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Eurostar Maintenance Facility
The Minister of State, Department for Transport (Mr. Tony McNulty): The Department has agreed with London & Continental Railways to bring forward the construction of a Eurostar maintenance depot on existing railway lands at Temple Mills in east London. A depot at Temple Mills has always been envisaged as part of the final plan for the Channel Tunnel Rail Link (CTRL) and bringing it forward will provide for a much more efficient operation of the complete CTRL and the Eurostar trainsets. This decision will enable the new depot to be provided in time for commencement of Eurostar services on CTRL Section 2 in 2007.
Original plans envisaged Eurostar trains gaining access from St Pancras to the existing North Pole International depot via the North London Line, but further investigation indicated that this would require costly and disruptive infrastructure works and significantly reduce capacity on what is already a congested line. Implementing the Temple Mills depot straightaway therefore provides a more cost-effective overall solution.
15 Nov 2004 : Column 69WS
The Department has agreed in principle with London & Continental Railways to provide the funding for the depot as a Government change to the CTRL development agreement at a total cost not exceeding £402 million including land acquisition and relocation costs, subject to agreement of the detailed financial and contractual conditions.
WORK AND PENSIONS
Supplementary Estimates
The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (Alan Johnson): Subject to parliamentary approval of any necessary supplementary estimate, the Department for Work and Pensions departmental expenditure limit (DEL) will be increased by £274,207,000 from £8,222,834,000 to £8,497,041,000 and the administration costs limits will be increased by £92,659,000 from £5,903,307,000 to £5,995,966,000. Within the DEL change, the impact on resources and capital are as set out in the following table:
| New DEL | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Change | Voted | Non-voted | Total | |
| Resource | 220,368 | 6,934,766 | 1,389,572 | 8,324,338 |
| Capital | 50,463 | 266,645 | 24,002 | 290,647 |
| Depreciation* | 3,376 | -117,230 | -714 | -117,944 |
| Total | 274,207 | 7,084,181 | 1,412,860 | 8,497,041 |
*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: RfR2
i. an increase in provision due to additional spending of £542,000 (administration costs) by the Rent Service (take up of End Year Flexibility);
ii. an increase in provision due to additional spending of £87,000,000 (administration costs) by Working Age (take up of End Year Flexibility);
iii. an increase in provision due to additional spending of £10,000,000 (other current) on Employment Programmes (take up of End Year Flexibility);
iv. an increase in provision due to additional spending of £48,000,000 (grants) on Housing and Council Tax Benefit administration grants (take up of End Year Flexibility);
v. an increase in provision due to additional spending of £5,798,000 (administration costs) by the Health and Safety Executive (take up of End Year Flexibility);
vi. an increase in provision of £23,000,000 (other current) as a result of a transfer from the Department for Education and Skills for Basic Skills programmes;
vii. an increase in provision of £9,200,000 (grants) as a result of a transfer from the Welsh Assembly for expenditure on Administration Subsidy;
viii. a decrease in provision of £28,000 (other current) as a result of a transfer to the Department for Constitutional Affairs for Work Based Learning for Adults in Wales;
ix. a decrease in provision of £5,659,000 (other current) as a result of transfers to the Department for Education and Skills (£4,416,000), the Scottish Executive (£1,059,000), and the Welsh Assembly (£184,000) for Sure Start;
x. a decrease in provision of £87,000 (other current) as a result of a transfer to the Department for Education and Skills for evaluation of the Neighbourhood Nursery Initiative;
xi. a decrease in provision of £77,000 (administration costs) as a result of a transfer to the Department for Transport due to a transfer of posts in relation to the Carriage of Dangerous Goods;
xii. a transfer of provision of £50,000,000 from resource in Section B to capital in Section A in connection with the roll-out of Job Centre Plus;
xiii. a decrease in provision of £50,000 (administration costs) as a result of a transfer to the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister for a Local Government Association Best Practice Planning Event;
xiv. a decrease in provision of £13,000 (administration costs) as a result of a transfer of funding to the Ministry of Defence for the Veterans' Agency Helpline;
xv. an increase in provision of £50,000,000 (other current) due to the setting up of an Efficiency Challenge Fund as provided for in the 2004 Spending Review;
xvi. an increase in provision of £20,800,000 (grants) in Section C with a corresponding increase in appropriations in aid in Section F due to a transfer from the Department of Culture, Media and Sport in connection with European Social Fund expenditure;
xvii. an increase in provision of £22,000,000 (grants) in Section C with a corresponding increase in appropriations in aid in Section F due to a transfer from the Department of Trade and Industry in connection with European Social Fund expenditure;
xviii. a reduction in provision of £58,000 (administration costs) due to a transfer to the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister in respect of Government Office work for the European Social Fund.
The change in the capital element of the DEL arises from:
xix. an increase in provision of £463,000 due to additional spending by the Rent Service (take up of End Year Flexibility);
xx. a transfer of provision of £50,000,000 from resource (other current) in Section B to capital in Section A in connection with the roll-out of Job Centre Plus.
The movement in the Administration Cost limit arises from those items noted above as affecting administration costs plus the following items which are neutral in terms of overall resource DEL but which impact the Administration Cost limit:
xxi. a transfer of £295,000 from administration to other current in respect of the Health and Safety Executive;
xxii. a transfer of £70,000 from administration to other current (non-voted) for the Centre for Policy on Ageing;
xxiii. a transfer of £ 118,000 from administration to other current (non-voted) for the Disability Rights Commission.
Departmental Unallocated Provision (DUP)
Additionally there are the following draw downs from the DUP which are neutral in overall DEL terms:
xxiv. £2,400,000 into RfR3 for additional costs associated with the Financial Assistance Scheme and the Pension Credit Marketing Campaign;