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ENVIRONMENT, FOOD AND RURAL AFFAIRS
Forestry Commission (DEL)
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Jim Knight): Subject to Parliamentary approval of any necessary Supplementary Estimate, the Forestry Commission's DEL will be increased by £1,322,000 from £80,288,000 to £81,610,000. 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 | 1,322 | 79,937 | 2,653 | 82,590 |
| Capital | 790 | -700 | 90 | |
| Depreciation* | -1,070 | - | -1,070 | |
| Total | 1,322 | 79,657 | 1,953 | 81,610 |
*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 the take up of £2,496,000 end of year flexibility to meet Woodland Grant scheme payments and costs associated with efficiency initiatives and also a transfer of £838,000 from Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, to allow the Forestry Commission to administer the Farm Woodland Premium scheme. There is also increased expenditure for community woodlands of £1,100,000, offset by income received from Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and increased income of £2,012,000 received from Office of Deputy Prime Minister to fund the purchase of Jeskyn's Farm (the expenditure of which is non budget and therefore not included in the above table).
Departmental Expenditure Limit
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Jim Knight):
Subject to Parliamentary approval of any necessary Supplementary Estimate, the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs DEL will be increased by £12,238,000 from £3,018,963,000 to £3,031,201,000 and the administration costs limit will be increased by £25,000,000 from £317,064,000 to
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£342,064,000. 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 | 12,238 | 2,253,666 | 777,535 | 3,031,201 |
| Capital | - | 218,423 | 120,277 | 338,700 |
| Depreciation* | - | -107,771 | -97,311 | -205,082 |
| Total | 12,238 | 2,364,318 | 800,501 | 3,164,819 |
*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 (i) take up of £25,000,000 administration resources from the reserve for Developing Defra (ii) take up of £834,000 programme resources from the Invest to Save Budget; (iii) transfer of £4,745,000 of programme resources to the Ministry of Defence due to transfer of responsibility for Met Office functions; (iv) transfer of £5,362,000 to the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister for Government Offices funding; (v) transfer of £838,000 of programme resources to the Forestry Commission for the Farm Woodland Premium Scheme; (vi) profit of £2,651,000 on sale of a Rural Payments Agency (RPA) grain store.
There is no change in the capital element of the DEL.
FOREIGN AND COMMONWEALTH AFFAIRS
Departmental Expenditure Limit
The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (Mr. Jack Straw): Subject to Parliamentary approval of any necessary Supplementary Estimate, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office Departmental Expenditure Limit (DEL) will be increased by £16,047,000 from £1,813,483,000 to £1,829,530,000 and the administration budget will be decreased by £1,400,000 from £797,638,000 to £796,238,000. 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 | 16,047 | 1,776,817 | 52,713 | 1,829,530 |
| Capital | 0 | 121,978 | 1,000 | 122,978 |
| Depreciation* | 0 | -113,624 | -20,000 | -133,624 |
| Total | 16,047 | 1,785,171 | 33,713 | 1,818,884 |
*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:
I. A transfer of £1,400,000 to the Security and Intelligence Agencies (SIA) for language training provided by the FCO. This will in future be invoiced to the SIA, resulting in an offsetting increase in both income and expenditure of £1,400,000 to reflect this;
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II. Transfers from the Home Office of £1,000,000 for the funding of the Afghan Delivery Plan; and from the Department for International Development (DfID) of £7,985,000 for the transfer of the Small Grants Scheme to the FCO;
III. A transfer to the Security and Intelligence Agencies (SIA) of £3,588,000 for revisions in Planned Programme Activity;
IV. Transfer from DfID of £12,000,000 for Africa Peacekeeping activity and £150,000 from DfID for Caucasus Conflict Prevention projects;
V. A transfer of £100,000 to SIA for revisions in Planned Programme Activity.
There is no change to the capital element of the DEL.
Consular Fees (Amendment) Order 2005
The Minister of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (Dr. Kim Howells): The Foreign and Commonwealth Office has recently undertaken an exercise to determine the fees to be charged for Biometric passports issued overseas. On 15 November 2005 Her Majesty in Council approved the Consular Fees (Amendment) Order 2005, which amends the Consular Fees Order 2005. The Government is today announcing Biometric passport fees to be charged under the amended Consular Fees Order 2005 with effect from 1 December 2005.
The fee for a standard 32 page Biometric passport will be set at £91.00, the fee for a 48 page Biometric passport will be set at £109.00, the fee for a Biometric passport for a child will be set at £59.00, and the fee for an amendment will be set at £75.50. These fees have been set following a stringent review with HM Treasury of costs.
The Biometric passport is being introduced as part of the ongoing efforts to combat passport and identity fraud. The issuing equipment will be rolled out to our passport issuing Posts between January 2006 and July 2006.
HEALTH
Broadmoor Hospital
The Minister of State, Department of Health (Ms Rosie Winterton): The Department has approved outline proposals for a major redevelopment programme at Broadmoor Hospital in Berkshire.
Broadmoor Hospital is part of West London Mental Health Trust and provides services under the provisions of the NHS Act 1977 for persons who require treatment under conditions of high security. It was recently criticised for the inadequacy of its physical infrastructure and facilities in a 2003 report by the Commission for Healthcare Audit and Inspection (now known as the Healthcare Commission).
The redevelopment proposals contained a number of construction options to rectify these deficiencies and provide a safer and more effective clinical environment.
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The eventual costs have to be related to the revenue affordability of the scheme and on current estimates this means the cost of redevelopment is unlikely to exceed £190 million at today's prices.
The next step for the Broadmoor scheme will be to further explore the potential construction options over the next 12 to18 months and prepare an outline business case to select the preferred option and procurement strategy, at which point the scheme's capital budget will be set.
Departmental Expenditure Limit
The Secretary of State for Health (Ms Patricia Hewitt): Subject to the necessary Supplementary Estimate, the Department of Health's element of the Departmental Expenditure Limit (DEL) will be reduced by £174,214,000 from £78,765,403,000 to £78,591,189,000 and the Administration Cost Limit will be reduced by £1,059,000 from £248,688,000 to £247,629,000. The Food Standards Agency DEL will be increased by £300,000 from £144,124,000 to £144,424,000. The overall DEL including the Food Standards Agency will reduced by £173,914,000 from £78,909,527,000 to £78,735,613,000. The impact on resource and capital are set out in the following table.
*Depreciation, which forms part of resource DEL, is excluded from the total DEL since the capital DEL includes capital spending and to include depreciation of those assets would lead to double counting.
The change in the DEL arises from a reduction in the level of provisions by £200,000,000. A net transfers from the Home Office of £28,728,000 mainly for prison healthcare, pooled drug treatment budgets, hospital security and a contribution to change-up funding to promote volunteering, offset by the young persons substance misuse planning grant which is now administered by the Home Office. A transfer from the Scottish Executive of £47,000 for a contribution for the high security infectious disease unit and a transfer to the Department for Education and Skills of £2,989,000
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(£1,059,000 administration costs) mainly for protection of vulnerable adults scheme and funding Bichard review recommendations.
The administration cost limit has been reduced by £1,059,000 from £248,688,000 to £247,629,000 as detailed above.
The change to the Food Standards Agency resource element of the DEL arose from a transfer of £300,000 programme funds from the Home Office in respect of research into the survivability of chemical biological agents in bottled water and packaged food. The Food Standards Agency's administration cost limit and capital element of the DEL remain unchanged.
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