Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs written statement – made at on 22 November 2006.
Margaret Beckett
Foreign Secretary
Subject to Parliamentary approval of any necessary Supplementary Estimate, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office Departmental Expenditure Limit (DEL) will be increased by £62,281,000 from £1,816,520,000 to £1,878,801,000. The administration budget will be increased by £29,341,000 from £862,101,000 to £891,442,000. Within the DEL change, the impact on resources and capital are as set out in the following table:
| Change £000 | Change £000 | ||||
| Voted | Non-voted | Voted | Non-voted | Total | |
| Resource of which: | 66,781 | -4,500 | 1,814,209 | 66,213 | 1,880,422 |
| Administration budget* | 14,841 | 14,500 | 841,942 | 49,500 | 891,422 |
| Near-cash in RDEL | 66,781 | -4,500 | 1,657,490 | 31,213 | 1,688,703 |
| Capital** | 0 | 0 | 149,003 | 1,000 | 150,003 |
| Depreciation*** | 0 | 0 | -116,624 | -35,000 | -151,003 |
| Total | 66,781 | -4,500 | 1,846,588 | 32,213 | 1,878,801 |
| *The total of '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:
RfRl
Administration
(i) Take up of £14,755,000 End Year Flexibility (EYF) entitlement.
(ii) Budget Cover Transfer from the Cabinet Office of £73,000 for the Parliamentary Counsel Office.
(iii) Budget Transfer for Police Pension Costs for Consular of £13,000 from the Home Office.
Programme
(i) Budget Transfer for Police Pension Costs for Global Opportunities Fund (GOF) Counter Terrorism and Economic Governance of £52,000 from the Home Office.
(ii) Budget Transfer for Police Pension Costs for GOF Drugs and Crime of £52,000 from the Home Office.
(iii) Draw down from the Departmental Unallocated Provision of £4,500,000 for the Better Basra Project.
(iv) Budget transfer to the SIA of £7,075,000 for Planned Programme Activity.
(v) Movement from Capital to Capital Grant of £1,600,000 in order to pay invoice for Government Secure Zone by the Cabinet Office.
Neutral Changes
(i) An increase in income and expenditure of £6,000,000 for Afghan Delivery Plan offset by income from the Home Office.
(ii) An increase in income and expenditure of £8,500,000 for Afghan Delivery Plan offset by income from the MOD.
RfR2
Programme
(i) Budget transfer for Police Pension Costs for Peacekeeping Africa of £141,000 from the Home Office.
(ii) Budget transfer for Police Pension Costs for Peacekeeping Global of £1,270,000 from the Home Office.
(iii) Draw down of £25,000,000 from the Africa Peacekeeping Main Estimate Provision.
(iv) Draw down of £25,000,000 from the Global Peacekeeping Main Estimate Provision.
(v) Budget transfer for Agreed Global Conflict Prevention Pool Activity of £3,000,000 from the Department for International Development.
Changes in Capital
(i) Movement from Capital to Capital Grant of £1,600,000 in order to pay invoice for Government Secure Zone by the Cabinet Office.
Neutral Changes
(i) An increase in income and expenditure of £11,000,000 for Biometrics offset by income from the Home Office.
(ii) An increase in income and expenditure of £39,000,000 relating to the asset recycling agreement.
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.
