6 Explanatory material about Estimates
23. The Liaison Committee wrote to the Chief Secretary
on 13 November asking for the production of a "template"
for departments to use when drafting the introduction to an Estimate,
and also that each department should produce an "Estimate
Memorandum" for the relevant select committee, explaining
the consequences of the Estimate and how it links to departmental
targets.[22]
24. The Chief Secretary has produced a draft template
which could be used to summarise the changes proposed in Supplementary
Estimates; in the case of Main Estimates, he suggests that any
explanatory detail should be contained in the Estimate Memorandum.
The Chief Secretary also suggests that the Memorandum should replace
written statements as the method of announcing changes in Departmental
Expenditure Limits (DEL).[23]
25. The Treasury Committee, in its Resolution (set
out in paragraph 2 above) welcomes these changes, except that
it believes that DEL changes should continue to be announced in
written statements, as well as being included in Estimates Memoranda.
The Memoranda may not be published by the committees until oral
evidence has been taken (or at all, if a committee decides not
to take evidence about a particular set of Estimates), and written
statements in the Official Report reach a wider audience.
Accordingly, we believe that DEL changes should continue to
be announced directly to the House by written statement. We welcome
the proposed format for the introduction to Supplementary Estimates
and the offer to provide Estimates Memoranda to select committees.
26. We welcome the publication of a template for
the introduction to Supplementary Estimates, and expect that it
will be possible to include information at section and sub-head
level as well as for whole RfRs.
22 Appendix 1, Annex B, p 33. Back
23
Appendix 1, Annex B, p 34. The proposed template is set out on
p 36. Back
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