Written Statement of 24 February 2004

ENVIRONMENT, FOOD AND RURAL AFFAIRS

  Supplementary Estimates
  The Minister for Rural Affairs and Local Environmental Quality (Alun Michael)
  Subject to parliamentary approval of any necessary supplementary estimate, the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs DEL will be decreased by £77,907,000 from £3,035,822,000 to £2,957,915,000 and the administration costs limits will be decreased by £193,238,000 from £540,470,000 to £347,232,000. Within the DEL change, the impact on resources and capital are as set out in the following table:

  £'000s

  Change

  Voted

  New DEL Non-voted

  Total

  Resource

  -32,035

  2,378,872

  397,641

  2,776,513

  Capital

  -45,872

  286,873

  75,745

  362,618

  Depreciation*

  -

  -83,495

  -97,721

  -181,216

  Total

  -77,907

  2,582,250

  375,665

  2,957,915

  *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 resource element of the DEL arises from:
  a take up of £6,317,000 administration resources from ODPM for accommodation costs relating to Ashdown House;
  a decrease of £95,000,000 in our non-voted resource budget relating to funding originally provided in respect of the Environment Agency Closed Pension Fund, but which is no longer required in 2003–04;
  a reclassification of £45,919,000 capital flood defence grants (paid to the Environment Agency) to non-Voted resource DEL and matching grant in aid, to reflect the correct accounting treatment of these grants (see below offsetting decrease in capital);
  an increase to our non-Voted resource DEL of £1,948,000 to complete the transfer of English Nature's unfunded pension liabilities into the Principle Civil Service Pension Scheme;
  a transfer of £105,000 administration resources to the DTI for the Farm Business Advice Service (FBAS);
  a reclassification of £199,486,000 administration resources to programme resources in respect of the Department's front line services, as agreed with Treasury;
  a movement of £50,000,000 from non-Voted resources on to the Estimate (Vote) to reflect latest allocations/forecasts, as agreed with Treasury;
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  an increase of £2,000,000 to our resource expenditure and operating income to reflect the receipt from British Waterways of interest and capital repayment on its National Loans (NLF) loans and its onward payment to NLF;
  an increase of £3,951,000 programme resources and appropriations-in-aid in respect of Pig Industry Restructuring;
  a take-up of £8,184,000 programme resources from DWP in respect of Warm Front Pension Credit Costs;
  the take-up of our Departmental Unallocated Provision (DUP) of £10,689,000 as programme resources;
  a take-up of £500,000 programme resources from DfES for School Milk;
  the take-up of £36,000 administration resources and £95,000 programme resources from the Invest to Save Budget, representing Defra's successful projects in the fifth round of awards;
  a take-up of £71,000 programme resources from SEERAD for Emissions Trading Registry.
  an increase of our Executive Agencies' administrative resources and appropriations-in-aid by £20,000,000 to take account of latest allocations/forecasts and to reflect the appropriations-in-aid target in the Estimate.

  The change in the capital element of the DEL arises from:
  a reclassification of £45,919,000 Capital flood defence grants (paid to the Environment Agency) to non-Voted resource DEL and matching grant in aid, to reflect the correct accounting treatment of these grants (see above offsetting increase in resource);
  switch on the Estimate £60,000,000 from in-house capital to resources (Local Authority Grants) to reflect latest allocations/forecasts. Note: This switch is Budget neutral, i.e. Local Authority Grants are classified as resource for Estimate purposes but capital in the Budget;
  an increase in capital expenditure and non-operating appropriations-in-aid of £2,510,000, in respect of grain store receipts. This relates to an agreement with Treasury-which allows us to recycle grain store receipts in to the Rural Payments Agency's (RPA) Change programme by increasing expenditure in line with income received;
  take-up of £47,000 capital from the Invest to Save Budget, representing Defra's successful projects in the fifth round of awards.

  Forestry Commission
  The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Mr. Ben Bradshaw)
  Subject to Parliamentary approval, the Forestry Commission's DEL will be reduced by £1,450,000 from £84,620,000 to £83,170,000. Within the DEL change, the impact on resources and capital are as set out in the following table:

  Change

  Voted

  New DEL Non-voted

  Total

  Resource

  -1,450

  78,097

  2,653

  80,750

  Capital

  833

  2,657

  3,490

  Depreciation*

  -1,070

  -

  -1,070

  Total

  -1,450

  77,860

  5,310

  83,170

  *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.

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  The change in the resource element of the DEL arises from transfers of £1,200,000 and £250,000 to the Scottish Executive and National Assembly for Wales respectively. This transfer is required to fund functions transferred from the Forestry Commission Westminster Vote (which covers activities in England and those functions which it carries out on a GB-wide basis), to Forestry Commission Scotland and Wales following the recommendations of the Forestry Devolution Review.

  Rural Delivery Review (Integrated Agency)
  The Minister for Rural Affairs and Local Environmental Quality (Alun Michael)
  In my statement of 11 November 2003 on the rural delivery review, I accepted Lord Haskins' broad recommendation to bring together elements of the work done by English Nature, the Countryside Agency and Defra's rural development service into an integrated agency. It is important to me that the integrated agency should have a strong and authoritative voice commanding respect both within and outside Government. It is equally important that the advice I receive from the integrated agency is not only independent, but is seen to be independent. I have therefore decided that this new agency will be established as an executive non-departmental public body.

WORK AND PENSIONS

  Supplementary Estimates
  The Minister for Work (Mr. Desmond Browne)
  Subject to Parliamentary approval of any necessary supplementary estimate, the Department for Work and Pensions DEL will be increased by £382,965,000 from £ 8,228,690,000 to £8,611,655,000 and the administration costs limits will be increased by £283,684,000 from £6,052,007,000 to £6,335,691,000. Within the DEL change, the impact on resources and capital are as set out in the following table:

  £'000s

  Change

  Voted

  New DEL Non-voted

  Total

  Resource

  239,021

  7,100,263

  1,456,179

  8,556,442

  Capital

  142,674

  170,140

  1,202

  171,342

  Depreciation*

  1,270

  -115,415

  -714

  -116,129

  Total

  382,965

  7,154,988

  1,456,667

  8,611,655

  * 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 resource element of the DEL arises from:

  i. a transfer of provision of £143,000,000 (other current) to capital for Job Centre Plus roll out expenditure;

  ii. a transfer in provision of £1,125,000 (administration costs) to the Scottish Executive for the administration costs of Training for Work;

  iii. a reduction in provision of £200,000 (other current) to the Welsh Assembly for costs incurred by the Adult Learning Inspectorate;

  iv. a reduction in provision of £50,000 (administration costs) due to a transfer to the Department of Health for Care Direct;

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  v. a reduction in provision of £5,000 (administration costs) as a result of a transfer to the Ministry of Defence in connection with the Ilford Park Polish Home;

  vi. an increase in provision of £93,000 (other current) as a result of a transfer from the Department for Education and Skills for Cross Departmental Working with Parents;

  vii. an increase in provision of £223,000,000 (administration costs) and £148,305,000 (other current) under the End Year Flexibility Scheme;

  viii. an increase in provision of £1,400,000 (administration costs) as a result of a transfer from the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister for the New Deal for Communities;

  ix. an increase in provision of £365,000 in due to a transfer from the Cabinet Office (invest to save budget) in respect of a project to assist with the more effective administration of Free School Meals;

  x. an increase in provision of £200,000 (administration costs) as a result of a transfer from the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister for the New Deal for Communities;

  xi. an increase in provision of £243,000 (administration costs) as a result of a transfer from the Scottish Executive for the Family Resources Survey;

  xii. an increase in provision of £9,795,000 (administration costs) for the Makinson Bonus scheme.

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

  a. a transfer of provision of £143,000,000 (other current) to capital for Job Centre Plus roll out expenditure;

  b. an increase in non operating appropriations in aid of £326,000 due to a revised forecast

TRANSPORT

  Supplementary Estimates
  The Secretary of State for Transport (Mr. Alistair Darling)
  Subject to Parliamentary approval of any necessary supplementary estimate, the Department for Transport DEL for 2003–04 will be increased by £185,735,000 from £10,642,808,000 to £10,828,543,000 and the administration costs limits will be increased by £12,166,000 from £379,261,000 to £391,427,000. Within the DEL change, the impact on resources and capital are as set out in the following table:

  £'000

  Change

  Voted

  New DEL Non-voted

  Total

  Resource

  494,266

  4,853,504

  3,295,458

  8,148,962

  Capital

  29,698

  1,846,521

  1,469,442

  3,315,963

  Depreciation*

  -338,229

  -636,382

  -

  -636,382

  Total

  185,735

  6,063,643

  4,764,900

  10,828,543

  *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 £272,789,000 increase in the voted resource element of the DEL arises from:

  (i)take up of £291,284,000 (non cash) reserve claim for the Highways Agency to cover accounting changes in the valuation of road schemes when completed, depreciation of non-pavement assets and the creation of new provisions offset by changes in existing provisions;

  (ii) take up of £18,376,000 end year flexibility, comprising:

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  (a) £12,726,000 (administration costs) for expenditure by the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency;

  (b) £2,487,000 (administration costs) for expenditure by the Highways Agency;

  (c) £2,400,000 for the Driving Standards Agency to fund Automated Driver Licence issue; and

  (d) £763,000 (administration costs) for the Department for Transport;

  (iii) a net transfer of £9,606,000 from other Government Departments, comprising:

  (a) £4,792,000 from the Scottish Executive being an adjustment, to transfers previously made by the Department to the Executive, to reflect ScotRail performance receipts and reductions in ScotRail access charges (£4,504,000) and a transfer in respect of consultant costs on speed cameras (£288,000);

  (b) £146,000 from the Department for Trade and Industry in respect of the Low Carbon Partnership (£195,000) partially offset by a transfer to that department for the FP6 Sustainable Surface Transport programme (£49,000);

  (c) £705,000 (administration costs) from the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister in respect of managing the Transport and Works Act (£410,000) and counselling and support services (£295,000); and

  (d) a machinery of Government transfer of £3,963,000 from the office of the Deputy Prime Minister in respect of the European Regional Development Fund;

  (iv) a net transfer to non-voted resource provision of £46,477,000 comprising:

  (a) a transfer of £50,000,000 to cover Highways Agency cash payments against provisions;

  (b) a transfer of £500,000 (administration costs) to cover Maritime and Coastguard Agency cash payments against provisions and release of provisions;

  (c) partially offset by a transfer of £4,023,000 (administration costs) departmental unallocated provision to voted provision for Department for Transport;

  (v) receipts of £4,289,000 (administration costs) used for Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency publicity costs (programme);

  (vi) a transfer of £226,000 (administration costs) from the Department for Transport to the Vehicle Certification Agency in respect of Electronic Delivery Systems.

  Within the non-voted resource element of the DEL, there has been an increase of £221,477,000 comprising:

  (i) a take up of £175,000,000 (non cash) reserve claim for the Highways Agency for release of provisions adjustment; and

  (ii) a net transfer from voted resource provision of £46,477,000.

  As a result of the above changes to the resource element of the DEL there has been a net increase of £12,166,000 in the gross administration costs limit, from £379,261,000 to £391,427,000 and an increase of £226,000 in the Vehicle Certification Agency net administration limit from £41,000 to £185,000.
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  The increase of £29,698,000 in the voted capital element of the DEL arises from:

  (i) take up of £20,926,000 (non cash) reserve claim for the Highways Agency in respect of provisions for lands and major schemes claims;

  (ii) a net transfer of £4,244,000 from the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister for various dual and shared Strategic IT and e-business projects; and

  (iii) £4,528,000 machinery of government transfer from the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister in respect of the European Regional Development Fund.

DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER

  Sustainable Communities
  The Minister for Housing and Planning (Keith Hill)
  I am today publishing for consultation a draft of planning policy statement 1 (PPS1)—"Creating Sustainable Communities" the core statement of the Government's key planning policies.

  I am also publishing a paper on the Government's approach to community involvement in planning.

  PPS1 is the key overarching document which sets out the Government's high level principles for planning.

  Clause 39 (clause 38—the sustainable development clause—as was) of the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Bill requires regional and local plans to be drawn up with a view to contributing to the achievement of sustainable development. The clause requires that in doing so, planning authorities must have regard to guidance issued by the Secretary of State. PPS1 will be a key document underpinning this requirement.

  PPS1 is based on three themes:
  Planning for sustainable communities and sustainable development;
  The new approach to planning we are promoting as part of planning culture change (the spatial planning approach); and
  Community involvement in planning.

  Sustainable development

  Our legislation will make contributing to the achievement of sustainable development the key purpose of the planning system. The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister should expect planning policies to pursue proactively the four aims of sustainable development—economic development; social inclusion; environmental protection; and prudent use of natural resources—in an integrated way, in line with the Government's overall strategy for sustainable development.

  Spatial Planning

  The new regional and local plans provided for in the Bill are based on the philosophy of spatial planning. Spatial planning goes beyond traditional land use planning to bring together and integrate policies for the development and use of land with other policies and programmes which influence the nature of places and how they function.
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  PPS1 sets out the spatial planning approach that will be adopted in the new planning system. These planning tools will reflect real geographies and real community issues, and are thus a flexible approach to planning and sustainable development.

  Community involvement

  Effective community involvement is a vital element in delivering sustainable communities. Our aim should be to develop effective community involvement processes which enable a better understanding of the sometimes difficult choices which have to be made in considering development and more ownership of the accompanying decisions.

  We need of course to strike a balance between promoting effective community involvement without allowing the system to be bogged down by endless consultation exercises. I want the reformed system to emphasise community involvement as a way of helping resolve problems early in the process and secure ownership, so that when plans and proposals are put forward, there are fewer objections.

  The paper makes clear that community involvement should be based on a real understanding of the community's needs, should be fit for purpose, and should be "front loaded" ie involvement early in the process.

  PPS1 can only set out the key policy principles for community involvement in planning. To put these in context, the community involvement paper sets out our general philosophy on community involvement in planning, and puts this in the broader context of policy.

  Copies of the two documents will be available in the Libraries of the House. They will also be available on the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister's website at (www.odpm.gov.uk/stellent/groups/odpm_planning/documents/sectionhomepage/odpm_planning_page.hcsp)

  Local Government Members (Code of Conduct)
  The Minister for Local and Regional Government (Mr. Nick Raynsford)
  The Government have today published a consultation paper setting out its proposals for draft Regulations under section 66 of the Local Government Act 2000. These proposals will make provision for local government monitoring officers in England, in cases where ethical standards officers of the Standards Board for England deem it appropriate, to investigate allegations that local authority members have breached their code of conduct. The Government are consulting on this issue over the next three months, and at the same time the Standards Board for England is consulting on draft guidance for monitoring officers on how they can best undertake their duties under the proposed Regulations.

  We need to ensure the highest possible ethical standards in local government. But we need a system, which is efficient and workable. This approach is a sensible, effective and proportionate way of handling allegations of misconduct at a local level.

  Copies of the consultation paper are being sent to local authorities and will be available in the Libraries of both Houses, as well as being made available on the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister's website at www.odpm.gov.uk.

  Supplementary Estimates
  The Deputy Prime Minister (Mr. John Prescott)
  Subject to Parliamentary approval of any necessary Supplementary Estimate, the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister's Departmental Expenditure Limits for 2003–04 will change as follows:

  (1) the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister's Main Programmes DEL will be increased by £272,415,000 from £6,914,649,000 to £7,187,064,000 and the administration costs limit will be decreased by £6,003,000 from £396,378,000 to £390,375,000. Within the DEL change, the impact on resources and capital are as set out in the following table:

  £'000s

  Change

  Voted

  New DEL Non-voted

  Total

  Resource

  -141,377

  2,858,504

  2,015,267

  4,873,771

  Capital

  413,792

  1,042,127

  1,271,166

  2,313,293

  Depreciation*

  -5,323

  -21,791

  -2,000

  -23,791

  Total

  267,092

  3,878,840

  3,284,433

  7,163,273

  *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 resource element of the DEL arises from:

  (i) take up of End Year Flexibility of £286,081,000 comprising:

  (a) £85,888,000 for the Regional Development Agencies;

  £45,000,000 for European Structural Funds;

  £11,656,000 for the Sustainable Communities Plan;

  £67,000,000 for Housing programmes expenditure;

  £37,290,000 for Fire Services (transitional funding, expenditure on fire dispute including Ministry of Defence costs and New Dimension Search and Rescue;

  £332,000 from the Invest to Save Budget for Fire Services;

  £2,293,000 for the Fire Service College;

  £6,601,000 for Ordnance Survey expenditure and capital charge on the trading fund's assets;

  £21,000 for New Ventures Fund;

  £30,000,000 non-voted for English Partnerships;

  a net transfer of £12,712,000 to other government departments, comprising:

  (a) £109,000 from The Scottish Executive for housing;

  (b) £1,000,000 from Department for Work and Pensions for Housing;

  (c) £1,798,000 (administration costs) from Cabinet Office to cover the rent and service charges on 26 Whitehall;

  (d) £342,000 (administration costs) from the Office of National Statistics for work on housing, the physical environment, fire and Best Value Performance Indicators;

  (e) £19,000 (administration costs) from Home Office for work on antisocial behaviour;

  (f) £47,000 (administration costs) from Department for Education and Skills to Government Offices administration for work on their core agenda;

  (g) £360,000 (administration costs) from the Home Office to Government Offices administration to cover work on the Criminal Justice Interventions and Treatment programme;

  (h) £3,963,000 European Structural Funds provision to Department of Transport;

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  £1,350,000 to Department for Education and Skills, £1,600,000 to Department for Work and Pension for Job Centre Plus and pension services, £2,155,000 to Home Office for adventure capital and capacity building funds;

  (j) £425,000 (administration costs) to Department of Constitutional Affairs in respect of the transfer of work on devolution;

  (k) £6,189,000 (administration costs) to Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs to cover the baseline budget for Ashdown House retail rent;

  (l) £705,000 (administration costs) to the Department for Transport to cover interdepartmental services;

  (iii) An increase in receipts of £33,431,000 to offset similar increases in provision of £15,568,000 for administration costs, £5,504,000 for Government Offices administration costs, £8,743,000 for Fire services, £2,573,000 for The Planning Inspectorate Executive Agency, £510,000 for Ordnance Survey Trading Fund, £225,000 for Housing services, £306,000 for Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre Executive Agency Trading Fund and £2,000 for Planning.

  (iv) A transfer of £54,471,000 from resource investment to capital within Sustainable Communities.

  (v) A transfer of £376,949,000 from resource investment to capital within the Regional Development Agencies.

  (vi) A transfer of £11,000,000 to resource investment from capital within the European Structural Funds. This reflects the correction of the split between capital grants to local authorities and capital grants to the private sector.

  (vii) A transfer of £2,564,000 to resource investment from capital due to a classification error within Fire Services.

  (viii) A transfer of £390,000 to Request for Resources 2 from Request for Resources 1.

  (ix) A net transfer of £769,000 from voted to non-voted provisions comprising:

  (a) a transfer of £4,555,000 to non-voted DEL for South East of England Development Agency work in delivering Other Growth Area and Thames Gateway projects and to support Thurrock Urban Development Corporation;

  (b) transfers of £1,470,000 and £1,750,000 from Sustainable Communities Plan and New Ventures Fund respectively to non-voted DEL;

  (c) a transfer of £459,000 to non-voted Housing Corporation;

  (d) a transfer of £2,000,000 from non-voted resource investment DEL to voted capital DEL for Housing programmes;

  (e) a transfer of £2,300,000 to voted DEL for the Thames Gateway programmes;

  (f) a transfer of £3,165,000 to voted DEL to fund capital charge on Fire Service College assets;

  (x) Provision of £4,500,000 in respect of future pension liability for non-voted Housing Corporation. This is a classification change.

  (xi) Provision of £1,000,000 in respect of future pension liability for non-voted English Partnerships. This is a classification change.

  (xii) As a result of the changes to Request for Resources 1, The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister's administration provision has been increased by £17,642,000 from £408,920,000 to £426,562,000.

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

  (i) take up of end year flexibility of £2,708,000 comprising of:

  (a) £2,217,000 for the Disable Facilities Grant;

  (b) £50,000 from the Invest to Save Budget for Fire Services;

  (c) £40,000 from the Capital Modernisation Fund for Public Space improvement programme;

  (d) £401,000 from Sustainable Communities;

  (ii) A transfer of £54,471,000 from resource investment to capital within Sustainable Communities.

  (iii) A transfer of £376,949,000 from resource investment to capital within the Regional Development Agencies.

  (iv) A transfer of £11,000,000 from capital to resource investment within the European Structural Funds. This reflects the correction of the split between capital grants to local authorities and capital grants to the private sector.

  (v) A transfer of £2,564,000 from capital to resource investment due to a classification error within Fire Services.

  (vi) A transfer of £8,772,000 to Department of Transport comprising of £4,244,000 for shared IT projects and £4,528,000 for European Structural Funds provision.

  (vii) Within the capital element of the DEL there is a net transfer of £10,130,000 from voted to non-voted provision comprising of: £1,030,000 from voted to non-voted provisions in respect of the Ordnance Survey Trading Fund; a transfer of £2,000,000 from non-voted resource DEL to capital DEL for Housing programme; a transfer of £10,800,000 to non-voted DEL for English Partnership work on Pathfinder projects and a transfer of £300,000 to non voted Housing Corporation.

  (2) The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister's Local Government DEL will be increased by £1,923,000 from £41,359,492,000 to £41,361,415,000. Within the DEL change, the impact on resources and capital are as set out in the following table:

  £'000s

  Change

  Voted

  New DEL Non-voted

  Total

  Resource

  870

  40,929,679

  97,973

  41,027,652

  Capital

  1,053

  324,710

  9,053

  333,763

  Depreciation*

  -400

  -400

  0

  -400

  Total

  1,523

  41,253,989

  107,026

  41,361,015

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

  (i) take up of End Year Flexibility of £550,000 comprising:

  (a) £250,000 for Best Value Parish Councils;

  (b) £300,000 for Valuation services;

  (ii) a transfer of £390,000 from Request for Resources 1.

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  (iii) a transfer of £39,000 from the Office of National Statistics for Local Government research, publicity, mapping and electoral law costs.

  (iv) a transfer of £109,000 of the Standards Board own spending to capital.

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

  (i) take up of End Year Flexibility of £944,000 for the Standards Board own spending.

  (ii) a transfer of £109,000 of the Standards Board own spending from resource.

  Housing Bill
  The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (Yvette Cooper)
  On Friday the Government tabled amendments to the Housing Bill, which is currently being considered by the House in Committee. These amendments meet a number of the recommendations of the Park Homes Working Party and aim to deal with some of the key concerns about the existing legislation.

  They amend the Mobile Homes Act 1983 to require a written statement of terms to be given to a prospective occupier 28 days before the agreement to station a park home on a site is entered into. At present Written statements may be given up to three months after the agreement has commenced.

  In the event of the owner failing to produce the written statement in advance, any express terms contained in the agreement will not be enforceable at the suit of the owner. This is to encourage the site owner to produce the written statement in advance, and is not likely to hold up the process of a sale.

  The amendments create a power by which the Secretary of State (in Wales the National Assembly for Wales) can add additional terms to be implied into the agreement, and repeal and vary those in the Mobile Homes Act 1983. This power might be used, for example, to give an occupier the right to quiet enjoyment of their home, whereas currently an occupier would have to go to court to have this term implied into their agreement.

  Because existing agreements are of infinite duration, we need to be able to amend the statutory implied terms for existing agreements, where these are clearly inadequate. Provision has therefore been made for the first exercise of the power to have retrospective effect, i.e. to allow amendment of the implied terms operating as part of existing agreements. Future exercises of the power will be non-retrospective. Any order made under the power is subject to affirmative resolution by both Houses of Parliament, and the clause contains a consultation requirement for the Secretary of State to consult interested parties as to the proposed amendments. Representatives of both site owners and occupiers will therefore be consulted about the terms of any order to be made.

  Site owners will in future have a time limit of 28 days for giving or withholding approval of a prospective purchaser. By the end of this time limit a decision must have been given in writing. If not, the occupier can apply to the court for an order giving approval to that purchaser, which if given would involve the site owner in costs.
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  The age of a home is removed as a relevant criterion for ending an agreement. Currently a site owner may terminate an agreement on grounds of 'age and condition' of the unit. The amendment will remove the reference to age from the 1983 Act, as the age of a unit is irrelevant. The amendment will enable courts to consider the condition of the unit and to allow time for appropriate repairs (if reasonably practicable).

  The amendments increase the protection of occupiers of park homes against harassment and illegal eviction by amending the Caravan Sites Act 1968 to mirror the wording in the Protection from Eviction Act 1977, which governs the protection given to occupiers of conventional housing against eviction and harassment. The wording for the existing offence for a site owner doing "acts calculated to interfere with the peace or comfort" of the occupier which cause him to abandon his home, has been relaxed to "acts likely to interfere" with such peace or comfort, which is obviously an easier test to satisfy. A new offence has been introduced which does not require specific intent by a site owner or his agent to cause an occupier to abandon his home. This will increase the protection available to occupiers and the chances of successful prosecutions.

  The remaining recommendations of the Working Party need further work to ensure that when fully implemented they will work effectively in practice. To that end, we have recently commissioned consultants to develop proposals on the implementation of the recommendations in relation to site licensing.

HEALTH

  Supplementary Estimates
  The Secretary of State for Health (Dr. John Reid)
  Subject to the necessary Supplementary Estimate, the Department of Health's element of the Departmental Expenditure Limit (DEL) will be increased by £262,454,000 from £65,583,213,000 to £65,845,667,000 and the Administration Cost Limit will decrease by £4,042,000 from £297,448,000 to £293,406,000. The overall DEL including the Food Standards Agency will increase by the same amount £262,454,000 from £65,722,240,000 to £65,984,694,000. The impact on resource and capital are set out in the following table.

  Change £ million

  Voted £ million

  New DEL Non-voted £ million

  Total £ million

  Department of Health

  Resource DEL

  95.348

  63,334.252

  -310.127

  63,024.125

  Capital DEL

  167.106

  653.611

  2,167.931

  2,821.542

  Total Department of Health DEL

  262.454

  63,987.863

  1,857.804

  65,845.667

  Depreciation*

  0.078

  -352.570

  -44.369

  -396.939

  21WS

  Change £ million

  Voted £ million

  New DEL Non-voted £ million

  Total £ million

  Total Department of Health spending (after adjustment)

  262.532

  63,635.293

  1,813.435

  65,448.728

  Food Standards Agency Resources

  0

  136.368

  0

  136.368

  Capital

  0

  2.659

  0

  2.659

  Total Food Standard Agency DEL

  0

  139.027

  0

  139.027

  Depreciation*

  0

  -2.004

  0

  -2.004

  Total Food Standards Agency spending (after adjustment)

  0

  137.023

  0

  137.023

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

  The change in the DEL arises from the take up of end year flexibility £260,978,000 (£1,572,000 administration costs) for capital, revenue and administration budgets as set out in Table 6 of the Public Expenditure 2002–03 Provisional Outturn White Paper Cm 5884 published in July 2003. A net transfer from the Home Office of £1,980,000 (£50,000 administration costs) mainly for training costs at special hospitals, drugs misuse pilot projects and voluntary sector care projects helping to increase volunteers in intermediate care; from the Department of Trade and Industry £1,070,000 (£70,000 administration costs) for contributions towards the human genetics commission and to support development of genetics knowledge parks to increase understanding into a range of genetic based issues including research; from the Department for Work and Pensions £10,343,000 for the NHS low income scheme and a contribution to the care direct budget; to the Scotland Executive £88,000 for their share of the reimbursement from manufacturers 3M associated with the ending of a hip replacement programme; a net transfer to the Department for Education and Skills £12,544,000 (£-1,733,000 administration costs) mainly for capital projects, machinery of government changes and NHS diploma students offset by contributions towards teenage pregnancy, children's trusts and communications budgets; a net transfer from the DHSS Northern Ireland £735,000 for out of area treatments offset by a contribution to CJD care fund; to the National Assembly for Wales £20,000 (administration costs) for prison healthcare.

  The administration cost limit has reduced by £4,042,000 from £297,448,000 to £293,406,000. In addition to the changes detailed above there is a decrease of £3,981,000 for transfers to programme budgets mainly for capitalisation of software developments.

NORTHERN IRELAND

  Supplementary Estimates
  The Secretary of State for Northern Ireland (Mr. Paul Murphy)
  Subject to Parliamentary approval of any necessary Supplementary Estimate, the Northern Ireland Office (NIO) DEL will be increased by £28,325,000 from £1,180,916,000 to £1,209,241,000. The administration cost limit has been increased by £34,000 from £163,375,000 to £163,409,000. Within the DEL change, the impact on resources and capital are as set out in the following table:

  Change

  New DEL

  Of which: Voted

  Non-voted

  Resource

  28,325

  1,136,389

  400,441

  735,948

  Capital

  0

  72,852

  30,113

  42,739

  Depreciation*

  10,956

  22,209

  27,467

  49,676

  Total

  17,369

  408,345

  751,220

  1,159,565

  * 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 resource element of the DEL arises from a change in the budgeting treatment for pension schemes (£25,000,000) and from the net effect of transfers to and from other Government Departments (£3,325,000). The increase in administration costs (£34,000) is also, as a net effect of transfers to and from other Government Departments.

  General Consumer Council
  The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Northern Ireland (Mr. Ian Pearson)
  The General Consumer Council for Northern Ireland 2002–03 annual report and accounts were deposited in the Library of the House today.

HOME DEPARTMENT

  Supplementary Estimates
  The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department (Fiona Mactaggart)
  Subject to Parliamentary approval of any necessary supplementary estimate, the Charity Commission DEL will be increased by £83,000 from £28,198,000 to £28,281,000 and the administration costs limit will be increased by £83,000 from £27,409,000 to £ 27,492,000. Within the DEL change, the impact on resources and capital are as set out in the following table:

  £'000s

  Change

  Voted

  New DEL Non-voted

  Total

  Resource

  83,000

  27,492,000

  -

  27,492,000

  Capital

  -

  1,399,000

  -

  1,399,000

  Depreciation*

  -

  -610,000

  -

  -610,000

  Total

  83,000

  28,281,000

  -

  28,281,000

  The change in the resource element of the DEL arises from the take-up of £83,000 End-Year Flexibility funding, of which £50,000 will fund unavoidable medical retirements, £15,000 will fund costs relating to

  23WS
  the replacement of the Commission's current payroll provider and £18,000 will fund the implementation of a non-pay staff benefit scheme. The change in the administration costs limit arises from the same take-up of £83,000 resource End-Year Flexibility funding.

  The Secretary of State for the Home Department (Mr. David Blunkett)
  Plans of changes to the Departmental Expenditure Limit and Administrative Cost Limit for 2003–04.

  Subject to Parliamentary approval of the necessary Supplementary Estimate, the Home Office's Departmental Expenditure Limits (DEL) for 2003–04 will be increased by £238,426,000 from £12,534,970,000 to £12,773,396,000. These changes cause the administration costs limit to increase by £38,097,000 from £3,431,703,000 to £3,469,800,000. In addition to normal administration costs, the Home Office administration costs limit also includes the costs of front line Prison, and Immigration service staff. Within the DEL change, the impact on resources and capital are as set out in the following table:

  £'000s

  Change

  Voted

  New DEL Non-voted

  Total

  Resource

  226,341

  10,357,050

  1,569,960

  11,927,010

  Capital

  27,023

  841,847

  241,295

  1,083,142

  Depreciation*

  14,938

  -197,663

  -39,093

  -236,756

  Total

  238,426

  11,001,234

  1,772,162

  12,773,396

  *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 resource element of the DEL arises from: revised IND budget addition of £171,000,000 comprising £33,899,000 to subhead 11, £143,668,000 to subhead I2, reduction of £6,977,000 to subhead I3 and a reduction in receipts of £410,000 to subhead I5; £52,500,000 additional resources for the Recovered Assets Incentive Scheme; EYF of £2,662,000 programme expenditure to RfR 1 subhead C2

  ISB funds: £1,051,000 to RfR 1 subhead H3 for the GuideStar UK project;

  Additional resources of £7,179,000: for RfR2 subhead B1 following an adjustment to the imputed cost of capital associated with the Prisons PFI contract;

  Transfers from other Government Departments total £11,719,000. This comprises:
  £7,502,000 from the Department for Constitutional Affairs to RfR 1 comprising £4,850,000 to subhead ADS for meeting the needs of the Criminal justice IT delivery plan; £2,610,000 to subhead E2 for Crown courts; £24,000 to subhead H3 for strategic funding of Mediation UK and £18,000 to subhead E3 as a contribution to the group of states against corruption (GRECO).
  £2,215,000 from the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister to RfR 1 comprising £2,000,000 to subhead B3 for capacity building in 67 neighbourhoods with high crime rates; £155.000 to subhead H3 in respect of the Adventure Capital fund; £60,000 to subhead B1 for work on local public service agreements.
  24WS
  £50,000 from the Office of National Statistics to RfR1 subhead K1 for work associated with the neighbourhood statistics programme.
  £1,792,000 from the Department for Education and Skills to RfR 1 comprising £1,500,000 to subhead AMI; £159,000 to subhead H3 for the mentor point programme and £133,000 to subhead AM2 for Treasury solicitors fees on past litigation for approved schools.
  £140,000 from Customs and Excise to RfR1 subhead A2 for funding the special projects and electro mechanical services.
  £20,000 from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office to RfR1 subhead E3 as a contribution to the group of states against corruption (GRECO);

  Transfers to other government departments totalling £19,756,000. This comprises:
  £628,000 from RfR1 to the Department for Constitutional Affairs comprising £500,000 from subhead E2 for local criminal justice boards; £68,000 from subhead HI for staff costs involved in administering the golden jubilee awards in the Scottish and Welsh Devolved administrations and £60,000 from subhead E3 for the victims and witnesses survey.
  £63,000 from RfR 2 subhead C1 to the Department for Constitutional Affairs for staff costs for prison adjudicators.
  £5,950,000 from RfR1 to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office comprising £2,088,000 from subhead I1 for the European Union Residence Permit; £305,000 from subhead I1 for the Colombo biometrics pilot; £250,000 from subhead I1 for the wider biometrics scoping study;
  £185,000 from subhead I1 for the East Africa biometrics project; £2,000,000 from subhead D3 and £1,000,000 from subhead C2 for contributions towards the FCO's Afghanistan drugs plan and £122,000 from subhead K2 for research into techniques for identifying and measuring opium cultivation.
  £4,199,000 from RfR1 to the Crown Prosecution Service comprising £3,300,000 from subhead C2 for costs associated with the proceeds of crime act 2002; £500,000 from subhead El for the confidence unit and £210,000 from subhead C3 to cover cost under the recovered asset incentive fund; £189,000 from subhead B2 to support joint working and improve effective use of enforcement measures for Anti-Social Behaviour.
  £3,413,000 from RfR1 to Customs and Excise comprising £1,570,000 from subhead C2 for costs associated with Project Cyclamen; £1,003,000 from subhead C3 for legal teams associated with the proceeds of crime act and £840,000 from subhead C3 for the Regional Assets recovery Teams project.
  £1,980,000 from RfR1 to the Department of Health comprising £1,000,000 from subhead D3 for heroin pilots in the Drug Misuse service; £270,000 from subhead H3 for immediate care services and £150,000 from subhead H3 for "Care direct", a match funded project; £50,000 from subhead AM1 for funding of the Mental Health bill team and £510,000 from subhead AM2 for central support cost for the Community Project (£350,000); for CBT training at Ashworth Hospital (£97,000); for general training at Broadmoar and Rampton Hospital (£25,000 each) and for evaluation of the Drug Education/Young People pooled Budget (£13,000).
  £1,080,000 from RfR1 to the Cabinet Office comprising of £1,050,000 from subhead C2 for drugs projects and £30,000 from subhead AM1 for cost associated with the Carter review.

  25WS
  £406,000 from RfR1 to the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister for business crime advisor and anti social behaviour unit.
  £417,000 from RfR2 to the Department for Trade and Industry comprising £385,000 from subhead C2 and £32,000 from subhead C1 for the pay review body.
  £288,000 from RfR1 to the Department for Education and Skills comprising £201,000 from subhead I1 for the moorfoot building agreement; £54,000 from subhead H3 for the community championship programme and £33,000 from subhead B1 for the street crime action team.
  £610,000 from RfR 2 subhead A2 to the Department for Education and Skills for transferring education responsibility from HMPS.
  £642,000 to the National Assembly of Wales comprising £250,000 from RfR 1 subhead D3 for throughcare and aftercare; £43,000 from RfR 1 subhead B1 for business crime reduction advisors and £349,000 from RfR2 subhead Al for additional prison health care costs
  £55,000 from RfR 1 subhead H3 to the Ministry of Defence for volunteering opportunities, a match funded project.
  £25,000 from RfR 1 subhead C3 to the Asset Recovery Agency for the Recovered Assets Incentive Fund;

  Machinery of Government changes totalling £14,000 comprising:

  Additional £14,000 provision for Family policy to be transferred from RfR 1 subhead H1 "Community policy" to the Department for Education and Skills;

  The change in the capital element of DEL arises from:

  Revised IND capital budget addition of £46,000,000;

  EYF totalling £11,295,000 comprising:

  £10,000,000 to RfR2 subhead A7 for building prison capacity; £654,000 capital expenditure to RfR 1 subhead C7 and £641,000 to RfR 1 subhead L7 for work relating to the Hoclas project;

  Transfers to other government departments totalling £30,272,000. This comprises:
  £22,324,000 from RfR1 to the Department for Constitutional Affairs comprising £15,800,000 from subhead E7 to meet the cost of the overall delivery plan for 2003–04; £5,000,000 from subhead E7 for the crown courts; £1,000,000 from the Departmental unallocated provision for criminal justice IT work; £264,000 from subhead E7 to support improvements in inputting Crown Court decisions into the Police National Computer and £260,000 from subhead E7 for IT interface work. £5,500,000 from RfR1 subhead 17 to the Ministry of Defence in respect of RAF Newton.
  £2,047,000 from RfR1 to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office comprising £1,013,000 from subhead 17 for the new visa regime in Kingston, Jamaica; £912,000 from subhead 17 for the European Union Residence Permit and £122,000 from subhead 17 for capital expenditure on biometrics in East Africa.
  £401,000 from RtR1 subhead C7 to Customs and Excise for costs associated with Project Cyclamen.

PRIME MINISTER

  Supplementary Estimates
  The Prime Minister (Mr. Tony Blair)
  Subject to Parliamentary approval of any necessary Supplementary Estimate, the Security and Intelligence Agencies' DEL will be increased by £27,620,000 from £1,497,446,000 to £1,525,066,000 and the administration costs limits will be increased by 26WS
  £4,295,000 from £566,324,000 to £570,619,000. Within the DEL change, the impact on resources and capital are as set out in the following table:

  £'000s

  Change

  Voted

  New DEL Non-voted

  Total

  Resource

  13,819,000

  1,119,106,000

  11,750,000

  1,130,856,000

  Capital

  14,402,000

  530,411,000

  5,000,000

  535,411,000

  Depreciation*

  601,000

  141,201,000

  -

  141,201,000

  Total

  27,620,000

  1,508,316,000

  16,750,000

  1,525,066,000

  *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 resource element of the DEL arises from:

  1. the take up of End of Year Flexibility of £9,198,000.

  2. a transfer of £7,016,000 from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office to reflect funding for Conflict prevention.

  3. a transfer of £85,000 from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office to fund planned programme activity.

  4. a transfer of £1,050,000 from the Home Office.

  5. a transfer of £120,000 from the Ministry of Defence for the payment of electricity.

  6. a switch of £2,000,000 to Capital.

  7. a decrease of £735,000 Resource due to an increase of £735,000 in the forecast Profit on Sale of an asset. This is a non-cash item.

  8. a decrease of £915,000 in other non-cash items due to new
  forecasts.

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

  1. the take up of End of Year Flexibility of £ 11,531,000.

  2. a switch of £2,000,000 from Resource.

  3. a transfer of £861,000 to the Cabinet Office.

  4. An increase of £1,732,000 due to the virement of' £735,000 from Resource (non-cash) to Capital (cash) from the profit of a sale of an asset and £997,000 to correct the figures given in the Winter Supplementary.

CABINET OFFICE

  Supplementary Estimates
  The Minister for the Cabinet Office and Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster (Mr. Douglas Alexander)
  Subject to Parliamentary approval of any necessary supplementary estimate, the Cabinet Office DEL will be increased by £2,043,000 from £311,289,000 to £313,332,000 and the gross administration costs limits will be increased by £2,644,000 from £223,733,000 to £226,377,000. Within the DEL change, the impact on resources and capital are as set out in the following table:

  £'000s

  Change

  Voted

  New DEL Non-voted

  Total

  Resource

  1,182

  277,297

  0

  277,297

  Capital

  861

  86,189

  0

  86,189

  Depreciation*

  0

  -50,154

  0

  -50,154

  Total

  2,043

  313,332

  0

  277,297

  27WS
  *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 resource element of the DEL arises from additions from the DEL reserve of £3,500,000 for human resources restructuring, draw down of £140,000 end year flexibility on Invest to Save funding provided to the Centre for Management and Policy Studies and net transfers to other government departments of £2,458,000.

  The change in the capital element of the DEL arises from transfers from other departments of £861,000.

SOLICITOR-GENERAL

  Supplementary Estimates
  The Solicitor-General (Ms Harriet Harman)
  Subject to Parliamentary approval of any necessary supplementary estimate, the Attorney-General's DEL will be increased by £19,955,000 from £568,904,000 to £588,859,000 and the administration costs limits will be increased by £9,683,000 from £429,591,000 to £439,274,000. Within the DEL change, the impact on resources and capital are as set out in the following table:

  £'000s

  Change

  Voted

  New DEL Non-voted

  Total

  Resource

  19,575,000

  573,179,000

  0

  573,179,000

  Capital

  380,000

  15,680,000

  0

  15,680,000

  Depreciation*

  0

  -4,573,000

  0

  -4,573,000

  Total

  19,955,000

  584,286,000

  0

  584,286,000

  *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 Crown Prosecution Service's element of the Attorney-General's DEL will be increased by £16,574,000 from £511,661,000 to £528,235,000 and the Administration Costs Limit will he increased by £7,683,000 from £401,574,000 to £409,257,000.

  The change in the resource element of the DEL arises from:
  Administration costs changes resulting from the take up of DEL End-Year Flexibility of £5,000,000, as set out in the Public Expenditure Outturn White Paper (Cm 5884); a transfer of £543,000 from the Department of Constitutional Affairs to support Effective Trial Management pilots; a transfer of £500,000 from the Home Office to support Local Criminal Boards in increasing local confidence in the Criminal Justice System; a transfer of £40,000 from the Department of Constitutional Affairs to fund Local Criminal Justice Board support; and an internal transfer of £1,600,000 from programme expenditure to administration costs to support the increased deployment of Higher Court Advocates in the Crown Court; and
  Programme expenditure changes in respect of the take-up of DEL End-Year Flexibility of £6,792,000, as set out in the Public Expenditure Outturn White Paper (Cm 5884); a transfer of £3,300,000 from the Home Office to support the joint delivery of government targets for recovering Proceeds of Crime; a transfer of £210,000 from the Home Office Recovered Assets Incentivisation Fund to fund a Scoping Study and Framework Agreement for the Appointment of
  28WS
  Receivers; a transfer of £189,000 from the Home Office to support joint working and improve effective use of enforcement measures for Anti-Social Behaviour; a internal transfer of £1,600,000 programme expenditure to administration costs to support the increased deployment Higher Court Advocates in the Crown Court; and a transfer of £7,000,000 from non-voted Departmental Unallocated Provision to voted programme expenditure in resource DEL.

  The Serious Fraud Office's DEL will be increased by £3,000,000 from £28,850,000 to £31,850,000 and the Administration Costs Limit will be increased by £2,000,000 from £18,475,000 to £20,475,000.

  The change in the resource element of the DEL arises from a part claim on the DEL Reserve of £1,000,000 in respect of additional costs relating to two blockbuster cases; the take-up of End-Year Flexibility of £1,000,000 administration costs and £1,000,000 resource programme costs.

  The change in the capital element of the DEL arises from the take-up of end year flexibility of £380,000 capital relating to the increase in IT expenditure.

  The Treasury Solicitor's Departmental DEL will be increased by £1,000 from £13,093,000 to £13,094,000. A £1,000 token increase arises from additional demand for legal services provided to other Government Departments.

  There is no increase in the Treasury Solicitors Administration Cost Limit and no claims on the DEL Re serve or End-Year Flexibility have been made.

DEFENCE

  Nimrod MRA4
  The Secretary of State for Defence (Mr. Geoffrey Hoon)
  We announced, in February last year, that agreement had been reached with BAE SYSTEMS on the way ahead for the Nimrod MRA4 programme and undertook to report significant developments to the House. We are pleased to announce that, following detailed negotiations, a contract amendment, formally embodying the Agreement, was signed on 23 February 2004.

  Signature of the contract amendment demonstrates the positive relationship between the MOD and the Company and the joint commitment to deliver this important military capability within the terms of our agreement. This contract amendment. however, although important, is not an end in itself. The work over the past year in putting the Agreement into effect has set the programme on a much sounder footing for the future. Risks and challenges remain however, and we are working hard, with the Company, to assure the long-term stability of the programme.

TRADE AND INDUSTRY

  Supplementary Estimates
  The Secretary of state for Trade and Industry (Ms Patricia Hewitt)
  Subject to Parliamentary approval of any necessary supplementary estimate, the Office of Gas and Electricity Markets DEL will be decreased by £799,000 from £1,531,000 to £732,000 and the administration costs limits will remain unchanged at
  29WS
  £1,398,000. Within the DEL change, the impact on resources and capital are as set out in the following table:

  £'000s

  Change

  Voted

  New DEL Non-voted

  Total

  Resource

  1,000

  682,000

  -

  682,000

  Capital

  -

  50,000

  -

  50,000

  800,000

  Depreciation*

  -

  -

  -

  -

  1,300,000

  1,300,000

  Total

  -

  -

  -

  568,000

  799,000

  568,000

  *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 resource element of the DEL arises from additional programme costs of £1,201,000 in respect of higher than expected costs of energywatch. There is no change in the administration cost due to a compensating increase in appropriations in aid of £1,200,000.

  The change in the capital element of the DEL arises from higher than expected receipts from the sale of capital assets.

  The Secretary of State for Trade and Industry (Ms Patricia Hewitt)
  Subject to Parliamentary approval of the necessary supplementary Estimate, the Department of Trade & Industry's DEL will be increased by £280,472,000 from £5,297,355,000 to £5,577,827,000 and the administration costs limits will be increased by £2,998,000 from £431,695,000 to 0434,693,000.

  Within the DEL change, the impact on resources and capital is as set out in the following table:

  Change

  Voted

  New DEL Non-voted

  Total

  Resource

  224,012

  1,072,089

  3,870,623

  4,942,712

  (£000)

  Capital (£000)

  56,460

  310,301

  324,814

  635,115

  Depreciation*

  0

  -

  -

  -

  (£000)

  20,841

  93,159

  114,000

  Total (£000)

  280,472

  1,361.549

  4,102,278

  5,463,827

  *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 resource element of the DEL arises from:

  RfR1

  i) a transfer of £11,200,000 from the Ministry of Defence in support of dual-use Aero Engine technology programmes;

  ii) a transfer of £67,000 to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in respect of the subscription to UNCLOS;

  iii) a transfer of £385,000 from the Home Office in respect of the Prison Services Pay Review Body;

  iv) a transfer from the Ministry of Defence of £43,000 in respect of the Armed Forces Pay Review Body and £16,000 in respect of the Senior Salaries Review Body;

  30WS

  v) a transfer of £58,000 from the Northern Ireland Office in respect of the Prison Services Pay Review Body;

  vi) a transfer of £15,000 from the Cabinet Office in respect of the Senior Salaries Pay Review Body;

  vii) a transfer of £79,000 from the Department for Education and Skills in respect of the School Teachers Pay Review Body;

  viii) a transfer of £49,000 from the Department for Transport in respect of the FP6 Sustainable Surface Transport programme;

  ix) a transfer of £195,000 to the Department for Transport for the Low CVP Permanent Secretariat;

  x) reclassification of £24,000,000 in respect of OFCOM establishment costs from resource to capital expenditure;

  xi) a virement of £9,786,000 from voted Cost of Capital to non-voted Cost of Capital in respect of Companies House and the Patent Office;

  xii) transfer of £1,000,000 to the Department of Health in respect of Genetic Knowledge Parks;

  xiii) utilisation of £12,200,000 from the unused balance of the Department's End-Year Flexibility entitlement in respect of Nuclear Support for the former Soviet Union;

  (xiv) utilisation of £3,862,000 from the unused balance of the Department's End-Year Flexibility entitlement in respect of the Rover Task Force;

  (xv) utilisation of £19,541,000 from the unused balance of the Department's End-Year Flexibility entitlement in respect of Innovation and Space;

  (xvi) utilisation of £12,000,000 from the unused balance of the Department's End-Year Flexibility entitlement in respect of the Modernisation of the Post Office Network;

  (xvii) utilisation of £50,000 from the Capital Modernisation Fund in respect of the Evidence Based Policy Fund study of the UK's e-business performance;

  (xviii) an increase of £1,498,000 in the non-voted expenditure of Postwatch and an equivalent increase in voted receipts;

  (xix) a classification change of £17,683,000 from capital to current expenditure in respect of the National Measurement System PFI deal;

  (xx) an increase of £63,893,000 in the non-voted expenditure of the Regional Development Agencies and an equivalent increase in voted receipts;

  (xxi) utilisation of £4,500,000 of the unused balance of the Department's End-Year Flexibility entitlement in respect of non-voted expenditure of the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority;

  (xxii) utilisation of £15,260,000 of the unused balance of the Department's End-Year Flexibility entitlement for non-voted expenditure of the Competition Commission.

  31WS
  RfR2

  i) utilisation of £2,930,000 from the unused balance of the Department's End-Year Flexibility entitlement for non-voted expenditure of the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council;

  ii) utilisation of £461,000 from the unused balance of the Department's End-Year Flexibility entitlement for non-voted expenditure of the Medical Research Council;

  iii) utilisation of £1,541,000 from the unused balance of the Department's End-Year Flexibility entitlement for non-voted expenditure of the Council for the Central Laboratory of the Research Councils;

  iv) utilisation of £9,456,000 for resource and £239,000 for capital grants from the unused balance of the Department's End-Year Flexibility entitlement for non-voted expenditure of the Natural Environment Research Council;

  v) utilisation of £22,569,000 from the unused balance of the Department's End-Year Flexibility entitlement for non-voted expenditure of the Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council;

  (vi) a transfer of £200,000 from the Department for Education and Skills in respect of Women's Resource Centres;

  vii) utilisation of £24,012,000 from the unused balance of the Department's End-Year Flexibility entitlement for the Higher Education Innovation Fund.

  Office of Deputy Prime Minister Estimate

  i) utilisation of £67,427,000 from the unused balance of the Department's End-Year Flexibility entitlement for European Regional Development Fund expenditure borne of the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister's Estimate;

  ii) utilisation of £22,000,000 from the unused balance of the Department of Work and Pension's End-Year Flexibility entitlement under the PES pool arrangement for European Development Fund expenditure borne on the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister's Estimate.

  Also within the change to resource DEL, the changes to administration costs limit are:

  RfR1

  i) a transfer of £32,000 from the Home Office in respect of the Prison Services Pay Review body;

  ii) a transfer of £17,000 from the Department of Constitutional Affairs in respect of the Senior Salaries Pay Review body;

  iii) a transfer of £105,000 from the Department of Environment Food and Rural Affairs in respect of the Farm Business Advice Service;

  iv) a transfer of £300,000 from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in respect of UK Trade and Investment E-business;

  v) implementation of an agreed classification change of £824,000 from capital to administration in respect of UK Trade and Investment E-business;

  vi) utilisation of £290,000 of Invest to Save funding in respect of Claims Handling in the Redundancy Payments Service;

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  vii) implementation of an agreed virement from programme to administration of £1,500,000 in respect of the Liabilities Management Authority.

  RfR2

  i) a transfer of £70,000 to the Department of Health in respect of the Human Genetics Commission.

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

  RfR1

  i) utilisation of £14,100,000 of capital from the unused balance of the Department's End-Year Flexibility entitlement for non-voted expenditure of the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority;

  ii) an increase of £21,995,000 in the non-voted capital expenditure of the Regional Development Agencies and an equivalent increase in voted receipts;

  iii) reclassification of £24,000,000 in respect of OFCOM establishment costs from resource to capital expenditure;

  iv) utilisation of £20,000,000 from the unused balance of the Department's End-Year Flexibility entitlement for research establishment capital in respect of the National Measurement System and the Teddington PFI deal;

  v) implementation of a classification change of £824,000 from capital to current expenditure in respect of E-business;

  vi) a transfer of £816,000 to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in respect of E-business;

  vii) implementation of an agreed virement of £17,683,000 from capital to resource in respect of the National Measurement System Private Finance Initiative deal, and a classification change of £17,683,000 to reflect the on-balance sheet impact of the National Physical Laboratory virement.

CONSTITUTIONAL AFFAIRS

  Supplementary Estimates
  The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Constitutional Affairs (Mr. Christopher Leslie)
  Subject to Parliamentary approval of any necessary Supplementary Estimate, the Department for Constitutional Affairs, Northern Ireland Court Service and National Archives: Public Records Office and Historical Manuscripts Commission Departmental Expenditure Limit (DEL) will be increased by £213,545,000 from £3,129,794,000 to £3,343,339,000 and the administration costs limit will be increased by £96,333,000 from £832,843,000 to £929,176,000. Within the DEL change, the impact on resources and capital are as set out in the following table:

  Change

  Voted

  New DEL Non-voted

  Total

  Resource

  166,106,000

  1,128,447,000

  2,112,305,000

  3,240,752,000

  Capital

  49,737,000

  167,539,000

  11,107,000

  178,646,000

  Depreciation*

  -2,298,000

  -74,592,000

  -1,467,000

  -76,059,000

  Total

  213,545,000

  1,221,394,000

  2,121,945,000

  3,343,339,000

  33WS
  *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 resource element of the Department of Constitutional Affairs DEL arises from:

  Request for Resources 1

  A transfer of £2,000 resources to the Home Office in relation to costs for Contribution to Group of States Against Corruption (GRECO); a transfer of £24,000 resources to the Home Office in relation to Strategic Grant Funding of Mediation UK; a transfer of £7,460,000 admin costs to the Home Office in relation to Criminal Justice Information Technology (CJIT) transfers; a transfer of £500,000 resources from the Home Office in relation to Criminal Justice Service Confidence Unit (CJSCU) funding for local Boards; a transfer of £60,000 resources front the Home Office in relation to Victims & Witnesses Survey; a transfer of £63,000 administration costs from Home Office in relation to staff costs for prison adjudicators; a transfer of £775,000 administration costs from the Department for Work and Pensions in relation to the State Pension Credit Act 2002; a transfer of £425,000 administration costs from the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister in relation to Machinery of Government changes for devolution; a transfer of £7,000 administration costs from the HM Customs in relation to Funding for Civil Penalties & for Sections 17/18 FA 2003 Missing Traders Intra-Community (MTIC); a transfer of £17,000 administration costs to the Department of Trade & Industry being contribution to the Apportionment of the fees for Senior Salaries Review Body (SSRB) members; an increase of £24,000 administration costs in relation to receipts from the Office for National Statistics; a transfer of £543,000 administration costs to the Crown Prosecution Service in relation to costs for Effective Trial Management Programme (ETMP) Officers; a transfer of £40,000 administration costs to the Crown Prosecution service in relation to Local Criminal Justice Board (LCJB) Funding Suffolk; a transfer of £12,300,000 resources to the Northern Ireland Court Service in relation to funding the Legal Services Commission in Northern Ireland; a transfer of £87,000,000 administration costs from HM Treasury in relation to the Libra Reserve claim; a transfer of £43,300,000 administration costs, £60,700,000 resource costs from HM Treasury in relation to the Single Asylum Fund; an increase of £2,667,000 resources in relation to Machinery of Government; a reclassification of £5,572,000 from admin resource to programme resource in relation to CUT transfers (Crown); a reclassification of £115,000 from admin resource to programme resource in relation to an
  Invest to Save (ISB) Award; a reclassification of £23,598,000 resources from admin resource to capital DEL;

  Request for Resources 3

  £21,000 in relation to timing adjustments for the Wales Office.
  The following transfers do not form part of the Department of Constitutional Affairs DEL, but impact on the separate DEL in relation to the spending of the National Assembly for Wales:

  The take up of end year flexibility of £180,000,000 for the National Assembly for Wales;
  34WS
  Net transfers from Other Government Departments to the National Assembly for Wales of £2,311,000 as follows:

  £200,000 from the Department of Works and Pensions for the Adult Learning Inspectorate; £43,000 from the Home Office for Wales Business Crime Reduction; £50,000 from the Northern Ireland Office for Out of Area Treatments; £20,000 from the Department of Health for a Prison Health Co-ordinator; £349,000 from the Home Office for Prison Service Health Care; £250,000 from the Home Office for Through-care and Aftercare; £34,000 from the Home Office for Golden Jubilee Awards; £1,158,000 from the Department of Works and Pensions for Pension Credit Passports; £250,000 from the Forestry Commission, which is the final settlement associated with the transfer of responsibility for forestry to the Assembly; £43,000 to the Scotland Office for Out of Area Treatments.

  The change in the resource element of the Northern Ireland Court Service DEL arises from:

  a Public Expenditure Survey (PES) transfer from the Department for Constitutional Affairs of £12,300,000 in respect of the funding of publicly funded legal services in Northern Ireland and the virement of £185,000 from capital to meet a corresponding increase in "other current" expenditure.

  The change of £2,063,000 in the resource element of the National Archives DEL arises from the funding of electronic service delivery developments, which relate to the Government's 2005 target.

  The change in the capital element of the Department of Constitutional Affairs DEL arises from:

  Request for Resources 1

  a transfer of £22,324,000 capital from the Home Office in relation to CUT transfers; a transfer of £4,000,000 capital from HM Treasury in relation to the Single Asylum Fund; a reclassification of £23,598,000 from admin resources to capital DEL.

  The change in the capital element of the Northern Ireland Court Service DEL arises from:

  the virement of £185,000 from capital to "other current" to meet a corresponding increase in "other current" expenditure.

  The increase in non-voted expenditure arises from the resource consumption requirements of the Northern Ireland Legal Services Commission, a Non Departmental Public Body, which was established on 1 November 2003.

  Mental Incapacity Bill
  The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Constitutional Affairs (Mr. David Lammy)
  The Government has today published its response to the Joint Committee on the Draft Mental Incapacity Bill report which was published on 17 November 2003 (HL189–1 and HC 1083–1). Copies of the response have been placed in the Libraries of both Houses (Command Paper 6121).

  The Government would like to thank the Committee for publishing such a comprehensive report in a short period of time, and in obtaining such a wide range of evidence on the Bill. We are pleased that the Committee

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  agrees this new statutory framework is needed and that it endorses the principles and general direction of the draft Bill.

  The Committee suggested that the Bill. being about how to maximise mental capacity, should be renamed the Mental Capacity Bill and we agree with this recommendation.

  The Bill will reform the law in order to improve and clarify the decision making process for those aged 16 and over who are unable to make decisions for themselves. It will also offer, to people who have capacity, the choice to decide how they are cared for in the future by introducing new ways to plan ahead for a time when they might lose capacity.

  Over 2 million adults in England and Wales are currently affected by a lack of capacity. Many more care for someone who may need help with decision making. With increasing ageing most of us will face the risk of losing mental capacity at some point in our lives. The Bill therefore has the potential to help a high proportion of the population.

  The Department of Constitutional Affairs is working closely with the Department of Health on a revised Bill. We plan to introduce the revised Bill later in this Parliamentary session. We will also have a draft outline of the codes of practice for Parliament to see at Committee stage.

TREASURY

  Supplementary Estimates
  The Financial Secretary to the Treasury (Ruth Kelly)
  Subject to Parliamentary approval of any necessary Supplementary Estimate the Government Actuary's Department DEL will be increased by £642,000 from £983,000 to £1,625,000 and the administration costs limit will be increased by £838,000 from £2,145,000 to £2,983,000. Within the DEL change, the impact on resources and capital are set out in the following table:

  Change

  Voted

  New DEL Non-voted

  Total

  Resource

  £642,000

  £1,625,000

  -

  £1,625,000

  Capital

  0

  £1,538,000

  —

  £1,538,000

  Depreciation*

  £196,000

  -£180,000

  -

  -£180,000

  Total

  £838,000

  £2,983,000

  -

  £2,983,000

  *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 and would lead to double counting.

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

  (i) an increase of £477,000 to reflect the benefit it has received on a reduced rent currently in the first full five years of tenancy by spreading the value of the rent reduction over the 20 years of the lease,

  (ii) a claim on the DEL reserve of £165,000 to cover a sub-letting void for the property Finlaison House,

  (iii) a reduction in expenditure and associated receipts to reflect changes to GAD's 2003–04 recruitment plans.

  There is no change to the capital element of the DEL.

  Inland Revenue
  The Paymaster General (Dawn Primarolo)
  Subject to Parliamentary approval of the necessary Supplementary Estimate, the Inland Revenue net administration costs limit will be increased by £4,638,000 from £3,034,649,000 to £3,039,287,000. Within the DEL change, the impact on resources and capital is as set out in the following table:

  £000's

  Change

  Voted

  New DEL Non-voted

  Total

  Resource

  4,638

  2,684,502

  340,440

  3,024,942

  Capital

  -4,638

  202,743

  -

  202,743

  Depreciation*

  -

  -158,564

  -

  -158,564

  Total

  -

  2,693,681

  340,440

  3,069,121

  *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 resource and capital element of the DEL arises from the transfer of £4,638,000 from capital to resource.

  The Financial Secretary to the Treasury (Ruth Kelly)
  Subject to Parliamentary approval of any necessary supplementary estimate, National Savings and Investments DEL will be increased by £10,000,000 from £170,154,000 to £180,154,000 and the administration costs limits will be increased by £9,500,000 from £172,068,000 to £181,568,000. Within the DEL change, the impact on resources and capital are as set out in the following table:

  £'000s

  Change

  Voted

  New DEL Non-voted

  Total

  Resource

  9,500

  172,068

  181,568

  Capital

  0

  1,300

  1,300

  Depreciation*

  0

  -2,714

  -2,714

  Total

  9,500

  170,654

  180,154

  *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 resource element of the DEL arises from end year flexibility being drawn down to support expenditure on major project commitments. Such projects include the implementation of the new savings product and continued research on customer needs. Other projects include compliance with the Banking Code/Customer Code, Electronic Data Records Management, and others starting this financial year, which will carry forward the modernisation process of National Savings and Investments.

  There is no change in the capital element of the DEL.

  The Financial Secretary to the Treasury (Ruth Kelly)
  Subject to Parliamentary approval of any necessary Supplementary Estimate, HM Treasury DEL will be increased by £9,067,000 from £209,836,000 to £218,903,000 and the administration costs limits will be increased by £6,800,000 from £139,588,000 to
  37WS
  £146,388,000. Within the DEL change, the impact on resources and capital are as set out in the following table:

  New DEL

  Change

  Voted

  New DEL Non-voted

  Total

  Resource

  9,067,000

  187,799,000

  31,104,000

  218,903,000

  Capital

  0

  7,668,000

  0

  7,668,000

  Depreciation*

  0

  -9,055,000

  0

  -9,055,000

  Total

  9,067,000

  186,412,000

  31,104,000

  217,516,000

  *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 resource element of the DEL arises from:

  an increase in total Treasury administrative costs of £6,800,000 resulting from:

  a partial draw down of eyf of £6,050,000 for the central Treasury;

  a draw down of £250,000 from the Invest to Save Budget (ISB) to administer the ISB;

  a partial draw down of eyf of £500,000 for the Debt Management Office (DMO);

  an increase in AinA of £2,500,000 from secondments and the Lambert review of business-university collaboration, with matching spend;

  an increase in AinA of £2,200,000 from receipts for fees and charges made by the Public Works Loan Board and the Commissioners for the Reduction of the National Debt, with matching spend;

  a draw down of £131,000 programme from the Evidence Based Policy Fund to finance three projects on—team based incentives (£64,000), research into benefit savings at the local authority level (£45,000), productivity and public sector performance (£22,000);

  an increase in programme AinA of £450,000 from increased revenue for the Office of Paymaster General (OPG), with matching expenditure;

  an increase in DMO programme AinA of £350,000 for receipts from recovery of the auction costs of the National Loans Fund, with matching spend;

  a partial draw down of programme eyf of £2,136,000 for the Office of Government Commerce (OGC);

  a decrease in OGC programme AinA of £1,101,000, with matching reduction in expenditure.

  The Economic Secretary to the Treasury (John Healey)
  Subject to Parliamentary approval of any necessary supplementary estimate, the HM Customs and Excise DEL will be increased by £7,046,000, from £1,291,195,000 to £1,298,241,000 and the administration costs limits will be decreased by 38WS
  £2,235,000, from £1,132,722,000 to £1,130,487,000. Within the DEL change, the impact on resources and capital are as set out in the following table:

  £'000s

  Change

  Voted

  New DEL Non-voted

  Total

  Resource

  7,461,000

  1,215,820,000

  -

  1,215,820,000

  Capital

  -415,000

  81,421,000

  1,000,000

  82,421,000

  Depreciation*

  6,852,000

  -46,128,000

  -

  -46,128,000

  Total

  13,898,000

  1,251,113,000

  1,000,000

  1,252,113,000

  *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 resource element of the DEL arises from:
  administration costs changes resulting from a claim on the reserve of £5,000,000 to allow for the extension of the VAT strategy programme; a transfer of £805,000 to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office; virement of £6,430,000 from administration costs to programme expenditure; and
  programme expenditure changes in respect of a transfer of £1,570,000 from the Home Office to cover additional costs of anti-terrorism work; a transfer of £1,003,000 from the Home Office from the Recovered Assets Incentivisation Fund to cover the costs of a new litigation team; a transfer of £840,000 from the Home Office from the Recovered Assets Incentivisation Fund to cover the costs of new operational asset recovery teams; a transfer of £140,000 to the Home Office in respect of two special projects and Electro Mechanical services; a transfer of £7,000 to the Department for Constitutional Affairs to meet additional penalty costs.

  The change in the capital element of the DEL arises from:
  capital expenditure changes in respect of a transfer of £401,000 from the Home Office to cover additional costs of anti-terrorism work; and a transfer of £816,000 to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

  As a result of the specified resource DEL changes mentioned in the above paragraph, the administration costs limit has decreased by £2,235,000 from £1,132,722,000 to £1,130,487,000.

  The Financial Secretary to the Treasury (Ruth Kelly)
  Subject to Parliamentary approval of any necessary supplementary estimate, the Office for National Statistics DEL will be increased by £1,845,000 from £145,514,000 to £147,359,000 and the administration costs limit will be increased by £2,295,000 from £139,823,000 to £142,118,000. Within the DEL change, the impact on resources and capital are as set out in the following table:

  £'000s

  Change

  Voted

  New DEL Non-voted

  Total

  Resource

  1,845

  142,026

  -

  142,026

  Capital

  0

  19,170

  -

  19,170

  Depreciation*

  -

  -13,837

  -

  -13,837

  Total

  1,845

  147,359

  -

  147,359

  *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 resource element of the DEL arises from the draw down of £2,750,000 administration costs end year flexibility as set out in the Public Expenditure Outturn White Paper (Cm 5884). This is partially offset

  39WS
  by a transfer of £455,000 in total to other government departments in relation to work to develop the Neighbourhood Statistics programme. The transfers comprise £381,000 to the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, £24,000 to the Department for Constitutional Affairs and £50,000 to the Home Office. The change also takes account of Treasury's revised budgeting and
  40WS
  accounting treatment for income from competitively, or commercially, let research contracts funded from the EU Budget. The effect is to reduce the "Other Current" Budget, which forms part of Resource DEL, by £450,000 to £550,000. The Administration costs limit will be increased by £2,295,000 from £139,823,000 to £142,118,000.

  Security and Intelligence Agencies: Departmental Expenditure Limits
  The Lord President of the Council (Baroness Amos)
  Subject to parliamentary approval of any necessary supplementary estimate, the Security and Intelligence Agencies' DEL will be increased by £27,620,000 from £1,497,446,000 to £1,525,066,000 and the administration costs limits will be increased by £4,295,000 from £566,324,000 to £570,619,000. Within the DEL change, the impact on resources and capital are as set out in the following table:

  New DEL

  Change

  Voted

  Non-voted

  Total

  Resource

  13,819,000

  1,119,106.000

  11,750,000

  1,130,856,000

  Capital

  14,402,000

  530,411,000

  5,000,000

  535,411,000

  Depreciation1

  601,000

  141,201.000

  -

  141,201,000

  Total

  27,620,000

  1,508,316,000

  16,750,000

  1,525,066,000

  1Depreciation, 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 resource element of the DEL arises from:

  1. the take-up of end-of-year flexibility of £9,198,000.

  2. a transfer of £7,016,000 from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office to reflect funding for conflict prevention.

  3. a transfer of £85,000 from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office to fund planned programme activity.

  4. a transfer of £ 1,050,000 from the Home Office.

  5. a transfer of £120,000 from the Ministry of Defence for the payment of electricity.

  6. a switch of £2,000,000 to capital.

  7. a decrease of £735,000 resource due to an increase of £735,000 in the forecast profit on sale of an asset. This is a non-cash item.

  8. a decrease of £915,000 in other non-cash items due to new forecasts.

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

  1. the take-up of end-of-year flexibility of £11,531,000.

  2. a switch of £2,000,000 from resource.

  3. a transfer of £861,000 to the Cabinet Office.

  4. an increase of £ 1,732,000 due to the virement of £735,000 from resource (non-cash) to capital (cash) from the profit of a sale of an asset and £997,000 to correct the figures given in the winter supplementary.

  Northern Ireland Office: Departmental Expenditure Limits
  Baroness Amos
  My right honourable friend the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland has made the following Ministerial Statement.

  Subject to parliamentary approval of any necessary supplementary estimate, the Northern Ireland Office (NIO) DEL will be increased by £28,325,000 from £1,180,916,000 to £1,209,241,000. The administration cost limit has been increased by £34,000 from £163,375,000 to £163,409,000. Within the DEL change, the impact on resources and capital are as set out in the following table:

  Of which:

  Change

  New DEL

  Voted

  Non-voted

  Resource

  28,325

  1,136,389

  400,441

  735,948

  Capital

  0

  72,852

  30,113

  42,739

  Depreciation1

  10,956

  22,209

  27,467

  49,676

  Total

  17,369

  408,345

  751,220

  1,159,565

  1Depreciation, 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 resource element of the DEL arises from a change in the budgeting treatment for pension schemes (£25,000,000) and from the net effect of transfers to and from other government departments (£3,325,000). The increase in administration costs (£34,000) is also as a net effect of transfers to and from other government departments.

  General Consumer Council for Northern Ireland: Annual Report and Accounts 2002–03
  Baroness Amos
  My honourable friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Enterprise, Trade and Investment in Northern Ireland has made the following Ministerial Statement.

  The General Consumer Council for Northern Ireland 2002–03 annual report and accounts were deposited in the Library of the House today.

  Planning Policy Statement 1: Draft for Consultation
  The Minister of State, Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (Lord Rooker)
  My right honourable friend the Minister for Housing and Planning has made the following Written Ministerial Statement.

  I am today publishing for consultation a draft of Planning Policy Statement 1 (PPS1)—Creating Sustainable Communities—the core statement of the Government's key planning policies. I am also publishing a paper on the Government's approach to community involvement in planning.
  WS 13
  PPS1 is the key overarching document which sets out the Government's high level principles for planning.

  Clause 39 (Clause 38, the sustainable development clause, as was) of the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Bill requires regional and local plans to be drawn up with a view to contributing to the achievement of sustainable development. The clause requires that in doing so, planning authorities must have regard to guidance issued by the Secretary of State. PPS1 will be a key document underpinning this requirement.

  PPS1 is based on three themes:

  Planning for sustainable communities and sustainable development;

  The new approach to planning we are promoting as part of planning culture change (the spatial planning approach); and

  Community involvement in planning.

  Sustainable development

  Our legislation will make contributing to the achievement of sustainable development the key purpose of the planning system. The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister should expect planning policies to pursue proactively the four aims of sustainable development—economic development; social inclusion; environmental protection; and prudent use of natural resources—in an integrated way, in line with the Government's overall strategy for sustainable development.

  Spatial Planning

  The new regional and local plans provided for in the Bill are based on the philosophy of spatial planning. Spatial planning goes beyond traditional land use planning to bring together and integrate policies for the development and use of land with other policies and programmes which influence the nature of places and how they function.

  PPS1 sets out the spatial planning approach that will be adopted in the new planning system. These planning tools will reflect real geographies and real community issues, and are thus a flexible approach to planning and sustainable development.

  Community involvement

  Effective community involvement is a vital element in delivering sustainable communities. Our aim should be to develop effective community involvement processes which enable a better understanding of the sometimes difficult choices which have to be made in considering development and more ownership of the accompanying decisions.

  We need of course to strike a balance between promoting effective community involvement without allowing the system to be bogged down by endless consultation exercises. I want the reformed system to emphasise community involvement as a way of helping to resolve problems early in the process and secure ownership, so that when plans and proposals are put forward, there are fewer objections.
  WS 14
  The paper makes clear that community involvement should be based on a real understanding of the community's needs, should be fit for purpose, and should be front loaded—i.e. involvement early in the process.

  PPS1 can only set out the key policy principles for community involvement in planning. To put these in context, the community involvement paper sets out our general philosophy on community involvement in planning, and puts this in the broader context of policy.

  Copies of the two documents will be available in the Libraries of the House. They will also be available on the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister's website at (www.odpm.gov.uk/stellent/ groups/odpm_planning/documents/sectionhomepage/ odpm_planning_page.hcsp)

  Code of Conduct for Local Government Members
  Lord Rooker
  My right honourable friend the Minister for Local Government, Regional Governance and Fire has made the following Writ ten Ministerial Statement.

  The Government have today published a consultation paper setting out their proposals for draft regulations under Section 66 of the Local Government Act 2000. These proposals will make provision for local government monitoring officers in England. in cases where ethical standards officers of the Standards Board for England deem it appropriate, to investigate allegations that local authority members have breached their code of conduct. The Government are consulting on this issue over the next three months, and at the same time the Standards Board for England is consulting on draft guidance for monitoring officers on how they can best undertake their duties under the proposed regulations.

  We need to ensure the highest possible ethical standards in local government, but we need a system which is efficient and workable. This approach is a sensible, effective and proportionate way of handling allegations of misconduct at a local level.

  Copies of the consultation paper are being sent to local authorities and will be available in the Libraries of the House, as well as being made available on the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister's website at www.odpm.gov.uk.

  Housing Bill: Park Homes
  Lord Rooker
  My honourable friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State has made the following Written Ministerial Statement.

  On Friday the Government tabled amendments to the Housing Bill which is currently being considered by the House in Committee. These amendments meet a number of the recommendations of the Park Homes

  WS 15
  Working Party and aim to deal with some of the key concerns about the existing legislation.

  They amend the Mobile Homes Act 1983 to require a written statement of terms to be given to a prospective occupier 28 days before the agreement to station a park home on a site is entered into. At present written statements may be given up to three months after the agreement has commenced.

  In the event of the owner failing to produce the written statement in advance, any express terms contained in the agreement will not be enforceable at the suit of the owner. This is to encourage the site owner to produce the written statement in advance, and is not likely to hold up the process of a sale.

  The amendments create a power by which the Secretary of State (in Wales the National Assembly for Wales) can add additional terms to be implied into the agreement, and repeal and vary those in the Mobile Homes Act 1983. This power might be used, for example, to give an occupier the right to quiet enjoyment of their home, whereas currently an occupier would have to go to court to have this term implied into their agreement.

  Because existing agreements are of infinite duration, we need to be able to amend the statutory implied terms for existing agreements, where these are clearly inadequate. Provision has therefore been made for the first exercise of the power to have retrospective effect, i.e. to allow amendment of the implied terms operating as part of existing agreements. Future exercises of the power will be non-retrospective. Any order made under the power is subject to affirmative resolution by both Houses of Parliament, and the clause contains a consultation requirement for the Secretary of State to consult interested parties as to the proposed amendments. Representatives of both site owners and occupiers will therefore be consulted about the terms of any order to be made.

  Site owners will in future have a time limit of 28 days for giving or withholding approval of a prospective purchaser. By the end of this time limit a decision must have been given in writing. If not, the occupier can apply to the court for an order giving approval to that purchaser, which if given would involve the site owner in costs.

  The age of a home is removed as a relevant criterion for ending an agreement. Currently a site owner may terminate an agreement on grounds of "age and condition" of the unit. The amendment will remove the reference to age from the 1983 Act, as the age of a unit is irrelevant. The amendment will enable courts to consider the condition of the unit and to allow time for appropriate repairs (if reasonably practicable).

  The amendments increase the protection of occupiers of park homes against harassment and illegal eviction by amending the Caravan Sites Act 1968 to mirror the wording in the Protection from Eviction Act 1977, which governs the protection given to occupiers of conventional housing against eviction and harassment. The wording for the existing offence for a site owner doing "acts calculated to interfere with the peace or comfort" of the occupier which cause him
  WS 16
  to abandon his home has been relaxed to "acts likely to interfere" with such peace or comfort, which is obviously an easier test to satisfy. A new offence has been introduced which does not require specific intent by a site owner or his agent to cause an occupier to abandon his home. This will increase the protection available to occupiers and the chances of successful prosecutions.

  The remaining recommendations of the working party need further work to ensure that when fully implemented they will work effectively in practice. To that end, we have recently commissioned consultants to develop proposals on the implementation of the recommendations in relation to site licensing.

  Mental Incapacity
  The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs (Lord Filkin)
  The Government have today published their response to the Joint Committee on the Draft Mental Incapacity Bill report which was published on 17 November 2003 (HL189–1 and HC 1083–1). Copies of the response have been placed in the Libraries of both Houses (Command Paper 6121).

  The Government would like to thank the committee for publishing such a comprehensive report in a short period of time, and obtaining such a wide range of evidence on the Bill. We are pleased that the committee agrees this new statutory framework is needed and that it endorses the principles and general direction of the draft Bill.

  The committee suggested that the Bill. being about how to maximise mental capacity, should be renamed the Mental Capacity Bill and we agree with this recommendation.

  The Bill will reform the law in order to improve and clarify the decision-making process for those aged 16 and over who are unable to make decisions for themselves. It will also offer, to people who have capacity, the choice to decide how they are cared for in the future by introducing new ways to plan ahead for a time when they might lose capacity.

  Over 2 million adults in England and Wales are currently affected by a lack of capacity. Many more care for someone who may need help with decision-making. With increasing ageing most of us will face the risk of losing mental capacity at some point in our lives. The Bill therefore has the potential to help a high proportion of the population.

  The Department for Constitutional Affairs is working closely with the Department of Health on a revised Bill. We plan to introduce the revised Bill later in this parliamentary Session. We will also have a draft outline of the codes of practice for Parliament to see at Committee stage.

  Ofgem: Departmental Expenditure Limits
  The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Trade and Industry (Lord Sainsbury of Turville)
  My right honourable friend the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry (Ms Hewitt) has made the following Written Ministerial Statement.

  Subject to parliamentary approval of any necessary supplementary estimate, the Office of Gas and Electricity Markets DEL will be decreased by £799,000 from £1,531,000 to £732,000 and the administration costs limits will remain unchanged at £1,398,000. Within the DEL change, the impact on resources and capital are as set out in the following table:

  New DEL

  Change

  Voted

  Non-voted

  Total

  Resource

  1,000

  682,000

  —

  682,000

  Capital

  —

  50,000

  —

  50,000

  800,000

  Depreciation1

  —

  —

  —

  —

  1,300,000

  1,300,000

  Total

  —

  —

  —

  568,000

  799,000

  568,000

  1Depreciation, 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 resource element of the DEL arises from additional programme costs of £1,201,000 in respect of higher than expected costs of energywatch. There is no change in the administration cost due to a compensating increase in appropriations in aid of £1,200.000.

  The change in the capital element of the DEL arises from higher than expected receipts from the sale of capital assets.

  Department of Trade and Industry: Departmental Expenditure Limits
  Lord Sainsbury of Turville
  My right honourable friend the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry (Ms Hewitt) has made the following Written Ministerial Statement.

  Subject to parliamentary approval of the necessary supplementary estimate, the Department of Trade and Industry's DEL will be increased by £280,472,000 from £5,297,355,000 to £5,577,827,000 and the administration costs limits will be increased by £2,998,000 from £431,695,000 to £434,693,000.

  Within the DEL change, the impact on resources and capital is as set out in the following table:

  New DEL

  Change

  Voted

  Non-voted

  Total

  Resource (£000)

  224,012

  1,072,089

  3,870,623

  4,942,712

  Capital (£000)

  56,460

  310,301

  324,814

  635,115

  Depreciation1

  0

  —

  —

  —

  (£000)

  20,841

  93,159

  114,000

  Total (£000)

  280,472

  1,361,549

  4,102,278

  5,463,827

  WS 18
  1Depreciation, 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 resource element of the DEL arises from:

  RƒR1

  (i) a transfer of £11,200,000 from the Ministry of Defence in support of dual-use aero engine technology programmes;

  (ii) a transfer of £67,000 to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in respect of the subscription to UNCLOS;

  (iii) a transfer of £385,000 from the Home Office in respect of the Prison Services Pay Review Body;

  (iv) a transfer from the Ministry of Defence of £43,000 in respect of the Armed Forces Pay Review Body and £16,000 in respect of the Senior Salaries Review Body;

  (v) a transfer of £58,000 from the Northern Ireland Office in respect of the Prison Services Pay Review Body;

  (vi) a transfer of £15,000 from the Cabinet Office in respect of the Senior Salaries Pay Review Body;

  (vii) a transfer of £79,000 from the Department for Education and Skills in respect of the School Teachers Pay Review Body;

  (viii) a transfer of £49,000 from the Department for Transport in respect of the FP6 Sustainable Surface Transport programme;

  (ix) a transfer of £195,000 to the Department for Transport for the Low CVP Permanent Secretariat;

  (x) reclassification of £24,000,000 in respect of Ofcom establishment costs from resource to capital expenditure;

  (xi) a virement of £9,786,000 from voted cost of capital to non-voted cost of capital in respect of Companies House and the Patent Office;

  (xii) transfer of £1,000,000 to the Department of Health in respect of Genetic Knowledge Parks;

  (xiii) utilisation of £12,200,000 from the unused balance of the department's end-year flexibility entitlement in respect of nuclear support for the former Soviet Union;

  (xiv) utilisation of £3,862,000 from the unused balance of the department's end-year flexibility entitlement in respect of the Rover Task Force;

  (xv) utilisation of £19,541,000 from the unused balance of the department's end-year flexibility entitlement in respect of innovation and space;

  (xvi) utilisation of £12,000,000 from the unused balance of the department's end-year flexibility entitlement in respect of the modernisation of the Post Office network;

  (xvii) utilisation of £50,000 from the Capital Modernisation Fund in respect of the Evidence Based Policy Fund study of the UK's e-business performance;

  WS 19

  (xviii) an increase of £1,498,000 in the non-voted expenditure of Postwatch and an equivalent increase in voted receipts;

  (xix) a classification change of £17,683,000 from capital to current expenditure in respect of the National Measurement System PFI deal;

  (xx) an increase of £63,893,000 in the non-voted expenditure of the regional development agencies and an equivalent increase in voted receipts;

  (xxi) utilisation of £4,500,000 of the unused balance of the department's end-year flexibility entitlement in respect of non-voted expenditure of the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority;

  (xxii) utilisation of £15,260,000 of the unused balance of the department's end-year flexibility entitlement for non-voted expenditure of the Competition Commission.

  RƒR2

  (i) utilisation of £2,930,000 from the unused balance of the department's end-year flexibility entitlement for non-voted expenditure of the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council;

  (ii) utilisation of £461,000 from the unused balance of the department's end-year flexibility entitlement for non-voted expenditure of the Medical Research Council;

  (iii) utilisation of £1,541,000 from the unused balance of the department's end-year flexibility entitlement for non-voted expenditure of the Council for the Central Laboratory of the Research Councils;

  (iv) utilisation of £9,456,000 for resource and £239,000 for capital grants from the unused balance of the department's end-year flexibility entitlement for non-voted expenditure of the Natural Environment Research Council;

  (v) utilisation of £22,569,000 from the unused balance of the department's end-year flexibility entitlement for non-voted expenditure of the Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council;

  (vi) a transfer of £200,000 from the Department for Education and Skills in respect of Women's Resource Centres;

  (vii) utilisation of £24,012,000 from the unused balance of the department's end-year flexibility entitlement for the Higher Education Innovation Fund.

  Office of Deputy Prime Minister Estimate

  (i) utilisation of £67,427,000 from the unused balance of the department's end-year flexibility entitlement for European Regional Development Fund expenditure borne of the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister's estimate;

  (ii) utilisation of £22,000,000 from the unused balance of the Department for Work and Pension's end-year flexibility entitlement under the PES pool arrangement for European Development Fund expenditure borne on the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister's estimate.

  WS 20
  Also within the change to resource DEL, the changes to administration costs limit are:

  RƒR1

  (i) a transfer of £32,000 from the Home Office in respect of the Prison Services Pay Review body;

  (ii) a transfer of £17,000 from the Department for Constitutional Affairs in respect of the Senior Salaries Pay Review Body;

  (iii) a transfer of £105,000 from the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs in respect of the Farm Business Advice Service;

  (iv) a transfer of £300,000 from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in respect of UK Trade and Investment E-business;

  (v) implementation of an agreed classification change of £824,000 from capital to administration in respect of UK Trade and Investment E-business;

  (vi) utilisation of £290,000 of Invest to Save funding in respect of claims handling in the Redundancy Payments Service;

  (vii) implementation of an agreed virement from programme to administration of £1,500,000 in respect of the Liabilities Management Authority.

  RƒR2

  (i) a transfer of£70,000 to the Department of Health in respect of the Human Genetics Commission.

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

  RƒR1

  (i) utilisation of £14,100,000 of capital from the unused balance of the department's end-year flexibility entitlement for non-voted expenditure of the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority;

  (ii) an increase of £21,995,000 in the non-voted capital expenditure of the Regional Development Agencies and an equivalent increase in voted receipts;

  (iii) reclassification of £24,000,000 in respect of Ofcom establishment costs from resource to capital expenditure;

  (iv) utilisation of £20,000,000 from the unused balance of the department's end-year flexibility entitlement for research establishment capital in respect of the National Measurement System and the Teddington PFI deal;

  (v) implementation of a classification change of £824,000 from capital to current expenditure in respect of e-business;

  (vi) a transfer of £816,000 to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in respect of e-business;

  (vii) implementation of an agreed virement of £17,683,000 from capital to resource in respect of the National Measurement System private finance initiative deal, and a classification change of £17,683,000 to reflect the on-balance sheet impact of the National Physical Laboratory virement.

  Department of Health and Food Standards Agency: Departmental Expenditure Limits
  The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Health (Lord Warner)
  My right honourable friend the Secretary of State for Health has made the following Written Ministerial Statement today.

  Subject to the necessary supplementary estimate, the Department of Health's element of the departmental expenditure limit (DEL) will be increased by £262,454,000 from £65,583,213,000 to £65,845,667,000 and the administration cost limit will decrease by £4,042,000 from £297,448,000 to £293,406,000. The overall DEL including the Food Standards Agency will increase by the same amount, £262,454,000, from £65,722,240,000 to £65,984,694,000. The impact on resource and capital are set out in the following table.

  New DEL

  Change

  Voted

  Non-Voted

  Total

  £ million

  £ million

  £ million

  £ million

  Department of Health

  Resource DEL

  95.348

  63,334.252

  -310.127

  63,024.125

  Capital DEL

  167.106

  653.611

  2,167.931

  2,821.542

  Total Department of Health DEL

  262.454

  63,987.863

  1,857.804

  65,845.667

  Depreciation1

  0.078

  -352.57

  -44.369

  -396.939

  Total Department of Health spending (after adjustment)

  262.532

  63,635.293

  1,813.435

  65,448.728

  Food Standards Agency

  Resources

  0

  136.368

  0

  136.368

  Capital

  0

  2.659

  0

  2.659

  Total Food Standards Agency DEL

  0

  139.027

  0

  139.027

  Depreciation1

  0

  -2.004

  0

  -2.004

  Total Food Standards Agency spending (after adjustment)

  0

  137.023

  0

  137.023

  1Depreciation, which forms part of resource DEL, is excluded from the total DEL since the capital DEL includes capital spending and to include depreciation of those assets would lead to double counting.

  The change in the DEL arises from the take-up of end-year flexibility £260,978,000 (£1,572,000 administration costs) for capital, revenue and administration budgets as set out in Table 6 of the Public Expenditure 2002–03 Provisional Outturn White Paper Cm 5884 published in July 2003. A net transfer from the Home Office of £ 1,980,000 (£50,000 administration costs) mainly for training costs at special hospitals, drugs misuse pilot projects and voluntary sector care projects helping to increase volunteers in intermediate care; from the Department of Trade and Industry £1,070,000 (£70,000 administration costs) for contributions towards the human genetics commission and to support development of genetics knowledge parks to increase understanding into a range of genetic-based issues
  WS 22
  including research; from the Department for Work and Pensions £10,343,000 for the NHS low-income scheme and a contribution to the care direct budget; to the Scotland Executive £88,000 for their share of the reimbursement from manufacturers 3M associated with the ending of a hip replacement programme; a net transfer to the Department for Education and Skills £12,544,000 (£-1,733,000 administration costs) mainly for capital projects, machinery of government changes and NHS diploma students offset by contributions towards teenage pregnancy, children's trusts and communications budgets; a net transfer from the DHSS Northern Ireland £735,000 for out-of-area treatments offset by a contribution to CJD care fund; to the National Assembly for Wales £20,000 (administration costs) for prison healthcare.

  The administration cost limit has reduced by £4,042,000 from £297,448,000 to £293,406,000. In addition to the changes detailed above there is a decrease of £3,981,000 for transfers to programme budgets mainly for capitalisation of software developments.

  Cabinet Office: Departmental Expenditure Limits
  Lord Bassam of Brighton
  Subject to parliamentary approval of any necessary supplementary estimate, the Cabinet Office DEL will be increased by £2,043,000 from £311,289,000 to £313,332,000 and the gross administration costs limits will be increased by £2,644,000 from £223,733,000 to £226,377,000. Within the DEL change, the impact on resources and capital are as set out in the following table:

  New DEL

  £'000

  Change

  Voted

  Non-voted

  Total

  Resource

  1,182

  277,297

  0

  277,297

  Capital

  861

  86,189

  0

  86,139

  Depreciation1

  0

  -50,154

  0

  -50,154

  Total

  2,043

  313,332

  0

  313,332

  1Depreciation, 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 resource element of the DEL arises from additions from the DEL reserve of £3,500,000 for human resources restructuring, draw down of £140,000 end-year flexibility on Invest to Save funding provided to the Centre for Management and Policy Studies and net transfers to other government departments of £2,458,000.

  The change in the capital element of the DEL arises from transfers from other departments of £861,000.

  Nimrod MRA4
  Baroness Crawley
  My right honourable friend the Secretary of State for Defence (Mr Geoffrey Hoon) has made the following Written Ministerial Statement.

  We announced. in February last year that agreement had been reached with Bae Systems on the way ahead for the Nimrod MRA4 programme and undertook to report significant developments to the House. We are pleased to announce that, following detailed negotiations, a contract amendment, formally
  WS 24
  embodying the agreement, was signed on 23 February 2004.

  Signature of the contract amendment demonstrates the positive relationship between the MoD and the company and the joint commitment to deliver this important military capability within the terms of our agreement. This contract amendment, however, although important, is not an end in itself. The work over the past year in putting the agreement into effect has set the programme on a much sounder footing for the future. Risks and challenges remain. however, and we are working hard with the company to assure the long-term stability of the programme.