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WALES

Departmental Expenditure Limit

Mr. Win Griffiths: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what plans he has to introduce proposals to amend the Wales departmental expenditure limit for 2000-01. [151101]

Mr. Paul Murphy: The Wales Departmental Expenditure Limit will be increased by £18,450,000 from £7,808,235,000 to £7,826,685,000. The increase is a result of:

(i) the take up of end year flexibility entitlement of £5,408,000

(ii) net transfers from other Government Departments of £1,645,000

(iii) additional support for flood defence of £118,000 resulting from the Environment, Transport and Regions Minister's autumn 2000 statement, an additional £10,195,000 for education resulting from the Chancellor's pre-Budget statement, and take up of an allocation of £1,084,000 from the Modernising Government Fund

The increase includes the following transfers:

(i) £112,000 from Home Office for the Partnership Development Fund;

(ii) £131,000 from Home Office for the Drug Prevention Advisory Service;

(iii) £57,000 to Scottish Executive for Out of Area Treatments;

(iv) £512,000 from Department of Health for Out of Area Treatments;

(v) £92,000 to Department of Health for Medical Training Costs;

(vi) £1,000 from the Northern Ireland Executive for Out of Area Treatments:

(vii) £19,000 from Home Office for Youth Justice Board work;

(viii) £146,000 from Intervention Board for Slaughter Premium inspection costs;

(ix) £10,000 from Home Office for Youth Justice Board inspection costs;

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(x) £43,000 to Home Office for the Crime Reduction Team; and

(xi) £906,000 from DTI for the Phoenix Fund

The increase in DEL will be offset by transfers from other Departmental Expenditure Limits or from the DEL Reserve and will not therefore add to the planned total of public expenditure.

Steel Industry

Mr. Edwards: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what discussions he has had with the First Secretary of the National Assembly concerning the future of steel production at Llanwern; and if he will make a statement. [149923]

Mr. Paul Murphy: I regularly meet the First Secretary to discuss a range of issues including the future of the Llanwern plant.

It is well known that I believe the proposal to end steelmaking at Llanwern is a short-sighted one. I have urged the company to reconsider its position and I know that the Trade Unions are presenting their own proposals for the company's consideration. However, if the threatened closures go ahead, the Government and the National Assembly have made it clear that we shall both take appropriate steps to assist those affected.

Mr. Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will provide details of the assistance package offered to the Corus Steel company, prior to the announcement of job losses on 1 February; and if he will make a statement. [150251]

Mr. Paul Murphy [holding answer 13 February 2001): The UK Government and the Assembly indicated a willingness to talk to Corus about whether any action on their part would assist the company. As Corus did not wish to engage in such discussions, the Government were unable to make any offer of assistance.

SOLICITOR-GENERAL

Departmental Expenditure Limit

Mr. Heppell: To ask the Solicitor-General what plans he has to amend the Law Officers' Department's Departmental Expenditure Limit and Running Costs Limit for 2000-01. [151100]

The Solicitor-General: Subject to parliamentary approval of the necessary Supplementary Estimates for Class V, Vote 4 (The Crown Prosecution Service), Class V, Vote 5 (Serious Fraud Office) and Class V, Vote 6 (HM Procurator General and Treasury Solicitor) the Attorney-General's Departments Departmental Expenditure Limit for 2000-01 will be increased by £8,823,000 from £369,547,000 to £378,370,000.

The Crown Prosecution Service's Departmental Expenditure Limit will increase by £4,438,000 from £343,790,000 to £348,228,000. The running costs limit will be increased by £2,504,000 from £245,165,000 to £247,669,000. This increase is required to fund delivery of the pledge on persistent youth offenders, deployment of Higher Court Advocates in the Crown court, diversity and equality issues and achieve improvements against

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CPS and CJS targets. An increase in capital expenditure of £500,000 will be used to fund the introduction of joint CPS/police criminal justice and trial units.

The Serious Fraud Office's Departmental Expenditure Limit will increase by £17,486,000 from £1,833,000 to £19,319,000. The Running Costs Limit will increase by £611,000 from £11,324,000 to £11,935,000. The increase is required to fund the impact in 2000-01 of the decision to increase the office's targeted case load to 100 cases in 2003-04; to meet the cost of trials held over from 1999-2000; and to offset reductions in police resources available to combat serious and complex fraud. Capital expenditure will increase by £34,000.

HM Procurator General and Treasury Solicitor's Departmental Expenditure Limit will increase by £552,000 from £8,271,000 to £8,823,000. The Running Costs Limit will increase by £1,550,000 from £6,432,000 to £7,982,000. The increase in net running costs is due to an increase in capital charge following a revaluation of TDS's premises (Queen Anne's Chambers). The increase is offset by a matching non-running cost receipt. Capital expenditure will increase by £294,000.

A transfer of £250,000 will be made to the Attorney- General's Departments Departmental Unallocated Provision from the Modernising Government Fund and a transfer of £1,750,000 will be made to the Attorney- General's Departments Departmental Unallocated Provision from the Capital Modernisation Fund.

The increases will be partly offset by transfers totalling £1,206,000 from the Home Office, surrender of £4,565,000 of the Attorney-General's Departments end year flexibility, an allocation of £500,000 from the Capital Modernisation Fund and an allocation of £250,000 from the Modernising Government Fund.

The remainder of the expenditure will be charged to the Reserve and will not, therefore, add to the planned total of public expenditure.

SCOTLAND

Benefit Statistics

Mr. David Marshall: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if she will publish for each constituency in Scotland her latest estimate of the number of (a) male and (b) female (i) lone parents, (ii) pensioners, (iii) people in receipt of DSS benefits, and (iv) female unemployed persons, (A) under the age of 18 years, (B) aged 18 to 24 years and (C) aged over 24 years, (I) pensioners qualifying for the free TV licence and (II) households qualifying for the £200 winter fuel allowance. [146986]

Mr. Foulkes: I shall write to my hon. Friend and place a copy of the letter in the House Library.

Departmental Expenditure Limit

Mr. Russell Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what proposals there are to amend the Scotland Office Departmental Expenditure Limit for 2000-01. [151111]

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Mrs. Liddell: Subject to parliamentary approval of the necessary Supplementary Estimate for Class XIII, Vote 1, Scotland and Transfers to the Scottish Consolidated Fund, the Departmental Expenditure Limit (DEL) for 2000-01 will be increased by £77,265,000 from £15,305,728,000 to £15,382,993,000.

The changes in the DEL include the following:

a draw forward of £32,000,000 from 2001-02 for European structural funds;

an increase of £23,031,000 for the cost of the Lockerbie trial;

an increase of £2,300,000 for additional funding for forestry;

£206,000 for the cost of flood damage and coastal work;

£1,738,000 from the Civil Service Modernisation Fund;

£40,000 for the Employment coalition;

£800,000 for the costs of Kosovo refugees; and

£17,893,000 previously announced in the Pre-Budget Report for education.

Also included in the revised Departmental Expenditure Limit are transfers to and from other Government Departments amounting to a net decrease of £743,000. These include:

(i) £5,100,000 from the Home Office for the costs of asylum seekers;

(ii) £1,576,000 from DTI for the Phoenix fund;

(iii) £5,014,000 to DfEE for Open University payments;

(iv) £1,870,000 to MAFF for the cattle traceability scheme;

(v) £1,250,000 to the Department. of Health for Reserved Health bodies;

(vi) £252,000 from the Northern Ireland Executive for Out of Area treatments;

(vii) £289,000 from the Cabinet Office for telecommunications costs;

(viii) £160,000 to DSS for intercalating students;

(ix) £57,000 from National Assembly for Wales for Out of Area treatments;

(x) £78,000 to the Home Office for the Animal Rights index;

(xi) £342,000 to MAFF for the BSE inquiry;

(xii) £46,000 to MAFF for the Marine Coastguard agency;

(xiii) £750,000 from DETR for track access grants; and

(xiv) £7,000 to Home Office for GRECO (European Commission for the Prevention of Corruption).

The increase in DEL will be offset by transfers from other Departmental Expenditure Limits or from the DEL reserve and will not therefore add to the planned total of public expenditure.

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