§ Mr. BercowTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will list the amount by which budgets were over or under spent in each financial year since May 1997 in the(a) Department for Education and Employment, (b) Department of Health and (c) Ministry of Defence. [7785]
§ Mr. Andrew SmithThe table sets out the cash underspends against final Departmental Expenditure Limits (DEL) provision for the Departments requested. Provisional figures for 2000–01 were published in the July 2001 Public Expenditure Outturn White Paper (Cm 5243), and are subject to revision on production of the Appropriation Accounts. Since 1998–99 Departments have been allowed to carry forward any DEL budget provision which is not spent in one year into the following year. (More limited end year flexibility applied before this date). This means that underspends are available to Departments to spend in later years.
Underspend against Departmental Expenditure Limits £million 1997–98 1998–99 1999–100 Department for Education and Employment 359 659 828 Department of Health 169 285 177 Ministry of Defence 225 74 318
§ Mr. HowardTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will provide a breakdown of budget underspend so far in the current financial year in(a) the Department of Health, (b) the Department for Education and Skills and (c) the Ministry of Defence.[R] [10257]
§ Mr. Andrew SmithThere is no in-year target for the profile of departmental spending. Outturn against six-month forecast for each Request for Resources will be published in Winter Supplementary Estimates as usual.