HL Deb 15 November 2004 vol 666 cc46-8WS
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 £757,138,000 from £71,541,721,000 to £72,298,859,000 and the administration cost limit will be increased by £7,194,000 from £250,776,000 to £257,970,000. The Food Standards Agency DEL will be increased by £12,803,000 from £139,675,000 to £152,478,000. The overall DEL including the Food Standards Agency will increase by £769,941,000 from £71,681,396,000 to £72,451,337,000. The impact on resource and capital is set out in the following table.

£ million
New DEL
Change Voted Non-voted Total
Department of Health
Resource DEL 651.950 69,411.276 -242.715 69,168.561
Capital DEL 105.188 248.365 2,881.933 3,130.298
Total Department of Health DEL 757.138 69,659.641 2,639.218 72,298.859
Depreciation* 0.045 -510.381 -44.477 -554.858
Total Department of Health spending (after adjustment) 757.183 69,149.260 2,594.741 71,744.001
Food Standards Agency
Resources 12.803 151.831 0 151.831
Capital 0 0.647 0 0.647
Total Food Standards Agency DEL 12.803 152.478 0 152.478
Depreciation* 0 -2.004 0 -2.004
Total Food Standards Agency spending (after adjustment) 12.803 150.474 0 150.474
*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 £826,367,000 (£7,014,000 administration costs) for capital, revenue and administration budgets as set out in table 6 of the Public Expenditure 2003–04 Provisional Outturn White Paper Cm 6293 published in July 2004. A transfer to the Department for Education and Skills of £29,945,000 (£15,000 administration costs) mainly for pay and pension indexation, contributions to the healthy schools programme and a project to widen access to healthcare professions. A net transfer to the Home Office of £25,537,000 mainly for the substance misuse planning grant, offset by funding for prison healthcare and a contribution to the work of the national oversight group and drug action teams. A net transfer to the Scottish Executive of £2,777,000 for out-of-area treatments and health publicity material, offset by a contribution for the high security infectious disease unit. A transfer to the National Assembly for Wales of £11,160,000 for out-of-area treatments and health publicity material. A transfer from the Office for National Statistics of £200,000 (£195,000 administration costs) for a contribution to the data development work of the neighbourhood statistics programme. A transfer to the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister of £10,000 for older people's services.

The administration cost limit has increased by £7,194,000 from £250,776,000 to £257,970,000 as detailed above.

The changes to the Food Standards Agency resource element of the departmental expenditure limit arise from a claim for end-year flexibility of £12,803,000 (£9,444,000 programme and £3,359,000 administration costs) to fund ongoing FSA activity including a publicity campaign to raise salt awareness with consumers and the transfer of £2,700,000 from the FSA to the Meat Hygiene Service, an executive agency of the FSA.

The Food Standards Agency (FSA) administration cost limit has increased by £3,359,000 from £50,335,000 to £53,694,000 as a result of incorporating administration cost EYF.