Contingencies Fund Advance

Thursday 21st January 2016 Written Statements

[The Minister for the Cabinet Office and Paymaster General (Matthew Hancock)]

The Cabinet Office has received a repayable cash advance from the Contingencies Fund of £37,199,000.

The requirement for this has arisen because the Cabinet Office cash receives a relatively high proportion of its voted resource programme funding at supplementary estimate, and so can only draw the related cash from the Consolidated Fund after the Supply and Appropriation Act has received Royal Assent in March 2016.

HM Treasury’s supply estimates guidance provides for a repayable cash advance from the Contingencies Fund in order to meet an urgent cash requirement for existing services when cash provision from the main estimate has been exhausted.

The cash advance will pay for programmes which will generate Government-wide benefits or savings and are urgent in the public interest.

The following programmes are funded from the reserve:

various technology and property programmes announced in the 2015 summer budget which will generate savings across Government (£46,000,000);

individual electoral registration (£9,750,000); and

various Office for Civil Society programmes (£690,000).

The following programmes are funded from budgetary cover transfers from other Government Departments:

various national security programmes (£17,465,000);

a cross-government secure IT programme (£15,931,000);

an identity assurance programme (£19,657,000);

cross-government shared services (£3,836,000);

common technology services (£3,500,000);

cross-government Gulf strategy commitments (£1,491,000);

various Office for Civil Society programmes (£1,300,000);

financial management review target operating model (£300,000);

and diversity and inclusion (£279,000).

The requirement for an advance is reduced by cash proceeds from the sale of Admiralty arch (£65,000,000), and budgetary cover transfers to other Departments for the GREAT campaign (£18,000,000).

Parliamentary approval for additional resources of £37,199,000 will be sought in a supplementary estimate for the Cabinet Office. Pending that approval, expenditure estimated at £37,199,000 will be met by repayable cash advances from the Contingencies Fund.

[HCWS483]