HL Deb 15 November 2004 vol 666 cc35-6WS
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Ministry of Defence (Lord Bach)

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

Subject to parliamentary approval of the necessary supplementary estimate, the Ministry of Defence departmental expenditure limits will be increased by £476,763,000 from £29,868,175,000 to £30,344,938,000. Within the DEL change, the impact on resources and capital are as set out in the following table:

£000s
New DEL
Change Voted Non-voted Total
Resource 364,763 31,393,762 561,434 31,955,196
Capital 112,000 6,437,780 1,220 6,439,000
Depreciation* -7,879,258 -170,000 -8,049,258
Total 476,763 29,952,284 392,654 30,344,938
*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 transfer from capital DEL to resource DEL of £350,000,000 as agreed in SR 04. Transfers totalling £14,750,000 from the Cabinet Office (£10,057,000), the Scottish Executive (£1,112,000), the Welsh Assembly (£611,000), the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (£770,000) and the Department of Trade and Industry (£2,200,000) as their share of the National Meteorological Programme and Weather Warning Service costs under a pan-government agreement.

A transfer of £13,000 from the Department for Work and Pensions as a contribution to the Veteran Agency's helpline.

An increase in resource appropriations in aid of £16,300,000 from receipt of a special dividend from the Hydrographic Office.

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

  • the take up of end year flexibility of £168,000,000 CDEL;
  • to reflect the balance sheet capitalisation of £335,000,000 for MOD Main Building, Whitehall, following a PFI refurbishment;
  • a transfer from capital DEL to resource DEL of £ 350,000,000 as agreed in SR 04;
  • to recognise a capital DEL reduction of £41 million in RfR1, for the advanced purchase of programmed equipment as UORs, under RfR 2 in 2003–04.

The changes to CDEL and RDEL will lead to an increased net cash requirement of £141,763,000.