4 Period between presentation and voting
of Estimates
17. Under Standing Order No. 55, Estimates (other
than Votes on Account and excess votes) may be voted under the
"roll-up" procedures in winter and spring only if they
have been presented "at least seven clear days previously",
i.e. on or before the eighth day before the vote takes place.
The Government's manual Government Accounting sets a target
of fourteen days, and the Liaison Committee have recommended that
this deadline should be put in the Standing Order: the Chief Secretary
supports this proposal.[18]
18. One advantage of this change is that select committees
will be assured of a reasonable amount of time to consider supplementary
estimates and report to the House in time for a debate. To assist
in this, departments have for some time undertaken to provide
proofs of Estimates to the relevant committees in advance of presenting
them to the House of Commons. It is also essential, if an Appropriation
Bill is to be introduced following the spring "roll-up",
that the Estimates are produced far enough in advance for the
Bill to be drafted and checked.[19]
A fourteen-day deadline is highly desirable for this purpose.
19. The deadline is expressed in days, not sitting
days, and the Chairman of the Liaison Committee expresses the
hope that, where a prorogation or adjournment of the House intervenes,
the Government will present the Estimates earlier.[20]
20. We welcome the Government's agreement to amendments
to Standing Order No. 55 to require fourteen days to elapse between
the presentation and approval of Estimates at the winter and spring
"roll-ups"; and we hope that where a prorogation or
adjournment intervenes, the Estimates will be presented earlier.
21. The only deadline for the summer "roll-up"
is that two days' notice is required of the relevant motions:
it is not proposed to change this, as there may be occasions when
it is not possible to give fourteen days' notice of Summer Supplementary
Estimates. Nevertheless, we believe that Government guidance
should make clear that a fourteen-day interval between presentation
of Summer Supplementary Estimates and their approval should be
met other than in exceptional circumstances.
18 Government Accounting 2000 (as amended in
2002), para 11.2.7; Appendix 1, Annex B, p 32. Back
19
Unlike other Government bills, Consolidated Fund and Appropriation
Bills are drafted in the Public Bill Office at the House on the
basis of the figures in the Estimates, and checked with the Treasury. Back
20
Appendix 4, p 57. Back
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