To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what arrangements are being made for in-year control of public expenditure from 1999–2000 onwards; and if he will make a statement. [78856]

I have today written to the Chairman of the Treasury Committee outlining the arrangements the Government are making for in-year control of public expenditure.The spending control framework announced in the Comprehensive Spending Review establishes a new aggregate, the Department Expenditure Limit, which covers all spending within departments' direct or indirect control. The new arrangements were set out in the 1998 Economic and Fiscal Strategy Report (Cm 3978) and the Comprehensive Spending Review White Paper (Cm 4011).With effect from 1999–2000 the system of cash limits will be replaced by a single control on each department at the level of the Departmental Expenditure Limit (DEL). In future, the disciplines of notifying a control limit to Parliament, reporting changes in that limit, and accounting for any breach will apply at the level of the DEL. Changes in DELs arising from transfers between departments or calls upon and benefits to the DEL Reserve will be notified to Parliament.Details of this and the increased emphasis on the use of End-Year Flexibility to contain pressures on the DEL will be described in the Introduction to the 1999–2000 Main Supply Estimates which will be presented to the House shortly.Departments have been encouraged to establish small unallocated provisions within their Departmental Expenditure Limits for 1999–2000 onwards to give them flexibility to manage their budgets and respond to unforeseen pressures in-year. This will help ensure that the three year plans set in the CSR can be adhered to.