House of Commons Public Bill Committee Proceedings

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Session 2009 - 10
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Other Bills before Parliament

89

SUPPLEMENT TO THE VOTES AND PROCEEDINGS

Wednesday 20 January 2010

Committee of the whole House

Proceedings

Fiscal Responsibility Bill

Mr David Gauke

James Duddridge

Negatived on division  1

Clause  1,  page  1,  line  3,  after ‘2016’, insert ‘the structural element of’.

Mr David Gauke

James Duddridge

Not called  2

Clause  1,  page  1,  line  5,  after ‘2014,’, insert ‘the structural element of’.

Mr Jeremy Browne

Dr Vincent Cable

Mr Colin Breed

Dr John Pugh

Negatived on division  4

Clause  1,  page  1,  line  14,  at end add—

‘(4)
The Chancellor of the Exchequer may, for the purpose of securing sound public

finances, by order made by statutory instrument disapply this section in relation

to any period of not more than one year beginning with the coming into force of

the order.

(5)
The Chancellor of the Exchequer must not make an order containing, with or

without other provision, any provision disapplying this section in relation to any

period unless a draft of the order has been laid before Parliament and approved

by a resolution of the House of Commons.’.

Mr Jeremy Browne

Dr Vincent Cable

Mr Colin Breed

Dr John Pugh

Not called  5

Clause  1,  page  1,  line  14,  at end add—

‘(4)
This section shall not come in to force until the Treasury has laid before the House

of Commons a review of the accuracy of the projections of public sector net

borrowing contained within—

(a)
The Budget 2008,

(b)
The Pre-Budget Report 2008,

Committee of the whole House Proceedings: 20 January 2010
90

Fiscal Responsibility Bill, continued

(c)
The Budget 2009, and

(d)
The Pre-Budget Report 2009.

(5)
A review under subsection (4) is subject to approval by resolution of the House

of Commons.’.

Stewart Hosie

Withdrawn  6

Clause  1,  page  1,  line  14,  at end add—

‘(4)
The initial duties as set out in subsections (1) to (3) above shall have no effect if

a Minister certifies at the end of each financial year that fiscal policy has been

conducted over the relevant period in accordance with section [Principles] and in

compliance with orders made under section [Duties for securing sound public

finances]’.

Stewart Hosie

Not selected  7

Page  1,  line  1,  leave out Clause 1.

Clause Agreed to on division.

Stewart Hosie

Not selected  8

Page  1,  line  15,  leave out Clause 2.

Clause Agreed to.

Stewart Hosie

Not called  9

Clause  3,  page  2,  line  21,  leave out ‘duty in section 1(1)’ and insert ‘principles in

section [Principles]’.

Mr David Gauke

James Duddridge

Not called  19

Clause  3,  page  2,  line  25,  at end insert—

‘(1A)
A report made by the Treasury under subsection (1) above shall include a report

on progress towards compliance with the principle of transparency as set out in

the code for fiscal stability in fulfilling duties imposed by section 9 of the

Government Resources and Accounts Act 2000.’.

Stewart Hosie

Not called  10

Clause  3,  page  2,  line  27,  leave out ‘duty in section 1(1) applies’ and insert

‘principles in section [Principles] apply’.

Committee of the whole House Proceedings: 20 January 2010
91

Fiscal Responsibility Bill, continued

Stewart Hosie

Not called  11

Clause  3,  page  2,  line  29,  leave out ‘duty relating to that financial year was’ and

insert ‘principles were’.

Stewart Hosie

Not called  12

Clause  3,  page  2,  line  32,  leave out ‘duty in section 1(1)’ and insert ‘principles in

section [Principles]’.

Stewart Hosie

Not called  13

Clause  3,  page  2,  line  38,  leave out ‘duty in section 1(1) was’ and insert ‘principles

in section [Principles] were’.

Stewart Hosie

Not called  14

Clause  3,  page  2,  line  41,  leave out ‘duty in section 1(3)’ and insert ‘principles in

section [Principles]’.

Stewart Hosie

Not called  15

Clause  3,  page  3,  line  1,  leave out subsection (6).

Mr David Gauke

James Duddridge

Not called  18

Clause  3,  page  3,  line  9,  at end insert—

‘(7A)
The Treasury has a duty to ensure that independent advice is available to

Parliament on progress in compliance with the duties imposed under sections 1

and 2, and to ensure that an annual report of such independent advice is made one

month before the Budget containing—

(a)
fiscal forecasts, including public sector net borrowing and public sector

net debt;

(b)
short term forecasts of the state of public finances, including a best

estimate of all future and current liabilities of the Government;

(c)
a forward-looking judgement of the sustainability of the public finances,

including public sector net borrowing and public sector net debt;

(d)
conclusions and recommendations on progress made in meeting any

fiscal objectives arising as a result of the duties imposed under this Act

for securing sound public finances.’.

John McDonnell

Mr David Drew

Kelvin Hopkins

Jeremy Corbyn

Ms Katy Clark

Mrs Linda Riordan

Not called  21

Clause  3,  page  3,  line  9,  at end insert—

‘(7A)
Reports under subsection (7) above shall include an assessment of the extent to

which the principles contained in the code for fiscal stability of—

Committee of the whole House Proceedings: 20 January 2010
92

Fiscal Responsibility Bill, continued

(a)
responsibility and efficiency in the use and management of public assets,

and

(b)
fairness in taking into account the financial effects on future generations

and the distributional impact on the current population


have been reflected in the fulfilment of duties imposed by orders under section

2.’.

Clause Agreed to.

Mr Jeremy Browne

Dr Vincent Cable

Mr Colin Breed

Dr John Pugh

Not called  20

Clause  4,  page  3,  line  15,  leave out subsections (2) and (3).

Stewart Hosie

Not called  16

Clause  4,  page  3,  line  16,  leave out ‘duties in section 1’ and insert ‘principles in

section [Principles]’.

Stewart Hosie

Not called  17

Clause  4,  page  3,  leave out line 22.

Clause Agreed to.

Mr David Gauke

James Duddridge

Not called  3

Clause  5,  page  3,  line  28,  after ‘expressions “’, insert ‘the structural element of’.

Clause Agreed to.

Clause 6 Agreed to.

New Clauses

Commencement

Mr David Gauke

James Duddridge

Negatived on division  NC1

To move the following Clause:—

Committee of the whole House Proceedings: 20 January 2010
93

Fiscal Responsibility Bill, continued

‘(1)
This Act comes into force on such day as the Treasury may by order made by

statutory instrument appoint.

(2)
No such order may be made unless a draft of the statutory instrument containing

it has been laid before Parliament and approved by a resolution of the House of

Commons.

(3)
No such draft may be laid until the Treasury has conducted a consultation on the

contents of this Act and laid before Parliament a report setting out a summary of

responses.’.

Creation of government expenditure website

Mr David Gauke

James Duddridge

Not selected  NC2

To move the following Clause:—

‘(1)
The Treasury shall create, or cause to be created, a publicly searchable website

containing information about expenditure by all government departments and

executive agencies.

(2)
Expenditure which derives, directly or indirectly, from the Scottish Consolidated

Fund or the Welsh Consolidated Fund is not covered by this Part.

(3)
Access to the information on the website must not be conditional on the payment

of any fee.

(4)
Information about expenditure by government departments or executive agencies

must be available on the website within 30 days of the date on which the

expenditure was incurred.

(5)
The information in subsection (4) must remain available for a period ending five

years after the end of the financial year in which the expenditure was incurred.

(6)
In this section “financial year” means the period of 12 months ending with 31

March in any year.’.

Power of Treasury to extend website to expenditure by other bodies

Mr David Gauke

James Duddridge

Not selected  NC3

To move the following Clause:—

‘(1)
The Treasury may by regulations require any body or person in the public sector

which receives funding directly or indirectly from a government department or

executive agency to provide information about its expenditure for inclusion on

the website in the same way as that required for government departments or

executive agencies.

Committee of the whole House Proceedings: 20 January 2010
94

Fiscal Responsibility Bill, continued

(2)
A person or body is in the public sector for the purposes of this section if the

Office for National Statistics classifies it to the public sector in the national

accounts.’.

Power of Treasury to specify content and availability of website

Mr David Gauke

James Duddridge

Not selected  NC4

To move the following Clause:—

‘(1)
The Treasury may by regulations specify the content and availablility of the

website required by section [Creation of government expenditure website]

including, but not limited to—

(a)
the times during which the website must be available for public access;

(b)
the nature of the information that must be made available; and

(c)
the use of classification or coding systems in order to facilitate analysis

of the expenditure.

(2)
The regulations may req uire different information to be made available for items

of expenditure above one or more specified thresholds.’.

Exempt information

Mr David Gauke

James Duddridge

Not selected  NC5

To move the following Clause:—

‘(1)
This Part does not require information to be made available on the website if its

availability would, or would be likely to, prejudice—

(a)
national security;

(b)
the defence of the British Isles or of any colony;

(c)
the capability, effectiveness or security of the armed forces of the Crown

and any forces cooperating with those forces; or

(d)
relations between the United Kingdom and any other State, international

organisation or international court.

(2)
In this section—

“international court” means any international court which is not an

international organisation and which is established—

(a)
by a resolution of an international organisation of which the

United Kingdom is a member, or

(b)
by an international agreement to which the United Kingdom is a

party;

Committee of the whole House Proceedings: 20 January 2010
95

Fiscal Responsibility Bill, continued

“international organisation” means any international organisation whose

members include any two or more States, or any organ of such an

organisation;

“State” includes the government of any State and any organ of its

government, and references to a State other than the United Kingdom

include references to any territory outside the United Kingdom.’.

Data Protection Act

Mr David Gauke

James Duddridge

Not selected  NC6

To move the following Clause:—

‘Nothing in this Part authorises the processing, obtaining, holding, use or

disclosure of information in contravention of the Data Protection Act 1998 (c.

29).’.

Regulations

Mr David Gauke

James Duddridge

Not selected  NC7

To move the following Clause:—

‘(1)
Any power of the Treasury to make regulations under sections [Power of

Treasury to extend website to expenditure by other bodies] and [Power of

Treasury to specify content and availability of website] is exercisable by statutory

instrument.

(2)
A statutory instrument containing regulations made by the Treasury under section

[Power of Treasury to extend website to expenditure by other bodies] must not be

made unless a draft of the instrument has been laid before, and approved by a

resolution of, each House of Parliament.

(3)
A statutory instrument containing regulations made under section [Power of

Treasury to specify content and availability of website] is subject to annulment in

pursuance of a resolution of either House of Parliament.’.

Establishment of an Office for Budget Responsibility

Mr David Gauke

James Duddridge

Not selected  NC8

To move the following Clause:—