HM Treasury News Release
159/97 10 December 1997
__________________________________________________________________
THE GOVERNMENT IS DELIVERING ON ITS SPENDING PROMISES
Up to date figures show that the Government is delivering on
its spending promises by reallocating money to key priority
areas, while sticking to the Control Total figures for this
year and next, Chief Secretary Alistair Darling confirmed
today.
He commented:
" We promised to stick to the existing spending ceilings for
the first two years of this Parliament and that is what we are
doing, whilst redirecting resources to key areas such as
hospitals and schools as we said we would. This is a
Government which is keeping its promises by making a
substantial difference to the pattern and direction of public
expenditure, while putting the public finances on a sound
footing."
Detailed figures contained in a written Parliamentary Answer
show that the Government has already provided:
- an extra 1 billion Pounds for schools next year;
- an extra 1.2 billion Pounds for the NHS next year;
- an extra 300 million Pounds for patient care in the NHS
this winter, paid for by switching savings from the
Defence budget and from the nuclear industry, and from
efficiency savings; and
- 190 million Pounds this year and next, to provide all
pensioner households with a winter fuel bonus, paid for
from savings on our net contributions to the European
Union.
The Government has also fulfilled its commitments to fund key
priorities by transferring resources from programmes which
benefited only the few to those that benefit the many:
- it has passes legislation to phase out the Assisted
Places Scheme, releasing money to cut class sizes to 30
or less for all five, six and seven-year-olds; and
- the Nursery Vouchers scheme will be ended from April
1998, releasing money for new local partnerships to
deliver a nursery place for all four-year-olds.
- 100 million Pounds has been saved from NHS red tape for
front line patient care, 10 million Pounds of which is
going to ensure that all women have speedy access to
breast cancer services. There will be more savings next
year.
In addition to this spending within the Control Total, the
Windfall Tax on the profits of the privatised utilities will
fund the key elements of the Government's Welfare to Work
programme over the lifetime of this Parliament:
- 3.1 billion Pounds for the New Deal for Young People to
give every young person who has been unemployed for six
months the opportunity to work or train
- 400 million Pounds for the New Deal for the Long Term
Unemployed to give new opportunities to every person
unemployed for two years;
- 1.3 billion Pounds for the New Deal for Schools, funding
a programme of investment in new technology and repairing
school buildings;
- 225 million Pounds for the New Deal for Lone Parents; and
- 195 million Pounds for the New Deal for the Long Term
Sick and Disabled.
The Chief Secretary gave details of the spending plans for each
Department within the Control Total in answer to a Parliamentary
Question from Stephen Timms MP. A copy of the Question and Answer
are attached.
NOTES TO EDITORS
1. The Chief Secretary's Answer gives details of the Control
Total from 1992-93 to 1998-99, broken down by department, in cash
and real terms. The Control Total is the expenditure aggregate
used by the Government to maintain control of public spending:
it comprises departmental spending ceilings, net contributions
to the European Communities, local authority self-financed
expenditure and the Reserve.
2. The Control Totals for 1997-98 and 1998-99 are 265.8 billion
Pounds and 273.5 billion Pounds respectively. The Government is
committed to keeping Control Total spending within these totals.
3. The answer shows the outturn figures for years from 1992-93
to 1996-97. For 1997-98 and 1998-99 it shows plans as announced
in November 1996, revised to take account of any announced
changes in spending plans including the Summer and Winter
Supplementary Estimates.
__________________________________________________________________
HM TREASURY
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will publish
updated versions of table 5A.4 and 5A.5 from the Financial
Statement and Budget Report (FSBR) 1997-98.
MR ALISTAIR DARLING
The attached tables are an update of the tables included in
the Financial Statement and Budget Report. The figures for
1997-98 and 1998-99 are based on the plans announced in
November 1996 and revised to take account of any announced
changes in spending plans including the Summer and Winter
Supplementary Estimates.
These figures include:
- the 1.2 billion Pounds allocated to the NHS and the 1
billion Pounds allocated to schools for 1998-99 in the
July Budget.
- the additional 300 million Pounds for patient services in
the NHS for this year announced in October
- the extra 190 million Pounds provision this year and next
for pensioners' fuel bills announced in the Pre Budget
Report
- the effect of the abolition of nursery vouchers and the
transfer of money to local authorities to fund their
early year development plans.
There are no figures for new plans for 1999-2000 and beyond as
new plans will not be set until the completion of the
Comprehensive Spending Review.
In addition we have allocated substantial funds outside the
Control Total; over 5 billion Pounds for the Welfare to Work
programme and for investment in housing. The expected spending
in 1997-98 and 1998-99 is shown in the table below. We have
also announced a change in allocations from the National
Lottery; 1 billion Pounds will be allocated over the next four
years for the Government's priorities of health and education
including spending on out of school activities and on National
Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts.
---------------------------------------------------------------
Expenditure Outside the Control Total
---------------------------------------------------------------
£ million
-------------------------------
1997-98 1998-99
---------------------------------------------------------------
Spending by programme [1] :
A New Deal for the under
25s unemployed over 6 months 100 700
A New Deal for people unemployed
over two years 0 100
A New Deal for lone parents 0 25
Childcare [2] 0 40
A New Deal for Schools 100 300
Total expenditure 200 1165
Capital Receipts Initiative 200 700
---------------------------------------------------------------
[1] Illustrative levels of spending based on current levels of
unemployment. Actual provision for any particular year will be
decided in the light of the number of eligible people and the
effectiveness of the programme.
[2] Including changes to Family Credit, and Out of School Clubs
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Control Total by department
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
£ million
---------------------------------------------------------
Outturn Plans
1992-93 1993-94 1994-95 1995-96 1996-97 1997-98 1998-99
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Defence (exc married quarters) 22,910 22,757 22,562 21,517 22,345 21,660 22,250
MoD Married Quarters -962 -700
Foreign Office 1,242 1,244 1,263 1,339 1,059 1,100 1,070
Dept for International
Development 2,126 2,235 2,385 2,338 2,343 2,210 2,320
Agriculture,Fisheries & Food 2,186 2,937 2,445 2,827 4,205 3,740 3,400
Trade & Industry - Programmes 2,812 2,737 2,811 3,223 3,092 3,090 3,020
Trade & Industry - Nat Inds 1,300 1,278 577 25 -394 -100 -180
Export Cre Guar Dept 117 -60 -26 16 15 10
DETR-Transport 6,557 5,959 5,974 4,619 4,838 5,220 4,590
DETR-Other 10,371 10,284 9,635 8,915 8,300 7,440 7,530
DETR- Local Government [1] 31,175 29,378 29,913 30,298 31,321 31,380 32,760
Memo: Education SSA [1] 17,764 17,840 19,380
Education & Employment [1] 10,762 13,616 14,364 14,449 14,494 14,090 13,360
Home Office 5,824 5,965 6,259 6,480 6,532 6,920 6,860
Legal Departments 2,334 2,415 2,585 2,684 2,749 2,710 2,680
Dept for Culture, Media & Sport 1,005 977 978 1,026 978 890 910
Health 28,212 29,763 31,575 32,907 33,817 35,160 36,700
of which NHS 27,970 28,941 30,570 31,958 33,044 34,590 36,120
Social Security 61,130 67,091 69,457 72,748 76,970 80,060 83,910
Scotland [1] 12,723 13,580 14,082 14,312 14,490 14,500 14,590
Wales [1] 5,992 6,296 6,551 6,719 6,820 6,940 6,980
Northern Ireland [1] 6,606 7,108 7,426 7,717 8,030 8,230 8,330
Chancellors' Departments 3,478 3,393 3,329 3,288 3,201 3,180 3,130
Cabinet Office 1,012 1,054 966 1,248 1,214 1,050 1,350
European Communities 1,912 1,877 1,268 3,370 1,717 1,780 2,440
Local authority self-financed
expenditure 8,815 7,999 10,718 12,887 12,718 13,100 13,600
Further EYF Takeup [2] 700
Reserve 1,400 2,000
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Control Total 230,602 239,885 247,098 254,952 259,893 265,800 273,500
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Footnotes:
1. Education
The 1 billion Pounds provided for schools in 1998-99 in the Budget has
been added to support for local authorities and appear in the figures for
DETR-Local Government, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. The Education
SSA line shows central government's provision for a nominal "standard level
of service" in education. The amount of money is a broad indicator of
local authority spending on education; the final decisions are made by
individual local authorities. The Education SSA line includes the 1998-99
money transferred to DETR-LG following the abolition of nursery vouchers.
The spending plans for the Department of Education and Employment are
reduced on 1997-98 and 1998-99 by the expected proceeds from sales of
student loans (1.6 billion Pounds in each year). The apparent reduction
in spending between 1997-98 and 1998-99 principally consists of transfers
to other departments including DETR-Local Government and DSS. There is a
real terms increase in overall provision for education in 1998-99.
2. Further EYF Take-up
This is the Treasury estimate of likely further take-up by departments
before the end of 1997-98 of unspent provision carried forward from last
year under the end-year flexibility rules. Some 450 million Pounds of EYF
has already been taken up in the Winter Supplementary Estimates and is
included in the departmental totals.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Control Total by department in real terms (1996-97 prices)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
£ million
---------------------------------------------------------
Outturn Plans
1992-93 1993-94 1994-95 1995-96 1996-97 1997-98 1998-99
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Defence (exc married quarters) 25.3 24.4 23.8 22.1 22.3 21.1 21.1
MoD Married Quarters -1.0 -0.7
Foreign Office 1.4 1.3 1.3 1.4 1.1 1.1 1.0
Dept for International Development 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.4 2.3 2.2 2.2
Agriculture,Fisheries & Food 2.4 3.1 2.6 2.9 4.2 3.6 3.2
Trade & Industry - Programmes 3.1 2.9 3.0 3.3 3.1 3.0 2.9
Trade & Industry - Nat Inds 1.4 1.4 0.6 0.0 -0.4 -0.1 -0.2
Export Cre Guar Dept 0.1 -0.1 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
DETR-Transport 7.2 6.4 6.3 4.7 4.8 5.1 4.3
DETR-Other 11.4 11.0 10.2 9.2 8.3 7.2 7.1
DETR- Local Government [1] 34.4 31.5 31.6 31.1 31.3 30.6 31.0
Memo: Education SSA [1] 17.8 17.4 18.4
Education & Employment [1] 11.9 14.6 15.2 14.9 14.5 13.7 12.7
Home Office 6.4 6.4 6.6 6.7 6.5 6.7 6.5
Legal Departments 2.6 2.6 2.7 2.8 2.7 2.6 2.5
Dept for Culture, Media & Sport 1.1 1.0 1.0 1.1 1.0 0.9 0.9
Health 31.1 31.9 33.3 33.8 33.8 34.2 34.8
of which NHS 30.9 31.0 32.3 32.8 33.0 33.7 34.2
Social Security 67.4 71.9 73.3 74.8 77.0 78.0 79.5
Scotland [1] 14.0 14.6 14.9 14.7 14.5 14.1 13.8
Wales [1] 6.6 6.7 6.9 6.9 6.8 6.8 6.6
Northern Ireland [1] 7.3 7.6 7.8 7.9 8.0 8.0 7.9
Chancellors' Departments 3.8 3.6 3.5 3.4 3.2 3.1 3.0
Cabinet Office 1.1 1.1 1.0 1.3 1.2 1.0 1.3
European Communities 2.1 2.0 1.3 3.5 1.7 1.7 2.3
Local authority self-financed
expenditure 9.7 8.6 11.3 13.2 12.7 12.7 12.8
Further EYF Takeup [2] 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.7 0.0
Reserve 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 1.4 1.9
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Control Total 254.4 257.1 260.9 262.0 259.9 258.8 259.1
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------