HL Deb 22 February 2005 vol 669 cc78-81WS
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.

Expenditure Limits

Subject to parliamentary approval of the necessary Supplementary Estimate, the Department of Trade and Industry's DEL will be increased by £204,689,000 from £5,493,803,000 to £5,698,492,000 and the administration costs limit will be reduced by £39,392,000 from £436,805,000 to £397,413,000.

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 (£000) 120,589 1,214,013 4,201,986 5,415,999
Capital (£000) 84,100 -11,564 294,057 282,493
Depreciation* (£000) -11,172 -9,277 -98,420 -107,697
Total (£000) 193,517 1,193,172 4,397,623 5,590,795

* 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

  1. (i) utilisation of £19,354,000 from the unused balance of the department's end-year flexibility entitlement in respect of impairment of venture capital funds;
  2. (ii) utilisation of £3,000,000 from the unused balance of the department's end-year flexibility entitlement in respect of nuclear support to the former Soviet Union;
  3. (iii) a transfer of £45,000 from the Department of Health in respect of the Doctors and Dentists Pay Review Body;
  4. (iv) a transfer of £19,000 from the Department of Health in respect of the Nurses and Other Health Professions Pay Review Body;
  5. (v) a transfer of £75,000 from the Department for Education and Skills in respect of the School Teachers Pay Review Body;
  6. (vi) a transfer of £50,000 from the Department for Transport in respect of the FP6 Sustainable Surface Transport programme;
  7. (vii) a transfer of £524,000 to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs in respect of the Red Meat Industry Forum;
  8. (viii) an increase to reflect reclassification of £3,500,000 from the Performance and Innovation Fund in respect of renewable energy;
  9. (ix) reclassification of £2,925,000 to RfR2 in respect of SETNET (Science, Engineering, Technology and Mathematics Network);
  10. (x) reclassification of £30,000,000 from the non-voted non-fossil fuel obligation in respect of renewable energy;
  11. (xi) reclassification of £271,000 from non-voted expenditure to voted expenditure, to reflect the funding of Smart and Enterprise grant teams and business link regional teams co-location costs, via regional development agencies;

Other Non-voted

There is also take-up of end-year flexibility by regional development agencies of £6,500,000 to provide for bad debts related to broadband aggregation bodies and £10,000,000 for write-downs of stock related to regeneration properties, an increase of £42,000 to reflect a transfer from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs for the Sustainable Consumption Round Table, and surrender of £30,000,000 relating to the non-fossil fuel obligation which is no longer required.

RfR2

  1. (i) a transfer of £32,000 to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in respect of the Year of Science in China;
  2. (ii) reclassification of £2,925,000 from RfR1 in respect of SETNET (Science, Engineering, Technology and Mathematics Network);

Also within the change to resource DEL, the changes to the administration costs limit are (RfR1):

  1. (i) a transfer of £105,000 from the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs in respect of the Farm Business Advice Service;
  2. (ii) utilisation of £18,000,000 from the unused balance of the department's end-year flexibility entitlement in relation to provisions for the voluntary early retirement scheme;
  3. (iii) a transfer of £1,155,000 from the Cabinet Office in respect of the Parliamentary Counsel Office;
  4. (iv) a transfer of £700,000 to the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister in relation to Government Office administration;
  5. (v) a reduction of £11,172,000 in respect of the reduction in Radiocommunications Agency non-cash expenditure and associated programme receipts following the transfer of its functions to Ofcom;
  6. (vi) a reduction of £46,780,000 in respect of the reclassification of the Advisory Conciliation and Arbitration Service (ACAS).

Office of the Deputy Prime Minister Main Estimate (i) utilisation of £90,000,000 of the department's 2005–06 departmental expenditure limit for European Regional Development Fund expenditure borne of the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister's estimate under the procedures for anticipating future years' expenditure that apply to this budget.

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

RfR1

  1. (i) utilisation of £70,000,000 from the unused balance of the department's end-year flexibility entitlement for launch investment;
  2. ii) utilisation of £17,600,000 from the unused balance of the department's end-year flexibility entitlement for Enterprise Fund venture capital;
  3. (iii) utilisation of £12,509,000 from the unused balance of the department's end-year flexibility WS81 entitlement in respect of a shortfall of receipts in relation to commercial best practice;
  4. (iv) a reduction of £12,509,000 in respect of the transfer of the functions of Radiocommunications Agency to Ofcom;
  5. (v) a reduction to reflect reclassification of £3,500,000 from the Performance and Innovation Fund in respect of renewable energy.

RfR2 (i) reclassification of £1,000,000 from voted expenditure to non-voted expenditure, to reflect co-funding from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs of the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council.