I move:
That a supplementary sum not exceeding £953,000 be granted to defray the charge which will come in course of payment during the year ending the 31st day of March, 1973, for the salaries and expenses of the Office of the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs and of certain other services administered by that Office, and for payment of certain grants-in-aid.
This Supplementary Estimate is necessary because of additional expenditure totalling £4,660,000 under three subheads but an expected increase of £3,707,000 in appropriations-in-aid reduces the net amount required to £953,000.
Under subhead D an extra £100,000 is needed to meet higher rates of travelling and subsistence expenses. An extra £330,000 is being provided under subhead E mainly for postal and general stores. Under subhead F £730 is required for increased purchases of engineering stores. A sum of £3.5 million is also being provided under subhead F for extra expenditure on telephone development, mainly to meet higher commitments to contractors for the provision and installation of telephone equipment and for underground telephone cabling.
The increased expenditure of £3.5 million on telephone development is fully offset by a corresponding increase in the Appropriations-in-Aid subhead because expenditure of this nature is recovered from telephone capital funds. A further increase of £207,000 on the receipt side arises because of a higher payment by the Department of Social Welfare for agency services provided on a repayment basis by the Post Office for that Department.
