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Departmental Expenditure Limits

Volume 506: debated on Tuesday 23 February 2010

Subject to Parliamentary approval of the spring supplementary estimate 2009-10, the Cabinet Office total departmental expenditure limit (DEL) will be increased by £65,214,000 from £394,149,000 to £459,363,000.

The impact on resources and capital is set out in the following table:

£'000

Winter Supplementary Estimate DEL

Changes

Spring Supplementary Estimate New DEL

Voted

Non-Voted

Total

Voted

Non-Voted

Total

Voted

Non-Voted

Total

Resource DEL

332,954

45,015

377,969

+1,928

+7,356

+9,284

334,882

52,371

387,253

Of which:

Administration Budget

206,397

-

206,397

-35,847

+7,600

-28,247

170,550

7,600

178,150

Near cash in RDEL

288,176

45,015

333,191

+5,109

+8,175

+13,284

293,285

53,190

346,475

Capital DEL**

49,985

1,000

50,985

+50,074

+2,400

+52,474

100,059

3,400

103,459

Depreciation*

-34,805

-

-34,805

+3,456

-

+3,456

-31,349

-

-31,349

Total DEL

348,134

46,015

394,149

+55,458

+9,756

+65,214

403,592

55,771

459,363

New AME

-

10

10

-

-10

-10

-

-

-

*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.

**Capital DEL includes items treated as resource in Estimates and accounts but which are treated as Capital DEL in budgets.

Summary of Changes in Departmental Expenditure Limit (DEL) and Annually Managed Expenditure (AME)

The change in the resource element of DEL, an increase of £9.284 million, comprises a £11.344 million agreed claim on the reserve, £10.083 million end year flexibility drawdown, £11.184 million budget cover transfers to other Government Departments, £0.150 million transfer to capital grant in aid to ENDPBs, a switch from to AME to DEL £0.010 million resulting from HM Treasury retracting their original advice on classification of accrued benefits holiday pay as a result of the implementation of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) and a £0.819 million reduction in wages and salaries to cover the use of provision for early departures.

The change in the capital element of DEL, an increase of £52.474 million, comprises a £0.150 million transfer from resource DEL and a £52.324 million drawdown on End Year Flexibility.

Changes in Resource DEL (RDEL)

The changes which result in a net increase in resource DEL (RDEL) of £9,284,000 are as follows:

Agreed Claim on the Reserve

A claim on the Reserve for V Matched Funding increases resource DEL and net cash requirement by £10,500,000.

A claim on the Reserve for Invest to Save Budget in the Office of the Third Sector increases resource DEL and net cash requirement by £844,000.

End Year Flexibility

A drawdown for Invest to Save budget increases resource DEL and net cash requirement by £83,000.

A drawdown for Real Help for Communities Action Plan run by the Office of the Third Sector increases resource DEL and net cash requirement by £10,000,000.

Budget cover transfers outwards

Budgetary cover transfers to various Government Departments to cover the costs of the Office of the Parliamentary Counsel (OPC) decrease resource DEL and net cash requirement by £8,003,000.

A budgetary cover transfer to the Security and Intelligence Agencies (SIA) to cover the non-cash charges upon transfer of SCOPE assets decreases non-cash resource DEL by £3,181,000.

Transfer from Voted to non-voted within Resource DEL

A switch within resource DEL from voted to non-voted administration to properly record the implementation of IFRS for a service concession arrangement of £7,600,000. The impact on net resource requirement and resource DEL is neutral. A switch is required owing to the different treatment of the service concession in estimates and budgets. For estimates purposes, this arrangement will be treated as a finance lease and for budget purposes it will be treated as an operating lease.

The Cabinet Office entered into a contract with Fujitsu Services Limited (FSL) for the provision of information and communications technology (ICT) services over a five-year term until June 2012 and this includes certain infrastructure assets for use in delivering public services that fall within the scope of IFRIC12 service concession arrangements.

Transfers from non-Voted Resource to Capital DEL

A switch from resource DEL to capital DEL to cover additional expenditure for the non-voted grant in aid to ENDPBs decreases resource DEL by £150,000. The impact on net cash requirement is neutral because the overall grant in aid to ENDPBs in the estimate remains unchanged.

Other changes

A decrease in wages and salaries to cover the use of early departure provisions by £819,000.

Switch from AME to DEL

A switch from to AME to DEL of £10,000 resulting from HM Treasury retracting their original advice on classification of accrued benefits holiday pay as a result of the IFRS implementation.

Changes in Capital DEL (CDEL)

The changes which result in a net increase in capital DEL of £52,474,000 are as follows:-

End Year Flexibility

A drawdown to cover capital grants programmes run by the Office of the Third Sector (OTS) increases capital DEL and net cash requirement by £52,324,000.

Transfers from Voted Resource to Capital DEL

A switch from resource DEL to capital DEL to cover additional expenditure for the non-voted grant in aid to ENDPBs increases capital DEL by £150,000. The impact on net cash requirement is neutral because the overall grant in aid to ENDPB non budget in the estimate remains unchanged.