The House of Commons Procedure Committee has called for the establishment of a Budget committee to examine government spending plans as they pass through Parliament. While the Public Accounts Committee and Treasury Committee have oversight of how money has been spent, there is currently no Commons committee specifically tasked with scrutinising spending proposals at an earlier stage.
The proposed Budget committee would take leading role in examining the rationale behind decisions made during multi-annual spending reviews, and would consistently monitor how those plans are being implemented.
Chair of the House of Commons Procedure Committee, Charles Walker OBE MP, said: ‘The requirement for the House of Commons to approve government spending plans is a fundamental constitutional principle. However, MPs have, in the past week, signed off the spending of over £300bn of taxpayer’s money with a cursory amount of scrutiny. It is vital that the Government’s plans to spend money can be properly scrutinised before that money is spent, so the plans can be properly held to account by the National Audit Office and the Public Accounts Committee. We ask whether the time has come to follow almost every other major democracy in establishing a Budget Committee to fulfil this vital task.’
The House of Commons Procedure Committee has called for the establishment of a Budget committee to examine government spending plans as they pass through Parliament. While the Public Accounts Committee and Treasury Committee have oversight of how money has been spent, there is currently no Commons committee specifically tasked with scrutinising spending proposals at an earlier stage.
The proposed Budget committee would take leading role in examining the rationale behind decisions made during multi-annual spending reviews, and would consistently monitor how those plans are being implemented.
Chair of the House of Commons Procedure Committee, Charles Walker OBE MP, said: ‘The requirement for the House of Commons to approve government spending plans is a fundamental constitutional principle. However, MPs have, in the past week, signed off the spending of over £300bn of taxpayer’s money with a cursory amount of scrutiny. It is vital that the Government’s plans to spend money can be properly scrutinised before that money is spent, so the plans can be properly held to account by the National Audit Office and the Public Accounts Committee. We ask whether the time has come to follow almost every other major democracy in establishing a Budget Committee to fulfil this vital task.’
