Abstract
The planning of public spending in Britain is brought to the attention of the public by a series of published documents. Most of this literature is constitutional in the sense that it signifies the Government (the Executive) informing Parliament (the Legislature) about decisions which require Parliamentary sanction. It is also part and parcel of the business of ordering spending priorities to the extent that Parliamentary debate informs spending plans. Hence, familiarity with the published sources is indispensable for a full understanding of the planning process.
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Notes and References
Lord Armstrong, Budgeting Reform in the United Kingdom (Oxford: Oxford University Press, for the Institute for Fiscal Studies, 1980).
In the main such criticism has been voiced by the House of Commons, Treasury and Civil Service Committee. See, for example, the Sixth Report from the T&CSC, Session 1984/85, The Government’s Expenditure Plans 1985/86 to 1987/88 (25 February 1985, HC 213), p. viii ff.
Similarly, for 1986/87 the GDP deflator was expected to increase by 4½ per cent. Thus, to get to the 1984/85 base we have: £139.1/1.045 = £133.11/1.05 = £126.77 billions.
The perhaps more familiar GNP or Gross National Product is GDP plus net property income from abroad. See the Glossary for a fuller discussion.
National Audit Office, Financial Reporting to Parliament (London: HMSO, 1986) HC 576, p. 13.
Ibid, p. 3.
The description used for the Arts and Libraries indicators in 1985: HM Treasury, The Government’s Expenditure Plans, 1985/86 to 1987/88 (London: HMSO, January 1985, Cmnd. 9428-II) p. 91.
Ibid, pp. 125–6.
Cmnd. 9702-II, p. 394. The 1987 PEWP has moved this statement to the beginning of the second volume: PEWP 1987, Cmnd. 56-II, para I.
See, for example, the Armstrong Report, and D. Heald, Public Expenditure (Oxford: Martin Robertson, 1983), pp 197–8.
The Armstrong Report employs two further arguments: (a) without early indication of a budget constraint on spending, ministers ‘spend up’ and disruptive cuts are made later; (b) the last minute nature of Budget tax changes means that no coherent strategy (for example, on the balance of direct and indirect tax burdens) is considered. See the Armstrong Report, pp. 9–10.
For more on the Estimates system the interested reader can refer to: House of Commons, Sixth Report from the Treasury and Civil Service Committee, Session 1980/81, ‘The Form of the Estimates’, July 1981, HC 325; and: HM Treasury, The Management of Public Spending (London: GEPG, May 1986).
Sixth Report 1984/85, p. xviii.
Second Report from the T&CSC, 1986/87, The Government’s Economic Policy: Autumn Statement (London: HMSO, 1986) HC 27.
Third Report from the Treasury and Civil Service Committee, Session 1985/86, The Government’s Expenditure Plans 1986/87 to 1988/89 (Cmnd. 9702) para 21, p. x.
See, for example, the Daily Telegraph, 17 July 1986, ‘Lawson Ready To Ease The Purse Strings’. Departmental bids were said to exceed the inherited PES total of £144 billions by £7 billions.
HM Treasury, The Next Ten Years: Public Expenditure and Taxation into the 1980s (London: HMSO, 1984, Cmnd. 9189).
A. Likierman and P. Vass, Structure and Form of Government Expenditure Reports: Proposals for Reform (London: Certified Accountants Publications, 1984); or, for a review of its contents and some repercussions: P. Vass, ‘The Agenda for Reform of United Kingdom Government Expenditure Reports’, Financial Accountability and Management, Winter 1985, pp. 101–12.
NAO, Financial Reporting to Parliament.
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© 1987 Grahame Walshe
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Walshe, G. (1987). Public Spending Documentation. In: Planning Public Spending in the UK. Palgrave, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-18606-8_4
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