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The change in total DEL of £31,542,000 relates to: £20,000,000 rephasing of Compensation Agency non-cash provisions budget from 2009-10 and 2010-11 into 2008-09;
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Office for Strategic Co-ordination of Health Research
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Health (Lord Darzi of Denham): My right honourable friend the Secretary of State for Health (Alan Johnson) has made the following Written Ministerial Statement.
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 Coordination 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.
Regional Development Agencies
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform & Cabinet Office (Baroness Vadera): My right honourable friend the Minister of State for Employment Relations and Postal Affairs (Pat McFadden) has made the following Written Ministerial Statement.
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I am pleased to announce that I have decided to appoint 23 RDA board members, who between them will serve seven of our Regional Development Agencies. Their names are listed below.
| RDA | Board member appointees |
|
Ms Judith Reynolds and Sir Henry Studholme reappointed after applying through open competition | |
|
Mrs Julie Kenny—reappointed after applying through open competition |
The RDAs are playing a crucial role in supporting the national and regional economies in this critical and exceptional economic climate. All the appointees will bring a wealth of experience and knowledge to their RDA, adding a vast amount of value.
I have agreed to the appointments starting on 14 December 2008 for a period of three years, expiring in December 2011.
I have placed further details of these appointments, including biographies, in the Libraries of both Houses. I can confirm that the appointments were made in accordance with the Code of Practice of the Commissioner for Public Appointments.
Remploy
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Work and Pensions (Lord McKenzie of Luton): My right honourable friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (Jonathan Shaw) has made the following Ministerial Statement.
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Remploy is due to publish its annual report and accounts in November 2008 giving further details of its performance throughout 2007-08. Copies of the annual report and accounts will be placed in the Libraries of both Houses, when it is published.
On behalf of my right honourable friend the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, I have written to the chairman of Remploy formally approving the provisionally agreed 2008-09 performance and resources agreement between the department and the company. The performance and resources agreement includes targets for the current year. The agreement has been negotiated on behalf of my right honourable friend the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions. The targets for 2008-09 are:
The full agreement for 2008-09 will be placed in the Libraries of both Houses.
Scotland: Winter Supplementary Estimates
The Advocate-General for Scotland (Lord Davidson of Glen Clova): My right honourable friend the Secretary of State for Scotland (Jim Murphy) has made the following Written Ministerial Statement.
Subject to parliamentary approval of the necessary supplementary estimates, the departmental expenditure limit (DEL) provision for the Scotland DEL will be increased by £329,774,000 (of which £157,206,000 is depreciation) from £27,287,375,000 to £27,459,943,000.
The administration of the Scotland Office DEL will remain unchanged.
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The Scotland DEL increase takes account of the following routine adjustments to the Scottish Executive provision:
the take-up of end-year flexibility (EYF) by the Scottish Executive amounting to £300,000,000;
the take-up of 2008 Budget consequentials by the Scottish Executive amounting to £13,095,000;
and a switch of £115,562,000 from near-cash to non-cash in respect of increased depreciation charges in the Scottish NHS.
The DEL increase also includes the following changes, amounting to a net increase of £16,679,000. These are:
a transfer for £15,910,000 from the Department for Transport; and
a transfer for £769,000 from the Department for Transport.
The increases will be added to the planned total of public expenditure to fund spending commitments in the current financial year.
Transport: Delivering Sustainability
The Minister of State, Department for Transport (Lord Adonis): My right honourable friend the Secretary of State for Transport (Geoff Hoon) has made the following Written Ministerial Statement.
I am announcing today the publication of Delivering a Sustainable Transport System. This document marks the latest milestone in our longer-term planning process, setting out our goals and identifying the various challenges that future transport schemes will need to address.
The publication of Towards a Sustainable Transport System in October 2007 outlined our approach to long-term transport planning. Since then, the department has been undertaking further work and accelerating the process for identifying the strategic national corridors where we face our most immediate transport challenges. The national networks strategy group I announced on 29 October will be focusing on measures to ensure that we make best use of investment in key strategic national corridors and develop these for the longer term. The development of solutions for international networks will also be led by the department. Regions and local authorities will undertake similar work for the remaining networks.
Transport is a critical enabler for the economy and underpins many of the things we regard as important for our quality of life but we are also committed to addressing climate change, both now and for future generations.
A copy of the document has been placed in the House Library.
I am also announcing today that I am bringing forward over £1 billion of investment in improving our nation’s transport infrastructure, in particular to tackle bottlenecks and improve access to key international gateways. This comprises an extra £700 million which will be invested in major transport
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dualling of the A46 between Newark and Widmerpool (£100 million—as part of £174 million government funding overall);
an additional 200 train carriages to relieve congestion on the Great Western, Northern and TransPennine rail franchises (£300 million);
and introducing more managed motorways schemes to make best use of our existing motorway capacity (£300 million).
Alongside that, £300 million of new government funding will be committed to speeding up the delivery of other key schemes that improve transport links to some of the UK’s most important airports and ports, as well as offering more environmentally friendly options for transporting freight. This includes:
improvements to the A180/A160 junction to enhance access to Immingham Port (£30 million);
technology improvements to enhance traffic flow on the A12 between the M25 and Ipswich, improving access to Felixstowe and Harwich ports (£60 million);
the south-east Manchester relief road, to improve access to Manchester Airport (£165 million);
and enhancements to the North London Line to enable increased movements of rail freight on this important link (£54 million).
Delivery of the A46, A12, A180/A160 and access to Manchester Airport schemes is subject to agreeing regional funding contributions and, with the exception of the A12, the completion of statutory planning processes.
UK Statistics Authority: Winter Supplementary Estimate
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform & Cabinet Office (Baroness Vadera): My honourable friend the Parliamentary Secretary, Cabinet Office (Kevin Brennan) has made the following Written Ministerial Statement.
Subject to parliamentary approval of any necessary supplementary estimate, the UK Statistics Authority’s total departmental expenditure limit (DEL) will be increased by £805,000 from £210,060,000 to £210,865,000, and the programme budget will be increased by £805,000.
Within the DEL change, the impact on resources and capital is as set out in the following table:
| Change (£,000) | New DEL (£,000) | ||||
| Voted | Non-Voted | Voted | Non-voted | Total | |
- * The total of “administration budget” and “near-cash in resource DEL” 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.
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