Northern Ireland written statement – made at on 21 November 2006.
Peter Hain
The Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, The Secretary of State for Wales
Subject to Parliamentary approval the Northern Ireland Office (NIO) will be taking a 2006-07 Winter Supplementary Estimate. The effect this will have is to increase the NIO's DEL by £30,843,000 from £1,206,618,000 to £1,237,461,000.
| Change | New DEL | ||||
| £'000 | Voted | Non- Voted | Voted | Non- voted | Total |
| Resource | 5,746 | 23,313 | 335,271 | 879,207 | 1,214,478 |
| Admin Budget | 166 | 0 | 86, 756 | 5,000 | 91, 756 |
| Near-cash | 10,305 | 12,281 | 275,087 | 741,584 | 1,016,671 |
| Capital | 0 | 13,377 | 38,454 | 46,851 | 85,305 |
| Depreciation | 3,720 | -15,313 | -18,462 | -43,860 | -62,322 |
| Total | 9,466 | 21,377 | 355,263 | 882,198 | 1,237,461 |
The change in the resource element of the DEL £30,843,000 relates to the draw down of end-year flexibility £42,270,000 of which is £13,100,000 is near cash resource, £15,793,000 is non-cash and £13,377,000 is capital. The Department is also receiving a resource budget transfer of £ 166k from the Cabinet Office. As DEL stated excludes depreciation, the change is adjusted by £11,593,000 to £30,843,000.
The cash draw down is in relation to additional resource requirement for various business areas within the Department such as PSNI, NI Prison Service, Public Prosecution Service and Youth Justice Agency. The non-cash element is required for NDPBs such as PSNI, NI Human Rights Commission, the Criminal Justice Inspectorate and NI Policing Board.
The change in capital DEL by £13,377,000 is required for various business areas within the Department such as PSNI, the Police Ombudsman, the Probation Board for Northern Ireland and the Criminal Justice Inspectorate.
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.
