My right honourable friend the Secretary of State for the Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (John Hutton) has made the following Written Ministerial Statement.

Subject to parliamentary approval of the necessary supplementary estimate, the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform's DEL will be reduced by £3,748,144,000 from £7,144,961,000 to £3,396,817,000 and the administration budget will be increased by £9,740,000 from £316,969,000 to £326,709,000.

Within the DEL change, the impact on resources and capital is as set out in the following table:

^* The total of the 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.

The change in the resource element of the DEL arises from:

RfR1

machinery of government transfer of £6,146,000 voted expenditure and £1,955,000 non-voted receipts to the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills in respect of the UK Intellectual Property Office;

machinery of government transfer of £6,370,000 to the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills in respect of non-voted expenditure of the Design Council;

machinery of government transfer of £168,300,000 to the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills in respect of the technology strategy;

machinery of government transfer of £296,000 to the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills in respect of the National Weights and Measures Laboratory;

machinery of government transfer of £27,650,000 to the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills in respect of space;

machinery of government transfer of £3,500,000 to the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills in respect of civil aircraft research and demonstration;

machinery of government transfer of £57,573,000 to the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills in respect of the national measurement system;

machinery of government transfer of £56,788,000 to the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills in respect of standards, knowledge transfer partnerships, legacy schemes, corporate social responsibility;

machinery of government transfer of £1,000,000 to the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills in respect of UK Intellectual Property Office for legal costs;

machinery of government transfer of £214,000 to the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills in respect of the National Weights and Measures Laboratory;

increase of £2,762,000 in respect of an award from the Financial Inclusion Fund for face-to-face debt advice;

transfer of £4,000,000 from the Ministry of Defence in respect of global threat reduction;

virement of £5,671,000 from voted to non-voted expenditure in respect of the regional development agencies reflecting increased contributions from other government departments;

virement of £50,000,000 from non-voted expenditure in respect of the regional development agencies to provide for voted pressures with regard to sustainability and business programmes following the machinery of government changes;

reclassification to capital of £728,383,000 of non-voted expenditure in respect of the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority;

virement of £833,811,000 from voted to non-voted expenditure in respect of the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority reflecting increased commercial income;

virement of £1,000,000 from voted expenditure on the Small Business Service to non-voted expenditure in respect of the regional development agencies;

virement of £2,000,000 from voted expenditure of the Insolvency Service to non-voted expenditure in respect of the Local Better Regulation Office; and

reclassification of £68,000,000 from annually managed expenditure to departmental expenditure limit in respect of a subsidy to the Royal Mail for losses/restructuring.

RfR2

machinery of government transfer of £41,072,000 to the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills in respect of the Royal Society;

machinery of government transfer of £9,752,000 to the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills in respect of the Royal Academy of Engineering;

machinery of government transfer of £21,385,000 to the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills in respect of the British Academy;

machinery of government transfer of £6,000,000 to the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills in respect of OSI initiatives;

machinery of government transfer of £11,395,000 to the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills in respect of science and society;

machinery of government transfer of £104,000,000 to the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills in respect of knowledge transfer (higher education innovation fund and exploitation of discoveries at public sector research establishments);

machinery of government transfer of £97,343,000 to the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills in respect of non-voted expenditure of the Arts and Humanities Research Council;

machinery of government transfer of £340,825,000 to the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills in respect of non-voted expenditure of the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council;

machinery of government transfer of £144,265,000 to the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills in respect of non-voted expenditure of the Economic and Social Research Council;

machinery of government transfer of £667,070,000 to the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills in respect of non-voted expenditure of the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council;

machinery of government transfer of £490,040,000 to the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills in respect of non-voted expenditure of the Medical Research Council;

machinery of government transfer of £354,613,000 to the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills in respect of non-voted expenditure of the Natural Environment Research Council;

machinery of government transfer of £5,572,000 to the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills in respect of non-voted EU-related receipts of the Natural Environment Research Council;

machinery of government transfer of £483,808,000 to the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills in respect of non-voted expenditure of the Science and Technology Facilities Council;

machinery of government transfer of non-voted expenditure of £3,300,000 to the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills in respect of EURATOM (European fusion);

machinery of government transfer of non-voted expenditure of £4,306,000 to the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills in respect of departmental unallocated provision.

Also within the change to resource DEL, the changes to the administration budget are (RfR1):

machinery of government transfer of £11,429,000 from the Cabinet Office in respect of the Better Regulation Executive;

machinery of government transfer of £14,690,000 to the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills in respect of innovation;

machinery of government transfer of £641,000 from the Department for Communities and Local Government in respect of regional activities;

transfer of £125,000 to the Department for Communities and Local Government in respect of a correction to the Women’s Equality Unit machinery of government transfer made in 2006/07;

transfer of £1,685,000 from the Cabinet Office in respect of the Parliamentary Counsel Office;

reclassification of £20,000,000 from programme to administration expenditure in respect of revised treatment of consultancy fees and contract charges;

reclassification of £700,000 from voted administration to non-voted programme expenditure in respect of the regional development agencies.

RfR2

machinery of government transfer of £3,500,000 to the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills in respect of the science and engineering base; and

machinery of government transfer of £5,000,000 to the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills in respect of the transdepartmental science and technology group.

The change in the capital element of the DEL arises from:

RfR1

machinery of government transfer of £166,000 receipts to the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills in respect of the UK Intellectual Property Office;

machinery of government transfer of £10,000,000 to the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills in respect of the technology strategy;

machinery of government transfer of £231,000 to the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills in respect of the National Weights and Measures Laboratory;

machinery of government transfer of £9,867,000 to the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills in respect of the national measurement system;

increase of £639,000 to the regional development agencies in relation to the Leeds UDC dowry;

reclassification from resource of £728,383,000 of non-voted expenditure in respect of the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority;

virement of £57,284,000 from voted to non-voted expenditure in respect of the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority reflecting increased commercial income;

utilisation of £78,000,000 from the unused balance of the department's EYF entitlement for renewable energy;

transfer of £78,000,000 from the renewable energy budget to the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills for science purposes;

virement of £10,000 from voted regional selective assistance expenditure to non-voted expenditure in respect of the Local Better Regulation Office.

RfR2

machinery of government transfer of £300,000,000 to the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills in respect of the Science Research Investment Fund;

machinery of government transfer of £1,000,000 of receipts to the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills in respect of the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council;

machinery of government transfer of £55,231,000 to the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills in respect of non-voted expenditure of the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council;

machinery of government transfer of £7,950,000 to the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills in respect of non-voted expenditure of the Economic and Social Research Council;

machinery of government transfer of £67,826,000 to the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills in respect of non-voted expenditure of the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council;

machinery of government transfer of £69,468,000 to the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills in respect of non-voted expenditure of the Medical Research Council;

machinery of government transfer of £54,765,000 to the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills in respect of non-voted expenditure of the Natural Environment Research Council;

machinery of government transfer of £134,008,000 to the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills in respect of non-voted expenditure of the Science and Technology Facilities Council;

machinery of government transfer of non-voted expenditure of £6,321,000 to the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills in respect of departmental unallocated provision.

Postal Services Commission: Winter Supplementary Estimate 2007-08

The Postal Services Commission net cash requirement will be increased by £1,517,000 from £1,000 to £1,518,000. There is no impact on resource or capital DEL as set out in the following table:

^* The total of the 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 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.

The change in the net cash requirement is a result of a forecast decrease in end-year creditors that is higher than the original forecast in the main estimate.

Office of Gas and Electricity Markets: Winter Supplementary Estimate 2007-08

Subject to parliamentary approval of the necessary supplementary estimate, the Office of Gas and Electricity Market's DEL will be increased by £1,000 from £1,651,000 to £1,652,000 and the administration budget will be increased by £211,000 from £491,000 to £702,000.

^* The total of the 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 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.

The change in the resource element of the DEL arises from a token increase in administration costs to cover an increase of £356,000 in expenditure offset by an increase of £355,000 in A in A. Additionally, there is a reclassification of £210,000 from programme to administration costs.

There is no change in the capital element of the DEL.