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Health
Departmental Expenditure Limit (2008-09)
The Minister of State, Department of Health (Mr. Ben Bradshaw): The Department of Health’s element of the departmental expenditure limit (DEL) will be reduced by £4,630,000 from £98,570,061,000 to £98,565,431,000, the administration cost limit remains unchanged at £219,163,000. Subject to the necessary supplementary estimate, the Food Standards Agency DEL will increase by £1,000 from £137,719,000 to £137,720,000 and the administration cost limit will increase by £1,000 from £50,439,000 to £50,440,000. The overall DEL, including the Food Standards Agency, will reduce by £4,629,000 from £98,707,780,000 to £98,703,151,000. The impact on resource and capital are set out in the following table:
The Department of Health DEL has reduced by £4,630,000 made up of:
A transfer to the Office of the Parliamentary Commissioner for Administration and the Heath Service Commissioner for England to allow for the change in responsibility for handling NHS complaints.
The Department of Health’s administration cost limit remains unchanged at £219,163,000.
The change to the Food Standards Agency element of the DEL is due to:
a transfer of £400,000 from programme into capital increasing it from £631,000 to £1,031,000 to fund infrastructure investment; and
a token increase in FSA’s administration cost.
Office for Strategic Co-ordination of Health Research (Progress Report)
The Secretary of State for Health (Alan Johnson): The Office for Strategic Co-ordination of Health Research (OSCHR) was established 22 months ago following Sir David Cooksey’s recommendations for better co-ordination of health research activities across the UK, and a stronger focus on translating basic science into improved care for NHS patients. Sir David’s report “A Review of UK Health Research Funding” was published in December 2006. The first progress report from the chairman of OSCHR, Professor Sir John Bell, was published on 18 November 2008.
Sir John’s report “Office for Strategic Co-ordination of Health: Chairman’s First Progress Report” highlights the main elements of the combined approach that has been put in place by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) and the Medical Research Council (MRC) since the Cooksey review. This period has seen an unprecedented commitment to health research in terms of funding, infrastructure, research programmes and the volume of health research commissioned.
The Government’s single health research fund, which will soon top £1.7 billion a year, is allocated by the Department of Health to the National Institute for Health Research in England, and by the Department of Innovation, Universities and Skills to the Medical Research Council, which supports research throughout the United Kingdom.
The progress report also announces that the Prime Minister has asked for a set of national ambitions for health research to be developed to build on the progress
so far and encourage the translation of major research breakthroughs into new NHS treatments and services. The national ambitions will be developed independently of Government by the research funding bodies, under the auspices of OSCHR, in consultation with the academic community.
A copy of the report has been placed in the Library of the House.
Health
Correction (Written Answer)
The Minister of State, Department of Health (Mr. Ben Bradshaw): I regret that the written answer I gave the hon. Friend the Member for South Cambridgeshire (Mr. Lansley) on 22 February 2008, Official Report, columns 1069-1071W, included a reference to a write off of £40 owed by Annette Craze that was incorrect. Further investigation has shown that Annette Craze did not owe any money and should not therefore have been referred to in the reply.
Home Department
Departmental Expenditure Limit (2008-09)
The Secretary of State for the Home Department (Jacqui Smith): Plans of changes to the Departmental Expenditure Limit and Administrative Budget for 2008-09.
Subject to Parliamentary approval of the necessary supplementary estimate, the Home Office’s Departmental Expenditure Limits for 2008-09 will be decreased by £67,008,000 from £9,755,389,000 to £9,688,381,000 and the administration budget will be reduced by £29,760,000 from £429,049,000 to £399,289,000.
Within the DEL change, the impact on resources and capital are as set out in the following table
| Change | New DEL | £000 | |||
| Voted | Non-voted | Voted | Non-voted | Total | |
| (1)The total of the ‘Administration Budget’ and ‘Near cash in Resource DEL’ figures may well be greater than total resource DEL, due to the definitions overlapping. (2)Capital DEL includes items treated as resource in estimates and accounts but which are treated as capital DEL in budgets. (3)Depreciation, which forms part of resource DEL, is excluded from total DEL since capital DEL includes capital spending and to include depreciation of those assets would lead to double counting. | |||||
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