Chamber and committees

Mr March, is that the case across the board, or are there variations? Are some centres in danger of closing because the capital situation is so dire?

Mr Thompson, when schools choose which outdoor centre to go to, partly it is because they have a relationship with you—they know you and are comfortable with you—but how much is cost a factor?

Give us an idea of how big the dormitories are.

If capital costs are not covered by the fees, where do they come from?

Absolutely, although it was quite a long time ago. That leads me to the point that, obviously, some of your buildings are quite old and have been there since 1939.

Did that involve negotiations rather than being a kind of arithmetic exercise?

My final question is about financial transactions. I realise that some of this will get a bit technical. As I understand it, the financial transactions were dramatically reduced by Westminster and we are not yet certain what the figure for the current year will be. There is a suggestion that there is an overallocation of £25 million, which would have to be covered from the rest of the capital budget. Have I understood that correctly?

Will that be in the spring budget revision?

It is a lose-lose situation from the Government’s point of view.

I will ask about a couple of other issues. Is it the case that the peak fares pilot and the asylum seekers bus fares pilot were not in the budget and that therefore no savings will be made by cancelling those, or have I misunderstood?

So, if the scheme had been extended, that would just have added pressure to the budget.