000 for the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency; £5,600,000 for Transport for London; £8,000,000 for the Rural Bus Capital Challenge scheme; £1,940,000 for the Midland Metro scheme; £8,800,000 for water freight grants; £194,952,000 for the Strategic Rail Authority for Railtrack Feasibility Studies (£28,000,000) and to reflect the Rail Regulator's Review of Access Charges (£166,952,000). A net increase of £662,000 arising from transfer from the Home Office to the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency to support vehicle crime reduction initiatives and implement an electronic interface with magistrates courts. Take up from the Capital Modernisation Fund of £2,700,000 for the Active Traffic Management project (£2,000,000); and the Strategic Rail Authority (£700,000). A transfer of £4,231,000 to non-voted credit approvals for de-trunking roads. A transfer of £7,150,000 from the resource element of the DTLR DEL for Cross Rail.

(viii) The changes for Request for Resources four are as follows:

A decrease of £2,485,000 arising from machinery of government changes (£1,461,000 to the Cabinet Office, £19,000 to Department of Trade and Industry, and £1,005,000 to Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. A reclassification of £2,500,000 to the resource element of the DEL for the Health and Safety Commission.

(ix) Provision within the non-Voted capital element of the DTLR Main Programmes Departmental Expenditure Limit will be decreased by £726,410,000. This reflects take up of End Year Flexibility of £51,054,000 for the Urban Regeneration Agency (£30,157,000) and £20,897,000 to be transferred to the non-voted capital element of the DTLR Local Government DEL. A net decrease of £160,672,000 arising from the following Machinery of Government changes: £59,682,000 from the Home Office and £220,354,000 to Department for Environment. Food and 952W Rural Affairs. Transfers of £602,764,000 to Request for Resources 1 and £4,231,000 to non-voted credit approvals for de-trunking roads from Request for Resource 2.

(b) the DTLR Local Government DEL will be increased by £65,021,000 from £36,975,168,000 to £37,040,189,000. Within the DEL change, the impact on resources and capital are as set out in the following table:

	Resources	Capital
Change	+32,321,000	+32,700,000
New DEL	36,950,270,000	89,919,000

The change in the resource element of the DEL arises from:

(i) The changes for Request for Resources 3 are as follows:

Take up of End Year Flexibility of £29,210,000 for: the Valuation Office Agency's modernisation programme (£100,000), research (£910,000), PFI Special grant (£3,500,000), and support for local authorities (Bellwin) (£20,200,000), Best Value Intervention (£4,500,000). An increase of £811,000 arising from machinery of government changes transfer from the Home Office. A reclassification of £2,300,000 from the capital element of the DEL for research. A transfer of £1,000,000 from non-voted provision.

(ii) Provision within the resources non-voted element of the DTLR Local Government DEL will be reduced by £1,000,000 to reflect a transfer of resources to Request for Resources 3 for the Valuation Office Agency.

The change in the capital element of the DEL arises from:

(iii) The changes for Request for Resources 3 are as follows: A reclassification of £2,300,000 to the resource element of the DEL.

(iv) Provision within the capital non-voted element of the DTLR Local Government DEL will be increased by £35,000,000 to reflect the take up of End Year Flexibility (£14,103,00) and a switch from DTLR Main DEL (£20,897,000) to provide support for local authorities in exercise of the Secretary of State's powers under the Local Government Act 1999.

The increases will be offset by inter-departmental transfers or charged to the DEL Reserve and will not therefore add to the planned total of public expenditure.