Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Wednesday, 24 May 1995

Vol. 453 No. 4

Written Answers. - Current Exchequer Expenditure.

Ned O'Keeffe

Ceist:

26 Mr. E. O'Keeffe asked the Minister for Finance in view of the Current Expenditure Budget for 1995 amounting to £11,852,000,000, the amount of actual expenditure for the first quarter of 1995; the way in which this compares with the budget; the revised budget for 1995; and any exceptional or extraordinary items which have or are expected to occur since his financial statement on 8 February 1995 was presented to Dáil Éireann. [8577/95]

Minister for Finance (Mr. Quinn)

As indicated by the Deputy, the budget day projection for current Exchequer expenditure amounted to £11,852 million, comprising (a) a Central Fund Services provision of £2,987 million and (b) a net Non-Capital Supply Services provision of £8,865 million.

Actual current expenditure during the first quarter of 1995 totalled £2,771 million, or 23 per cent of the annual budget provision. This was £190 million lower than the equivalent issues for the first three months of 1994, which amounted to £2,961 million. As explained in the press statement issued with the returns, this year's first-quarter expenditure returns reflected favourable timing factors. The underlying level of expenditure to date is seen as supportive of the budget targets.

The Revised Estimates Volume published on 11 May made provision for the expenditure measures which I announced in my Financial Statement on 8 February, and also for measures which were either not decided or whose cost was not known at budget time. In the light of the revised volume, the principal adjustments to budget expectations for the Exchequer issues to non-capital supply services (NCSS) are as follows:

an additional allocation to Social Welfare of £140 million, bringing the total provision for equal treatment payments in 1995 to £200 million; estimating adjustments to other 1995 NCSS allocations amounting to a net overall reduction of £13 million; and in the light of the more precise data now available on the 1994 supply spending outturn reflected in the revised volume, the carry-over of departmental balances available to the Exchequer in 1995 is now put at £16 million more than projected on budget day.

Taking these factors into account, the 1995 Exchequer net NCSS provision consistent with the Revised Estimates Volume is thus £111 million higher then anticipated on 8 February last. It is considered that the budget day projection for Central Fund Services remains a valid and prudent estimate of the end-year outturn. Accordingly, the revised post-budget projection for current Exchequer expenditure is £11,963 million.

It is not practicable at this relatively early stage to assess the extent to which spending liabilities additional to those provided for in the Revised Estimates Volume will fall to be met in the course of 1995, or indeed to identify the potential for expenditure savings which may emerge during the current year.