Financial authorisation and the
alignment project
38. The alignment project aims to create greater
transparency between Government budgets, supply estimates and
accounts. As Angela Eagle explained:
the clear line of sight initiative is an attempt
to create a simple more transparent system, to make it easier
for the estimates to encompass all of the expenditure rather than
just, at the moment, some of it
I know there has been a
memorandum sent to the Liaison Committee about how parliament
would start to change the way it examines estimates in order to
deal with the alignment project or "clear line of sight"
project as it is called. It is really for parliament to decide
how best it wishes to change the way it scrutinises estimates
going forward. The idea of the project is to try to encompass,
in a much more coherent way, in one system government expenditure.[38]
39. We note that under current arrangements the
House normally considers Estimates on three Estimates Days (Winter,
Spring and Summer). On these days debate is usually confined to
Estimates or aspects of Estimates which have been the subject
of Select Committee reports and in practice relatively little
mention of the relevant estimates themselves is made during the
debate. While it is for Parliament to decide how best to scrutinise
expenditure, for those estimates not relating to a Select Committee
report selected for discussion there is no possibility of any
debate. We
recommend that the Treasury considers not only the presentation
and authorisation of expenditure but also the way in which the
revised documents might best facilitate parliamentary scrutiny.
40. Under current arrangements, Departmental
Supply Estimates include both gross expenditure amounts and amounts
net of the income generated by departments. This means that when
Parliament votes to authorise the Estimate, it is voting to authorise
both the gross and net figures directly, authorising limits on
both operating and non-operating appropriations-in-aid. The alignment
project intends to focus parliamentary controls on the net expenditure
figure in order to "line up with budgetary controls",[39]
thus surrendering some elements of formal control.
41. We acknowledge that the
requirements of the alignment project mean that it is not possible
for parliament to maintain control over gross totals. We are concerned
that without adequate levels of information regarding income,
parliament's authority may be diminished. We recommend that the
new estimates provide appropriate levels of information relating
to income. We do not wish to impose an unreasonable administrative
burden on the departments and hope that a pragmatic solution can
be adopted.
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