Departmental Expenditure Limit (Hansard, 27 November 2003)

§ The Secretary of State for Transport (Mr. Alistair Darling)

Subject to Parliamentary approval of any necessary Supplementary Estimate, the Department for Transport departmental expenditure limit (DEL) 23WS for 2003–04 will be increased by £299,876,000 from £10,342,932,000 to £10,642,808,000 and the administration costs limits will be increased by £22,838,000 from £356,423,000 to £379,261,000. Within the DEL change, the impact on resources and capital are as set out in the following table:

(£000)
New DEL
	Change	Voted	Non-voted	Total
Resource	312,102	4,580,715	3,073,981	7,654,696
Capital	-12,226	1,816,823	1,469,442	3,286,265
Depreciation^*	-	-298,153	-	-298,153
Total	299,876	6,112,985	4,529,823	10,642,808

^* Depreciation, which forms part of resource DEL, is excluded from the total DEL since capital DEL includes capital spending and to include depreciation of those assets would lead to double counting.

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

(i) take up of £182,000,000 reserve claim for London Underground to reflect the carry over of unspent grant from 2002–03, arising from delays in completing the London Underground Public Private Partnership;
(ii) take up of £79,691,000 end year flexibility, comprising:

(a) £18,603,000 for expenditure by the Highways Agency consisting of £14,803,000 programme and £3,800,000 administration costs;
(b) £8,400,000 for expenditure by London Underground on Canary Wharf agreement, contributions to Wembley Park and outstanding Jubilee Line contractors costs partly met by the take up of the reserve claim and internal savings;
(c) £5,317,000 for expenditure on water freight grants;
(d) £4,585,000 for expenditure by the Vehicle and Operator Services Agency;
(e) £4,359,000 for expenditure on railways, including consultancy expenditure and, in particular, financial advice on Network Rail securitisation and cross channel railways issues;
(f) £4,467,000 for expenditure by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency consisting of £3,500,000 programme and £967,000 administration costs;
(g) £3,381,000 for expenditure resulting from the extension of the Air Transport White Paper timetable following judicial review that Gatwick options should be considered as part of the South East airport consultation;
(h) £1,137,000 for expenditure for the Cycling Fund project;
(i) £129,000 for recruitment and retention and other front line costs in the Marine Accident Investigation Branch;
(j) £4,476,000 for Transport Security costs;
(k) £500,000 for increased staff and building rental costs for the Rail Accident Investigation Branch;
(l) £17,599,000 (administration costs) for expenditure by the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency consisting of £11,570,000 for the Motor Vehicle Registration Implementation Board and £6,029,000 for Electronic Service Delivery to provide on-line services to customers;
(m) £6,738,000 (administration costs) for expenditure by the Department for Transport; and

(iii) a net transfer of £5,089,000 to other government departments, comprising:

(a) £100,000 from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office for costs associated with the setting-up of a Register of Shipping for certain Caribbean Overseas Territories;
(b) £32,000 from the Department for Trade and Industry for the enforcement of working time directives;
(c) £94,000 (administration costs) from the Office for National Statistics for Neighbourhood Renewal Unit statistics;
(d) £75,000 (administration costs) from the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister for local Government Public Service Agreement costs;
(e) £75,000 (administration costs) from the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister for Honours Secretariat and Equality and Diversity Unit costs;
(f) £700,000 to the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister for the new Horizons programme;
(g) £1,210,000 (administration costs) to the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister for Government Offices;
(h) £155,000 (administration costs) to the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister for London Transport agenda;
(i) £1,400,000 to the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister as part of the pan-government Ordnance survey agreement; and
(j) £2,000,000 (administration costs) to the Department for Works and Pensions to assist the Health and Safety Executive to implement the recommendations of the Cullen Inquiry.

(iv) a transfer of £13,699,000 from the voted capital element of the DEL for the Driving Standards and Vehicle and Operator Services Agencies Electronic Service Delivery project.
(v) an increase in receipts of £23,025,000 comprising;

(a) £2,283,000, reclassification of interest payments from Consolidated Funds Extra Receipts to Appropriationsin-Aid;
(b) £7,142,000 Rail track Administrators fees receipt; and
(c) £13,600,000 transfer from the Scottish Executive to reflect a reduction in ScotRail access charges and ScotRail performance penalty payments.

(vi) transfer from non-voted resource provision of £610,000 for shipping services.

Within the non-voted resource element of the DEL, there has been a net increase of £50,616,000 comprising:

(i) a take up of £44,168,000, non voted end year flexibility for the Strategic Rail Authority;
(ii) £7,142,000 use of Rail track receipts transferred from voted resource provision to offset expenditure by the Strategic Rail Authority;
(iii) £4,000 to the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister from the Strategic Rail Authority as part of the pan-government Ordnance Survey agreement;
(iv) £610,000 of Consolidated Fund Extra Receipts transferred to resource voted provision;
(v) £80,000 of receipts from ports in respect of land sales; and
(vi) £13,600,000 use of Scottish Executive voted transfer by the Strategic Rail Authority.

As a result of the above changes to the resource element of the DEL, and technical reclassification of £3,145,000 from administration to programme expenditure, there has been a net increase of £22,838,000 in the gross administration costs limit, from £356,423,000 to £379,261,000.

25WS

The decrease of £25,717,000 in the voted capital element of the DEL arises from:

(i) a transfer of £13,699,000 to the resource element of the DEL for the Driving Standards and Vehicle and Operator Services Agencies ESD project;
(ii) a transfer of £11,500,000 to non voted capital provision; and
(iii) an increase in receipts of £518,000 as a result of capital repayments following the Vehicle and Operator Services Agency's deemed loan.

The net increase of £13,491,000 in the non-voted capital element of the DEL arises from:

(i) a transfer of £11,500,000 from voted programmes comprising:

(a) £11,000,000 for de-trunking credit approvals;
(b) and £500,000 for the Strategic Rail Authority; and

(ii)a technical reclassification of £1,991,000 interest payments from Consolidated Fund Extra Receipts to Appropriation in Aid, the effect of which will be to increase capital DEL and reduce resource DEL.

	Resources			Capital
Change	New DEL	Of which: Voted	Non-voted	Change	New DEL	Of which: Voted	Non-voted
37,190	1,108,064	372,186	735,878	8,424	72,852	22,452	50,400

The change in the resource element of the DEL arises from the draw down of £37,190,000 End Year Flexibility.

The extra resource costs cover a range of areas within the Department such as policing + security, central administration, political, criminal justice and prisons.

The change in the capital element of the DEL arises from the draw down of £8,424,000 End Year Flexibility.

The extra capital costs cover a range of areas within the Department such as policing + security, central administration, political, criminal justice and prisons.