Pearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein)
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To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform further to Parliamentary Question No. 111 on 10 October 2012, the quantum by which capital expenditure is behind profile for the first 10 months of 2012. [49488/12]

Pearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein)
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To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform further to Parliamentary Question No. 111 on 10 October 2012, if he will provide a forecast of total annual capital expenditure in 2012 and provide an explanation for variance with profile. [49489/12]

Pearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein)
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To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform further to Parliamentary Question No. 111 on 10 October 2012, if he will provide an estimate of new jobs that would have been created plus jobs that would have been saved if the capital expenditure budget in 2012 had been spent according to profile. [49490/12]

Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 317 to 319, inclusive, together.

The End October Exchequer Statement, which was published on 2 November and which is available on the Department of Finance website, shows that net voted capital expenditure at end October was €2,037m, which is €336 million or 14.2% behind the published profile.

The actual roll-out of capital expenditure is a matter for individual line Departments and their agencies, operating within the annual allocations approved by Government and the delegated sanction arrangements issued by my Department.

Information from Departments indicates that the bulk of their remaining capital budgets will be spent by year end and that the level of savings available will be small. This spending pattern is in line with trends from previous years which show that the bulk of capital expenditure takes place in the last quarter of the year.

The potential for end year savings is dependent also on the decisions which will be taken shortly in relation to capital carryover. The capital carryover facility is an arrangement under which Departments are permitted to carryover unspent capital (up to 10% of their allocation) into the following year. This facility is an integral part of the rolling multi-annual capital system. The carryover facility means that moneys which would have been lost to the capital programmes and projects concerned under the annual system of allocating capital can now be made available for spending on programme priorities in the following year.

As the Deputy will be aware, capital spending has general characteristics which influence the allocation drawdown pattern. Expenditure on capital projects typically occurs in large tranches at fixed milestones, unlike current expenditure which is generally continuous throughout the year. Obviously, this affects the phasing and profiling of capital expenditure.

It is important to note that the profiling of capital expenditure is carried out by individual Departments on the basis of the likely timing of payments related to capital projects and programmes which they deliver. Job creation is not a factor of the profiling exercise. However, job creation and labour intensity of individual projects are factors that are taken into account when deciding on the allocation of capital to Departments.