Letter to the Head, Parliamentary Relations
Team, Foreign and Commonwealth Office from the Second Clerk of
the Committee
The Foreign Affairs Committee has now had an
opportunity to consider the Spring Supplementary Estimates, which
were laid on 19 February 2008. The Committee has a number of questions
arising, which are listed below. The Estimates Memorandum meets
the content requirement set out in the Treasury's Supply Estimates
guidance manual. However, more explanation on some of the key
movements, such as the draw-down of peace-keeping funds would
be desirable. The Scrutiny Unit guidance along with a best practice
example is available at:
http://www.parliament.uk/parliamentary_committees/scrutinyunit/reports_pubs.cfm.
1. FCO ESTATE
The Department is drawing down £31.3 million
End-Year Flexibility (EYF) in respect of the FCO estate. The Estimates
Memorandum explains that the "the drawdown of capital EYF
is not linked to individual programmes and /or projects. Rather
we have assessed the expected overall level of capital expenditure
across all FCO capital budget holders and anticipate that the
total demand of funds will necessitate use of capital EYF".
Why is the Department unable to link the £31.3 million EYF
in respect of the FCO estate to individual programmes and/or projects?
How has the Department assessed the overall level of capital expenditure
across all FCO capital budget holders to arrive at the £31.3
million figure?
2. PEACE-KEEPING
FUNDS
The Spring Supplementary Estimate requests a
£95.845 million Reserve claim for peacekeeping within Africa
and a £61.603 million Reserve claim for peacekeeping within
the rest of the world. What will these funds be used for? Are
these sums in line with the Department's expectations of what
would have to be drawn-down at the beginning of the year?
3. CONSULAR PREMIUMS/
FCO AND HMT INTERNATIONAL
ORGANISATIONS COST
SHARING AGREEMENTS
The FCO is making Reserve Claims of £16.5
million for consular premiums collected in the UK and £18.4
million for FCO/HMT International Organisations cost sharing agreements.
In the 2006-07 Spring Supplementary, the equivalent figures were
£14.6 million for consular premiums and £12.8 million
for International Organisations cost sharing agreements.
Why do Reserve Claims have to be made in the Spring
Supplementary for consular premiums collected in the UK and the
FCO/HMT International Organisations cost sharing agreements? Are
such Reserve Claims likely to increase in the future?
4. RESERVE CLAIMS
In its Spring Supplementary Estimate, the Department
has made Reserve Claims of £194 million. The Treasury's Consolidated
Budgeting Guidance indicates that when Reserve Claims are made,
any future under-spends would be used to pay them back, rather
than being rolled forward as is normal practice to next year's
budget through the End-Year Flexibility (EYF) mechanism (HM Treasury,
Consolidated Budgeting Guidance, para 15.4).
Is the Treasury expecting the Department to use
any future under-spends to pay back its Reserve Claims? If so,
what impact this will have on other projects or programmes of
the Department, which could potentially under-spend, given that
they cannot roll-forward under-spends in the normal way through
EYF?
22 April 2008
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