APPENDIX S
ANNUAL REPORT OF THE TREASURY COMMITTEE
Memorandum to the Liaison Committee
Introduction
1. The Treasury Committee was appointed on 16
July 2001, and held its first meeting two days later when Mr John
McFall was appointed as its chairman. Like other departmental
committees, our remit is to examine the policy, expenditure and
administration of specified government departments (the Treasury,
the Inland Revenue and HM Customs and Excise) and "associated
public bodies". As have our predecessors, we interpret this
to include the smaller departments responsible to the Chancellor
of the Exchequer, as well as such organisations as the Bank of
England and the Financial Services Authority.
2. We have also decided to follow the practice
of our immediate predecessor and at our first meeting established
a Sub-committee consisting of all Members of the Committee, primarily
to scrutinise the work of bodies for which Treasury Ministers
are responsible. We have appointed Mr Michael Fallon as its chairman.
The Work of the Committee
3. Because of the Treasury's role at the centre
of the Government machine, our remit includes the whole economic
system and the levels of public receipts and expenditure. A core
element in our work is therefore examination of Budgets and of
Pre-Budget Reports. We will also be looking closely at the biennial
Spending Reviews, the next of which will be published later this
year (SR 2002).
4. We are continuing the practice of our predecessor
in examining regularly the Monetary Policy Committee of the Bank
of England, typically after the publication of Quarterly Inflation
Reports. This provides us with a regular opportunity to examine
the exercise by the Bank of its operational responsibility, under
the Bank of England Act 1998, for setting interest rates to meet
the Government's inflation targets.
5. We have taken evidence on several occasions
from the Financial Services Authority, principally in relation
to Equitable Life. It is likely that the activities of the Authority
will occupy us to a greater extent now that the Financial Services
and Markets Act 2000 has been brought into force and the Authority
is directly responsible for a wide range of aspects of financial
regulation. We are currently considering how this might most effectively
be done.
6. Much of the time of the Committee is necessarily
taken up in regular monitoring processes, but a balance needs
to be struck between this work and one-off inquiries. These will
represent an important element in our work and represent one way
in which we can respond to topical issues. To date, we have conducted
two such inquiries, one into the broader consequences of the takeover
of the London International Financial Futures and Options Exchange
(LIFFE) by Euronext, and the other into the Treasury's Review
of Departmental Reports. This latter inquiry, to which all other
departmental committees have been invited to make an input, relates
to the oversight, which by custom rests with the Treasury Committee
of the form in which the Government presents information to Parliament
on its expenditure.
7. We are continuing the practice of our predecessor
in holding informal seminars to inform our work. Last October,
we held a seminar to discuss how we would approach our work. Further
subject-based seminars are expected to be held in the future.
The conclusions of the first seminar are being developed with
a view to ensuring that, over the Parliament, we can systematically
cover the broad areas of our responsibilities, while still leaving
scope to respond to unexpected issues.
Replies to Reports
8. At the Dissolution, a number of replies to
reports by the previous Committee were outstanding. All have now
been received, and have been published as Special Reports. The
Table below sets out the reports concerned and the period from
report to reply.
| Report | Published
| Reply | Reply received |
Time from report to reply |
| Third Report: HM Treasury (HC 73) | 1.2.01
| Eighth Special Report (Session 2001-02) HC 429
| 30.11.01 | 8 months 29 days
|
| Fourth Report: International Monetary Fund: A Blueprint for Parliamentary Accountability (HC 162)
| 13.3.01 | Seventh Special Report (Session 2001-02) HC 379
| 15.11.01 | 8 months 2 days
|
| Fifth Report: Banking and the Consumer (HC 138)
| 13.3.01 | First Special Report (Session 2001-02) HC 198
| 20.7.01 | 4 months 7 days |
| Sixth Report: HM Customs & Excise: Collection of Excise Duties (HC 237)
| 26.3.01 | Fifth Special Report (Session 2001-02) HC 315
| 12.10.01 | 6 months 14 days
|
| Seventh Report: The Government Actuary's Department (HC 236)
| 27.3.01 | Fourth Special Report (Session 2001-02) HC 267
| 24.9.01 | 5 months 28 days
|
| Eighth Report: The Royal Mint (HC 239) |
27.3.01 | Third Special Report (Session 2001-02) HC 266
| 5.9.01 | 5 months 9 days |
| Ninth Report: The Monetary Policy Committee—an End of Term Report
| 2.5.01 | Second Special Report (Session 2001-02) HC 199
| 20.7.01 | 2 months 18 days
|
| Tenth Report: Equitable Life & the Life Assurance Industry: An Interim Report (HC 272)
| 29.3.01 | Sixth Special Report (Session 2001-02) HC 316
| 17.10.01 | 6 months 18 days
|
9. Our predecessors reported[158]
that "a disappointingly large number of replies have arrived
outside the two month deadline (even allowing for the understanding
that if the deadline falls in a recess the reply should be received
by the time the House next sits)". Following approaches to
the Chancellor, they were able to report that the position had
improved in the course of Session 1999-2000. The data in the table
suggests that the position may have worsened since then. We shall
continue to work with the Treasury to seek to secure timely responses
to our reports.
Obtaining evidence from Ministers
10. The Chancellor has given evidence to the Committee once
so far in this Parliament, on the Pre-Budget Report. Treasury
Ministers have appeared before other departmental committees on
several occasions. With the increasing prevalence of policies
explicitly involving more than one Government department, it is
to be expected that other committees will wish to take evidence
from Treasury witnesses from time to time. Provided that this
does not conflict with our own work, we have no objection to this
development.
Work of the Treasury Sub-committee
11. The Treasury Sub-committee operates under the overall
supervision of the Committee, but conducts its own inquiries.
It is currently undertaking inquiries into the 2001 Census in
England and Wales and the Office for Government Commerce. The
Sub-committee has also heard oral evidence from HM Customs and
Excise, the Paymaster General, and Mr John Roques on his report
into the collection of excise duties.
12. The 2001 Census, the latest in a series stretching back
to 1801, was a devolved matter in Scotland and Northern Ireland.
The Sub-committee's inquiry into the 2001 Census in England and
Wales is examining the adequacy of the preparatory work and consultation
undertaken prior to the Census; the conduct of the Census; the
utility of the planned outputs for prospective users; and lessons
for the next Census. The Sub-committee expects to report on this
subject shortly.
13. The Office for Government Commerce (OGC) was established
on 1 April 2000 by bringing together the former Treasury units
concerned with procurement policy, practice and development with
three former Cabinet Office agencies - the Property Advisers to
the Civil Estate, the Central Computer and Telecommunications
Agency and the Buying Agency. The OGC was created to lead a wide-ranging
programme to modernise procurement in central civil Government
and its top level target is to deliver £1 billion of value
for money improvements from central civil Government commercial
activities by the end of 2002-03.
14. The Sub-committee's inquiry into the OGC is examining
how it deploys its resources to meet its aims and objectives,
and in this context: to examine its strategies and progress towards
achieving its target of delivering £1 billion of value for
money improvements from central civil Government commercial activities;
and its role in Public Finance Initiative projects.
January 2002
158
First Report, Session 2000-01, HC 41 (2000-01). Back
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