Letter to the Clerk of the Committee,
from the Parliamentary Clerk, Scotland Office
THE SCOTLAND
OFFICE ANNUAL
REPORT 2006
Thank you for your letter of 5 July setting
out your Committee's written questions regarding the Annual Report
of the Scotland Office and Office of the Advocate General for
Scotland. I hope that the information provided in the attached
Appendix is helpful.
You may also recall that during the meeting
between the Secretary of State and your Committee on 4 July, some
further questions arose about the Annual Report and it was agreed
that we would write to the Committee; these additional questions
were as follows:
Annex 3—showing the 2004-05 outturn—indicates
that the final provision was £21.383 billion, yet the outturn
was £19.068 billion. The Committee wished to know what caused
the shortfall.
Annex 3—also shows a "change in the
balance of the Scottish Consolidated Fund" of £1.340
billion; the Committee wished to know what this was.
The "change in the balance of the Scottish
Consolidated Fund" of £1.340 billion relates mainly
to the non-cash requirement for the NHS and Teachers Pension Schemes.
The budget provision for 2004-05 included
the full amount for these schemes; however, late in the year,
an audit of the accounts identified that the actual cash requirement
was in fact a negative figure. This resulted in the cash provision
for the Pension Schemes not being drawn from the Consolidated
Fund.
The remainder of the shortfall was as a result
of a number of changes in outturn including EU Receipts, National
Insurance Fund Payments and cash to accruals adjustments for depreciation
and impairments.
The Committee will wish to note that this
non-cash requirement for pensions has now been taken into account
in the grant calculation for 2005-06; this is shown as a separate
line in Annex 4 of the Report under the heading "Cash to
accruals adjustments", that is, "Resource to cash adjustments
for NHS and Teachers Pensions" at £1.851 billion.
I am of course happy to provide whatever further
information your Committee would wish.
9 October 2006
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