3 Negative Supplementary Estimates
12. Occasions arise when it is desirable to reduce
the original figures proposed in an Estimate. If a Main Estimate
needs to be reduced, it is sometimes replaced by a Revised Estimate,
presented before the Main Estimate which it replaces has been
voted. Once the Main Estimate has been voted, however, it is not
possible to reduce the sum included in it (or the amounts of individual
Requests for Resources). Supplementary Estimates can increase
the sums authorised, but not reduce any of them.
13. One occasion on which a negative Supplementary
Estimate would be desirable is when a change in the organisation
of Government Departments—known in Whitehall as a "machinery
of Government change"—results in the transfer of a
function from one department to another. In this case, the current
procedure is for a Supplementary Estimate to be presented for
the transferring department, converting the amount previously
to be spent on the function into a grant to the receiving department.
Another Supplementary Estimate is presented for the receiving
department, authorising the grant to be "appropriated in
aid" of the function.[12]
The Government proposes that this somewhat artificial process
should be replaced by presenting a negative Supplementary Estimate
removing the previous provision for the function, with a matching
Supplementary Estimate increasing the provision for the receiving
department.[13]
14. The Treasury Committee and the Committee of Public
Accounts suggested to the Government that negative Supplementary
Estimates could be appropriate on other occasions, specifically
to enable the transfer between Requests for Resources (RfRs) within
the same department.[14]
15. The Chief Secretary emphasises that both sets
of circumstances involve a reallocation rather than an overall
reduction in the amount authorised, a change which would raise
more difficult issues. Even a transfer between RfRs could need
to be reversed later, but the Treasury propose to issue guidance
that departments should not seek reductions in voted limits "unless
they were confident that the resources would no longer be required".[15]
The Chairman of the Committee of Public Accounts suggests that
the guidance
… might also stress that there is an expectation
that transfers will not be sought as a matter of course and that
such transfers are not a substitute for robust financial management
and forecasting in proposing Estimates and managing expenditure.
The guidance might further make it clear that there is an expectation
that a reversal of a transfer or additional resources where there
has been a reduction will be needed only when a change in circumstances
could not have been foreseen, in all but exceptional cases.[16]
16. If guidance is given along the lines suggested,
we recommend that the House should approve the presentation of
Estimates reducing amounts already granted where
a) a function has been transferred from one
department to another; or
b) resources are to be transferred between
RfRs in the same department's Estimate.
We agree with the Chief Secretary that the presentation
of negative Estimates in other circumstances raises more complicated
issues and any proposals to allow this would have to be looked
at afresh. We note that a special form of authorising motion will
be needed in an exceptional case where the negative Supplementary
Estimate were the subject of separate debate on an Estimates Day.[17]
12 Unless other changes are being made at the same
time, both these are "token" supplementary estimates
for £1,000, as the net sums granted for each department are
not being increased. Back
13
Appendix 1, paras 26-29. For sample Estimates, see Appendix 1,
p 20. Back
14
Appendix 1, Annex B, p 35. The Estimate for each department consists
of one or more "Requests for Resources" (RfRs) for expenditure
(in accruals terms), each of which may contain associated appropriations
in aid, together with a single cash total and a figure for non-operating
appropriations in aid. Back
15
Appendix 1, paras 33-35. Back
16
Appendix 3, p 56. Back
17
Appendix 2, para 47. Back
| 
