6 Parliamentary timing
261. It was until recently the practice
of the Treasury Committee to report to the House on the Budget
in time for the Second Reading of the Finance Bill. The timetabling
of the Finance Bill in recent years has meant that this was last
possible in 2011. In 2012, we were able to publish our report
in time for the beginning of the Committee stage of the Finance
Bill on the floor of the House.
262. This yearas in 2013the
timings of the Budget and the Finance Bill have prevented us from
publishing our report before Committee stage. The Chancellor made
his Budget statement on 19 March, the Finance Bill was published
on 27 March, and Second Reading took place on 1 April. Committee
of the Whole House began on 8 Aprilless than three weeks
after the Budget.
263. We accept that there is some urgency
to passing the Finance Bill. The Provisional Collection of Taxes
Act 1968, as amended by the Finance Act 2011, provides that a
Budget resolution expires seven months after the date on which
it was to take effect, or, if no date is specified, seven months
after the date on which the resolution was passed.In practice,
this means that the Finance Bill should have completed its passage
through Parliament before the summer recess. This is a tight timetable.
The Commons Public Bill Committee stage does not, by convention,
start until the Committee of the Whole House stage has ended.
Once the Public Bill Committee stage has ended, there needs to
be time for the Bill to be reprinted before the two days allotted
to Report stage and Third Reading. There is then the customary
two weekends before consideration of the Bill can begin in the
House of Lords.
264. In 2012, we noted that the then
new pattern of Prorogation and State Opening risked making the
timing of the stages of future Finance Bills even tighter, because
it reduced the amount of sitting time available before the summer
recess. In its response to our Report on the 2013 Budget, the
Government acknowledged that this risk had materialised:
The Government recognises that the
interval between publication of the Finance Bill and Second Reading,
and between Second Reading and Committee of the Whole House, has
been shorter than in the recent past. However, as the Committee
has itself noted, this is largely a consequence of the new pattern
of Prorogation and State Opening of Parliament.[463]
265. In 2012, we concluded that the
timings of the Second Reading and the Committee of the Whole House
stage of the Finance Bill had been "wholly unsatisfactory"
and therefore recommended that:
[
] the Treasury and the Business
Managers work together to plan the timings of future Budgets and
Finance Bills so that the House has longer between publication
of the Bill and Second Reading and, particularly, between Second
Reading and Committee of the Whole House. This may require the
Budget to be somewhat earlier in future.[464]
266. In 2013, the Second Reading of
the Finance Bill was on a Monday, with Committee of the Whole
House on Wednesday and Thursday of the same week. In our Report
on the 2013 Budget, we reiterated the recommendation we had made
in 2012, and further recommended that "there should be at
least a weekend between Second Reading and the beginning of Committee
of the Whole House".[465]
267. We welcome the fact that this year,
in accordance with our recommendation, there was a full sitting
week between Second Reading and Committee of the Whole House.
On the other hand, the time allowed between the Budget and Second
Readingless than two weeksand between publication
of the Finance Bill and Second Readingonly one full sitting
daywas wholly inadequate.
268. The time available for this Committee
to conduct an inquiry into the Budget, and for outside experts
to consider its effects in detail, will always be limited. The
Treasury Committee does, however, need adequate time to take written
and oral evidence from expert witnesses and to prepare and publish
a report.
269. Between 2003 and 2011, it was customary
for more than four weeks to elapse between the Budget and Second
Reading of the Finance Bill. In our Report on the 2002 Budget,
we noted that the period between the Budget and the Finance Bill
had, until then, been "typically in the range of four to
six weeks".[466]
Even allowing for the sitting time lost under the new pattern
of parliamentary Sessions, it should be possible for the Government
to allow three sitting weeks for scrutiny between the Budget and
the Second Reading of the Finance Bill. It would also be open
to the Government to produce the Budget slightly earlier, to allow
more time for scrutiny.
270. It is essential that the Budget
and the Finance Bill receive adequate, detailed parliamentary
scrutiny. Prior to 2011, it was customary for four to six weeks
to elapse between the Budget and the Second Reading of the Finance
Bill. In the most recent three years, this has fallen to an average
of just under three weeks. We welcome the Government's provision
of a full sitting week between Second Reading and Committee of
the Whole House. Nevertheless, this year, the timings of the Budget
and the Finance Bill have not permitted adequate scrutiny to take
placeeither by this Committee or outsidein time
for either Second Reading or Committee of the Whole House. We
therefore recommend that, in future, there should be no less than
three sitting weeks between the Budget and Second Reading of the
Finance Bill, and at least a further sitting week between Second
Reading and Committee of the Whole House. Four to six weeks between
the Budget and Second Reading of the Finance Bill was once the
norm, so our proposal will simply bring the arrangements closer
to the practice that pertained before 2011. We accept that it
may not be possible to achieve this timetable in an election year,
but it certainly should be the accepted practice at other times.
463 Treasury Committee, Second Special Report of Session
2013-14, Budget 2013: Government and Office for Budget Responsibility
Responses to the Committee's Ninth Report of Session 2012-13,
HC 370, para 17 Back
464
Treasury Committee, Thirtieth Report of Session 2010-12, Budget
2012, HC 1910, para 2 Back
465
Treasury Committee, Ninth Report of Session 2012-13, Budget
2013, HC 1063, para 211 Back
466
Treasury Committee, Second Report of Session 2001-02, 2002
Budget, HC 780, para 1 Back
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