HL Deb 22 February 2005 vol 669 cc57-9WS
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 –1,099,372,000 from –30,344,938,000 to –31,444,310,000. 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 875,721 32,269,483 561,434 32,830,917
Capital 223,651 6,661,431 1,220 6,662,651
Depreciation* -7,879,258 -170,000 -8,049,258
Total 1,099,372 31,051,656 392,654 31,444,310

* 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:

Transfers totalling £383,000 from the Northern Ireland Office (£101,000) and from the Northern Ireland departments (£282,000) as their share of the national meteorological programme and Weather Warning Service costs under a pan-government agreement;

A transfer in from the Cabinet Office of £102,000 in respect of future funding arrangements with the Office of the Parliamentary Counsel;

A transfer out from the MoD to the Department for Constitutional Affairs of £62,000 in respect of legal services provided to the MoD;

An increase in resource appropriations in aid of £185,000 from receipt of a special dividend from the Hydrographic Office;

An increase in resource appropriations in aid of £4,600,000 relating to revenue associated with government training provided under the Indian Air Force BAe Hawk contract;

An increase in resource appropriations in aid of £1,445,000 relating to revenue received from the Learning and Skills Council;

An increase in RfR2 resource of £805,426,000 to reflect the costs of peacekeeping in Iraq and Afghanistan;

A transfer in of £88,978,000 resource from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office to the MoD in respect of the Global Conflict Prevention Pool for Balkans programme costs;

A transfer in of £2,200,000 resource from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office to the MoD in respect of the Global Conflict Prevention Pool for rest of the World programme costs;

A transfer in of £2,920,000 resource from the Department for International Development to the MoD in respect of the Global Conflict Prevention Pool for sub-Saharan Africa programme costs;

An increase in resource (non-budget) grants in aid of £241,000 to the National Army Museum for refurbishment costs.

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

The take-up of remaining end-year flexibility from 2003–04 of £6,000,000 capital to cover capital spending;

A transfer out from the MoD to the Home Office of £5,500,000 as reimbursement for an advance made by the Home Office for the former RAF Newton in 2003–04, the site no longer being required by the Home Office;

An increase in capital appropriations in aid of £54,301,000 arising from the early redemption of preference shares held by the MoD in QinetiQ;

An increase in RfR2 capital DEL of £222, 129,000 to reflect the costs of peacekeeping in Iraq and Afghanistan;

A transfer in of £1,022,000 capital DEL from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office to the MoD in respect of the Global Conflict Prevention Pool for Balkans programme costs.

The changes to CDEL and RDEL will lead to an increased net cash requirement of £ 1,109,613,000.