Vol. 555 No. 2
250 Mr. R. Bruton asked the Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism the amount of money that remains available to his Department from the voted spending allocation agreed in the Revised Estimates 2002, to spend in the last quarter of 2002 for capital spending and for current spending; and the way in which this compares with the amount spent for current and for capital purposes in the last quarter of 2001. [18411/02]
The amount of money that remains available to my Department from the voted spending allocation agreed in the Revised Estimates 2002 to spend in the last quarter of 2002 for capital spending is €58.3 million and for current spending is €58.1 million. In the last quarter of 2001, expenditure for capital purposes was €38.3 million and for current purposes was €53.2 million.
251 Mr. R. Bruton asked the Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism the adjustments which he plans to introduce in the last quarter of 2002 to bring the overall spending for the year in line with the moneys provided in the Estimates. [18418/02]
Expenditure by my Department this year to date is broadly in line with budgeted profiles and no overruns are anticipated at year-end. Accordingly, I have no plans to introduce any adjustments in the last quarter of 2002 in order to bring the overall spending by my Department for the year on-line with the moneys provided in the Estimates.
252 Mr. R. Bruton asked the Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism his estimate of the average index of inflation between the last quarter of 2001 and the last quarter of 2002 in the cost of employment, goods and services which make up his Department's expenditure. [18425/02]
For the purposes of estimating the anticipated rate of inflation, my Department relies on official projections made by the Department of Finance which forecast an average inflation rate of 4.5% for 2002. I understand that the latest available trend data figure for the year, as at September 2002, is in line with this forecast.
