To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will express the totals and sub-totals for planned expenditure given in the cash plans published in Cm 1909 in real terms as well as cash terms.

The information requested is as follows. The real term figures are expressed in 1990–91 prices using the gross domestic product deflator.

The difference of £115 million between 1991–92 expenditure plans for the prisons as shown in Cm 1909 and estimated outturn as shown in Cm 1509 is because there has been additional expenditure to pay for the cost of keeping prisoners in police cells, mainly due to an increase in prison population. Extra expenditure was also necessary to meet the construction costs of new prisons, due mainly to slippage in the programme, claims from contractors and the accelerated integral sanitation programme.Expenditure on the police has risen because estimated outturn now includes £3 million representing the cost of superannuation in the charges made for services and £4 million to meet the cost of centralising the provision of an existing service. The Forensic Science Service estimated outturn also now includes £2 million for the cost of superannuation. The increase of £3 million for miscellaneous services is mainly due to higher than anticipated levels of transfer values and pensions payments.The increase of £13 million for immigration and citizenship is mainly attributable to the increased resources made available in the summer supplementary estimate (HC486) for the processing of asylum applications. This also accounts for the £1 million increase for community services, which covers grants to organisations assisting asylum seekers. The £1 million reduction in the estimated outturn for other broadcasting is due to the changed requirements of the loan to the Radio Authority.Other changes to the distribution of central Government's own expenditure are caused by reallocations of resources within the overall total.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what effect the rise in the estimate of outturn for 1991–92, as recorded in Cm 1909, will have on his Department's expenditure plans for 1992–93.

Some of the developments affecting estimated outturn for 1991–92 can be expected to become a regular feature of the Department's expenditure. To the extent consistent with the resources available to my Department, such developments have been taken into account in planning expenditure in 1992–93.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what differences there are between the planned outturns for 1992–93 and 1993–94 and the planned expenditure for those years as recorded in last year's annual report; and what are the reasons for these differences.

The information requested is as follows:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what additional commitments which will involve spending in the years after 1994–95 he has undertaken since the publication of his Department's 1991 annual report.

In June 1991, I announced the appointment of Mr. Anthony Mullett, QPM as director-designate of the National Criminal Intelligence Service. The service will become operational on 1 April 1992 and will bring together a number of national units

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what strategies he has to constrain expenditure if pay increases in 1992–93 are greater than allowed in departmental running costs plans.

If pay increases in 1992–93 are greater than allowed in my Department's running costs plans. I will reconsider my priorities and seek offsetting savings.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what changes there have been in the 1991–92 estimated outturn compared with the 1990–91 outturn in (a) percentage terms and (b) after adjustment for the gross domestic product deflator.

The information requested is as follows:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what procedures his Department has for keeping itself informed of the regional distribution of its expenditure and for correcting any significant unintended imbalances which appear.

The nature of Home Office services is such that their provision is generally demand-led, and as the greater part of Home Office expenditure takes the form of grants to local authorities, the mechanism for achieving a fair distribution is inherently self-regulating. So far as the Home Office's own direct expenditure is concerned, it would not he feasible to adopt a policy of ensuring that such expenditure is divided proportionately between the regions because other considerations must take precedence in determining the distribution of resources. In the Prison Service, however, the vote is constructed broadly on the basis of regional structure, and each region bids for its own funds. The financial management system records expenditure against regional budgets. The position is monitored regularly by the central finance committee, which will adjust any imbalance by virement and/or by means of a supplementary estimate.