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NORTHERN IRELAND OFFICE (NIO) MEMORANDUM ON THE 2007/08 WINTER SUPPLEMENTARY ESTIMATES (WSE)
This paper explains the background to and consequences of changes sought in the WSE for 2007/08 and the impact of revised spending plans on budgets and departmental targets.
NIO - Request for Resources (RfR) 1The purpose of the WSE is to increase the Department's resource estimate by £148,095k and decrease the capital estimate by £11,972k. The overall Departmental Expenditure Limit (DEL) has changed by £190,138k of which £190,148k is a resource increase and £10k is a capital decrease.
The table below shows these changes:
NI Consolidated Fund - RfR 2There are no changes requested for RfR 2 in this Supplementary Estimate.
EFFECT ON THE WSE
End Year Flexibility (EYF) The Department requested a total drawdown of £172,500k EYF to fund additional requirements throughout the NIO. The Introduction to the Estimate shows only the near cash EYF (£59,440k) and non cash EYF (£1,766k). EYF has also been drawn down into non-voted areas (£111,294k) which does not appear as part of the estimate. Administration votedDepartmental Unallocated Provision (DUP) of £5,000k has been drawn down to meet various administration cost pressures across the Department. In addition the administration budget increases by £3,045k as a result of the take up of End Year Flexibility and the technical transfer from the Cabinet Office.
Programme voted The Department has transferred £293k from non-voted Police Ombudsman DEL funds to Central Administration.
Programme non-voted NDPB non-budget cash grants have been increased by £82,172k. In addition there is an increase of £30,000k for police pensions arising from a change by Treasury in the discount rate. This does not form part of the estimate.
Capital The capital estimate has decreased by £11,692k due to transfers from the Department to non-voted NDPB capital spend.
Machinery of Government change A total of £751k has moved out of the Department to transfer responsibility for the Criminal Injuries Compensation Appeals Panel to the Northern Ireland Court Service. Of this £741k is resource change and £10k is a capital change.
Technical Transfers The Department has received a resource budget transfer from the Cabinet Office of £165k in respect of the Parliamentary Counsel's Office.
DEL changes There is an increase in resource DEL of £190,148,000 from £1,091,624,000 to £1,281,772,000, and a decrease in capital DEL of £10,000 from £71,913,000 to £71,903,000.
It is worth noting that in Supplementary Budget Information (SBI) tables, stated DEL will exclude depreciation and impairments.
Annually Managed Expenditure (AME) changes Updated actuarial calculations have resulted in an increase of £7,442k in the AME provision required for the costs of interest on police pension scheme liabilities.
Summary of changes sought within the Estimates RfR 1 total The Estimates have increased by £148.095m. The NIO have used the WSE to reallocate funds within each line of RfR1. The impact of the increase on the Estimate and reallocations within lines is as follows:
Explanation of changes within Estimate lines· Central Administration - Increase of £10.6m administration due to draw down of DUP, technical transfer from the Cabinet Office, transfer of Information Services management from NIPS to the Core Department and centralised easement from FSNI relating to extra Historical Enquiries Team receipts. The overall increase will be used to fund the preparation for devolution costs across a range of central administration areas for example Information Technology, Personnel, Accommodation and Finance. A decrease of £1.1m programme due to the allocation of receipts funding to PSNI to cover the extra Historical Enquiries Team expenditure on FSNI services.
· Ministers - Decrease of £0.6m administration due to a reduction in the salary and support costs for the NIO Ministerial team following the successful establishment of devolved government in Northern Ireland.
· Political Directorate - Increase of £1.7m administration as a result of increased salary and support costs for the political inquiries. Increase of £31.0m programme is the funding of political inquiries through EYF as there is no baseline funding for them in 2007/08.
· Public Prosecution Service - Decrease of £0.7m administration due to delays in recruiting administration and legal staff. Increase of £4.7m programme to support the roll-out of a regionalised service in Northern Ireland and also due to increased professional fees for external counsel engaged to prosecute cases.
· Forensic Science Northern Ireland - Increase of £0.9m administration to cover corporate governance, and business and systems development costs. These increases have been partly offset by the increase in receipts relating to the Historical Enquiries Team.
· Criminal Justice Directorate - Decrease of £1.3m administration which reflects the transfer of Youth Conferencing Services to the Youth Justice Agency. Increase of £8.2m programme due to Community Safety work (in particular crime reduction projects); Law Commission costs; Causeway project work; and State Pathology funding.
· Compensation Agency - Increase of £9.0m programme due to additional provisions under the Criminal Damage Scheme as a result of incendiary attacks on businesses at the end of 2006.
· Policing and Security - Decrease of £0.6m programme due to a reduction in Protective Security work relating to the Key Persons Protection Scheme. This decrease is partly offset by increases in Access NI costs; Security Industry Authority (SIA) work; and the costs of the new review of parades.
· NI Prison Service - Decrease of £3.1m in administration due to a reduction in non cash costs and transfer of Information Services management from NIPS to the Core Department. Increase of £0.4m programme to cover the costs of funding the Billy Wright Inquiry.
· Youth Justice Agency - Increase of £3.1m programme being the transfer of Youth Conferencing Services from the Criminal Justice Directorate and funding to meet increased accommodation and non cash costs.
· Bloody Sunday Inquiry - Increase of £0.5m administration and £2.4m programme represents the funding of the Inquiry through EYF as it has no baseline funding for 2007/08.
· Police Grants - Increase of £80.0m to fund non cash costs for example depreciation, cost of capital charges and provisions for Full Time Reserve, Injury in duty, Patten non severance and voluntary severance.
· Police Ombudsman for Northern Ireland - Increase of £0.9m to fund increased work as a result of the Historical Enquiries Team.
· Probation Board NI - Increase of £1.3m to fund Prisoner Visitor centres and the Supporting People project.
· NI Policing Board - Increase of £0.9m to fund District Policing Partnership (DPP) projects and initiatives. Capital changesThere has been a decrease in capital of £11.972m through the Winter Supplementary Estimates. The main changes within individual estimate lines are:
· Central Administration - Decrease of £7.3m being the movement of funds to support PSNI capital projects.
· Criminal Justice Directorate - Decrease of £4.7m due to the delay in the FSNI accommodation project. This funding was also moved to PSNI capital projects.
· Police - although not separately shown on the estimate, PSNI have received additional capital from Central Administration and Criminal Justice Directorate to update the Police Estate including Police Stations.
Public Service Agreement (PSA) targetsIn considering the budget allocations for 2007/08, the Departmental Board take into account the impact on the key indicators of delivery for the Department to ensure that changes to budgets are fully in support of delivery priorities.
The areas receiving additional resources through the Winter Supplementary Estimates are PSNI (£80.0m), Political Directorate (£32.7m), Compensation Agency (£9.0m) and Criminal Justice (£6.9m). The work undertaken in these areas specifically relates to Objectives 1 to 5 of the SR2004 PSA as set out in Appendix A of the NIO Departmental Report 2007. |