Defence written statement – made at on 21 November 2006.
Des Browne
Secretary of State, Ministry of Defence, The Secretary of State for Defence
Subject to Parliamentary approval of the necessary Supplementary Estimate, the Ministry of Defence Departmental Expenditure Limits (DEL) will be increased by £1,592,272,000 from £32,018,905,000 to £33,611,177,000. Within the DEL change, the impact on Resources and Capital are as set out in the following table:
| £000 | |||||
| Change | New DEL | ||||
| Voted | Non- Voted | Voted | Non- voted | Total | |
| Resource | 1,160,272 | — | 33,002,967 | 800,550 | 33,803,517 |
| Near-Cash in RDEL | 1,260,272 | — | 22,447,855 | 318,984 | 22,766,839 |
| Capital | 432,000 | — | 7,357,916 | 744 | 7,358,660 |
| Depreciation(1) | — | — | -7,081,000 | -470,000 | -7,551,000 |
| Total | 1,592,272 | — | 33,279,883 | 331,294 | 33,611,177 |
| (1) 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:
the take up of end year flexibility of £120,000,000 Resource DEL Direct (near cash) and £72,000,000 Capital DEL; a transfer in of £72,000 from the Cabinet Office in respect of this year's funding arrangements for the expansion of the Parliamentary Counsel Office; a transfer in of £200,000 from the DTI as contribution to the Principal Non-industrial Superannuation Scheme (PNISS) also known as the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA) pension scheme; to increase Request for Resources 2 by £1,040,000,000 Resource DEL and £360,000,000 Capital DEL to reflect the costs of peace-keeping in Iraq and Afghanistan; to increase Request for Resources 3 by £7,210,000 for War Pensions Benefits Costs and £500,000 for War Pensions Benefits Programme Costs - Far Eastern Prisoners of War, to reflect the latest forecast outturn.
In addition there is a transfer from Resource DEL Indirect (non-cash) to Resource DEL Direct (near cash) of £100,000,000, mainly for fuel costs.
The changes to Resource DEL and Capital DEL will lead to an increased net cash requirement of £1,699,982,000.
The cabinet is the group of twenty or so (and no more than 22) senior government ministers who are responsible for running the departments of state and deciding government policy.
It is chaired by the prime minister.
The cabinet is bound by collective responsibility, which means that all its members must abide by and defend the decisions it takes, despite any private doubts that they might have.
Cabinet ministers are appointed by the prime minister and chosen from MPs or peers of the governing party.
However, during periods of national emergency, or when no single party gains a large enough majority to govern alone, coalition governments have been formed with cabinets containing members from more than one political party.
War cabinets have sometimes been formed with a much smaller membership than the full cabinet.
From time to time the prime minister will reorganise the cabinet in order to bring in new members, or to move existing members around. This reorganisation is known as a cabinet re-shuffle.
The cabinet normally meets once a week in the cabinet room at Downing Street.
