Budget 2014 - Treasury Contents


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 year—as in 2013—the 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 April—less 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 Reading—less than two weeks—and between publication of the Finance Bill and Second Reading—only one full sitting day—was 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 place—either by this Committee or outside—in 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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Prepared 12 May 2014