HC Deb 24 February 2004 vol 418 cc27-8WS
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 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.

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