Conclusions and recommendations
1. It
will be to the advantage of the House, and of select committees
in particular, if Resource Accounts are available as soon as possible
after the end of the financial year to which they relate. We therefore
support the proposal for two Appropriation Acts each year. (Paragraph
9)
2. We recommend that
the Government publish annual lists showing the dates on which
each Resource Account is (a) laid before Parliament and (b) published,
to show the extent to which the Government's desire for earlier
publication is being achieved. In due course the statutory deadlines
might be brought forward. (Paragraph 11)
3. If guidance is
given to Departments 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
Requests for Resources (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.
(Paragraph 16)
4. 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. (Paragraph 20)
5. 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.
(Paragraph 21)
6. We agree with the
proposals made by the Clerk Assistant about Estimates Motions,
in particular that they should make reference to Appropriations
in Aid, and for the revision of Standing Order No. 55. (Paragraph
22)
7. Departmental Expenditure
Limit 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. (Paragraph 25)
8. 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. (Paragraph
26)
9. The proposals made
by the Chief Secretary and the Clerk Assistant form a minor, but
useful, improvement in the House's procedures, and with the small
qualifications which we have mentioned, we are happy to commend
them to the House. Some are interdependent (in particular, a spring
Appropriation Act is not feasible without a fourteen-day period
between presentation and approval of the Spring Supplementary
Estimates), and so we would expect them to be agreed to as a package.
(Paragraph 27)
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