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Trade and Industry

Department of Trade and Industry's 2006-07 and 2007-08 Budgets

The Secretary of State for Trade and Industry (Mr. Alistair Darling): This statement sets out the changes that the Department is taking to manage its budgets in the current and next financial year.


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In 2006-07 the Department is transferring £33m from underspends in the Science budget to its non-Science budget. The Science budget this year is £3.268 billion.

In relation to 2007-08, we are reducing our contribution to the RDA budget, which totals £2.3 billion, by £50 million, and we do not anticipate that the second instalment of the loan that was taken from accumulated Science underspends at the time of the last spring supplementary will be repaid.

Spring Supplementary Estimates 2006-07 — Written Statement

Expenditure Limits

Subject to parliamentary approval of the necessary supplementary estimate, the Department of Trade and Industry’s departmental expenditure limit (DEL) will be increased by £134,984,000 from £6,876,455,000 to £7,011,439,000 and the administration budget will be increased by £797,000 from £336,084,000 to £336,881,000.

Within the DEL change, the impact on resources and capital is as set out in the following table:

£’000s
ChangeNew DEL
VotedNon-votedVotedNon-votedTotal

Resource

102,460

3,157

-447,919

6,166,600

5,718,681

Of which: Administration Budget(*)

797

-

336,881

-

336,881

Near cash in DEL(**)

45,120

34,024

-669,550

6,071,280

5,371,730

Capital

-8,710

38,077

-282,271

1,575,029

1,292,758

Less Depreciation(***)

-

-

-35,248

-109,845

-145,093

Total

93,750

41,234

-765,438

7,631,784

6,866,346

(*)The total of ‘Administration Budget’ and ‘Near cash in RDEL’ figures may well be greater than total resource DEL, due to the definitions overlapping.
(**)Capital DEL includes items treated as resource in Estimates and accounts but which are treated as Capital DEL in budgets
(***)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:

RfR1

i) utilisation of £800,000 near-cash programme resource DEL from the unused balance of the Department's end-year flexibility (EYF) entitlement in respect of the renewable energy Performance and Innovation Fund;

ii) transfer of £4,373,000 from UK Trade and Investment in respect of their DTI-related restructuring costs;

iii) transfer of £492,000 to the Department of the Environment Northern Ireland in respect of the Waste Electronic and Electrical Equipment Directive;

iv) utilisation of £55,258,000 non-cash programme resource DEL from the unused balance of the Department's EYF entitlement in respect of provisions relating to Concessionary Fuel;


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v) increase of £1,500,000 in respect of a transfer from the Treasury Reserve for the Financial Inclusion Fund, for face to face debt advice;

vi) virement of £1,500,000 from non-voted capital expenditure to voted non-cash resource expenditure in respect of the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority;

vii) virement of £2,087,000 from non-voted expenditure of the Coal Authority to voted expenditure in respect of shipbuilding support;

viii) virement of £6,693,000 from non-voted non cash resource expenditure to non-voted capital expenditure in respect of the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority and the Civil Nuclear Police Authority;

ix) utilisation of £60,000,000 near-cash programme resource DEL from the unused balance of the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority's EYF entitlement in respect of its non-voted expenditure;

x) Machinery of Government transfer of £4,172,000 from the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs in respect of the Regional Development Agencies for Natural England;

xi) utilisation of £7,739,000 near-cash programme resource DEL from the unused balance of the Department's EYF entitlement in respect of non-voted expenditure of the Regional Development Agencies;

xii) virement of £27,000,000 no longer being spent this year from the non-voted budget of the Research Councils to voted non-Science expenditure in relation to the Waste Electronic and Electrical Equipment Directive; and

xiii) virement of £6,000,000 no longer being spent this year from the non-voted budget of the Research Councils to voted non-Science expenditure in relation to the National Measurement System.

RfR2

i) virement of £ 1,825,000 from the non-voted expenditure of the Research Councils to voted OSI Initiatives;

ii) virement of £975,000 from the non-voted expenditure of the Research Councils to voted Science and Society programmes;

iii) virement of £24,174,000 from the non-voted non cash expenditure of the Research Councils to non-voted capital expenditure of the Research Councils;

iv) virement of £27,000,000 no longer being spent this year from the non-voted budget of the Research Councils to voted non-Science expenditure in relation to the Waste Electronic and Electrical Equipment Directive;

v) virement of £6,000,000 no longer being spent this year from the non-voted budget of the Research Councils to voted non-Science expenditure in relation to the National Measurement System.

Also within the change to resource DEL, the changes to the administration budget are RfR1:

i) utilisation of £1,965,000 near-cash administration resource DEL and £582,000 non-cash administration resource DEL from the unused balance of the Department's EYF entitlement in respect of UK Trade and Investment;

ii) transfer of £ 1,013,000 from UK Trade and Investment to the Department for Communities and Local Government in respect of Government Offices for the Regions;


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iii) transfer of £100,000 from the Treasury Solicitors in respect of European Division;

iv) transfer of £837,000 from administration to programme expenditure in respect of the transfer of the Companies Investigation Branch to the Insolvency Service;

v) RfR2 budget reallocation of £467,000 transferred to RfRl, as part of a wider programme of restructuring and reallocations, to bring budgets into alignment;

RfR2:

Underspends transferred to RfRl as noted above.

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

RfR1

i) a virement of £1,500,000 from non-voted capital expenditure to voted non-cash resource expenditure in respect of the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority;

ii) a virement of £6,693,000 from non-voted near-cash resource expenditure to non-voted capital expenditure in respect of the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority;

RfR2

i) virement of £3,000,000 from the voted expenditure of the Science Research Investment Fund to the non-voted expenditure of the Research Councils;

ii) an increase of £5,710,000 in the non-voted expenditure of the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council and an equivalent increase in voted expenditure; and

iii) virement of £24,174,000 from the non-voted noncash expenditure of the Research Councils to capital expenditure of the Research Councils.

Spring Supplementary Estimate 2006/07 - Written Statement

Subject to parliamentary approval of the necessary supplementary estimate, the Office of Gas and Electricity Market's departmental expenditure limit (DEL) will be increased by £1,000 from £1,652,000 to £1,653,000 and the administration budget will be increased by £1,000 from £492,000 to £493,000.

Within the DEL change, the impact on resources and capital is as set out in the following table:

£’000s
ChangeNew DEL
VotedNon-votedVotedNon-votedTotal

Resource

1

0

703

0

703

Of which: Administration Budget

1

0

493

0

493

Near cash in DEL

1

0

-92

991

899

Capital

0

0

950

0

950

Less Depreciation(*)

0

0

-1,000

0

-1,000

Total

1

0

653

0

653

(*)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.


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The change in the resource element of the DEL arises from a token increase in administration costs to cover an increase of £251,000 in expenditure offset by an increase of £250,000 in A in A.

There is no change in the capital element of the DEL.

Protecting Vulnerable Agency Workers Consultation Paper

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Trade and Industry (Jim Fitzpatrick): The Government are publishing a consultation paper today on Protecting Vulnerable Agency Workers. This consultation paper follows up the commitment to take forward measures identified in Success at Work, the Government's labour market strategy paper, published last year.

The Government's intention is to address the bad practices that can affect the most vulnerable agency workers, but without placing burdens on the majority of reputable agencies, which would not use such practices, but are undercut by those who do. At the same time, in line with the Government's commitments on better regulation, we are seeking to reduce burdens on reputable agencies where we can do so without removing important protections for workers.

Measures set out in the consultation document include giving workers a clear right to withdraw from accommodation, transport or other services provided by an agency without suffering any detriment, and banning the taking of fees at casting sessions held by talent-spotting agencies, and possibly for up to a week afterwards, to give would be entertainers and models the protection of a cooling off period. The Government also plan to make clear in guidance that driving agencies who flout the law and knowingly allow drivers to work beyond their hours can face criminal prosecution. In addition we will also provide potential EU migrant workers, who are at risk of being misled, with official advice on living in Britain before they leave, so they are aware of issues such as the cost of living before taking on loans to enable them to take up work in the UK.

We will also introduce a measure to ease administrative burdens on agencies, by reducing the information requirements where they provide workers for very short assignments, of less than five days duration.


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