CONTROL OF NATIONAL EXPENDITURE

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 93, 14 January 1919, Page 5

CONTROL OF NATIONAL EXPENDITURE

DRASTIC PROPOSALS IN BRITAIN ; | STANDING COMMITTEES | SUGGESTED . j "We consider that the House of Commons, us the representative of the taxpayer, should reassert, fully and effectively, its right of restricting the amounts. . j to bs allotted far each head of the na- ' tional expenditure." \ This "declaration constituted the key- j note of Uiq ninth report recently issued ' I)} , tho Select Committee of the House of • '.•! Commons on National Expenditure. The '.'• Committee has clearly made a inoet ex- ■ '■{ haustive inquiry into the whole subject , I of Parliamentary procedure in relation i to supply and appropriation. .It has also ' , 1 taken tho opinion, .by. means, of written j questions, of practically all those who j ■can claim to speak with special authority, .■■ -.-| on the subject, including the Speaker, the Chairman of Ways and Means; the ■ Deputy-Chairman, and various Ministers ■ and ex-Ministers. The replies of those j thus consulted, with few exceptions, show : j a consensus of opinion that the present I system of Parliamentary control is in-' •"/j adequate. In this view the Committee . ;j concur, and they accordingly put for- ; ward a series of drastic-proposals with,' '•"'! the object of restoring,.to the House of f , Commons the power..which it.has allowed i to slip from its grasp. .-'..•;..- . ' ;j ' Committee's Recommendations. The Committee's conclusions and re- '■'•, commendations arc as follow:— ■. . '; j (1) Wβ are of opinion that the existing j procedure of: the House of Commons is ;-j inadequate'-to secua'o proper Parliamentary control over the national expendi- • (2) We recommend that thero should ■ j be appointed each session two Standing _. Committees on Estimates, each consisting . .-. ; of fifteen members, and that a third should be added if experience showed ■; that this was •desirable. . . ] • (3) It should be the duty of the Com-' I mittocs to consider the Annual Esti- • ■'; mates and such Supplementary Estimate? . j as the conditions allowed, and to report , j to the House any economies which they j regarded as desirable and which did not , < raise questions of policy. : ' ,' ") (i) For. the assistance of the Commit- ; tees there should 'be appoiuted an Officer ■ of thn. House with tho title of Examiner j of Estimates. ■ ■ . ■ , , ~■,.■ ■' -, ' < (5) Opportunity should be provided for < tho consideration by the House of the ■ ■ ! recommendations of the . s (G) It should be established .as the prac- i . tice of Parliament that members should . . j vote freely upon motions for reductions made in pursuance of recommendations .. ! of tho Estimates, Committees,-and that ■ the carrying of snch a motion against .the Government of the day should not . \:-. be taken to imply that it no longer pos-. , sessed the confidenoe of the House. • \ ' (1) The form in which the Estimates -, are. framed should he remodelled, in ac- , cordance with the recommendations in. . ; our seventh report of the present session. ' ! (8) There should be a- vote on account ; for Navy| Army, and Air Service at the. : beginning of each session. , . ' \■% (9) When an estimate involves a com- ' . , mitinent to a larger expenditure in sub-, sequent years the fact should subject to ; the qualification mentioned in paragraph ,j W bv stated in. the Estimated' l ■ ' (10) The terms of money resolutions for ' , Bills involving expenditure should be. •• placed upon ' the notice ■ papor •of the j House. They ebould embody, or be ac- ■■] oompanied by a white paper furnishing, -j a statement of the probable amount. It | the conditions, did not allow such a state- : ment to be framed, a white paper should be presented giving the reasons. ■ / j (11) Any statement furnished in con. J nection with a money resolution should : ; be referred to one of the Estimates Com- j mittees for examination and report un- -. less the House should dispense with that . ■ . j procedure in any particular.case. ■ . ' \ ■•(13) The classification ■of 2 the supply. \ votes should be reviewed. -> (13) The Comptroller and Auditor- ~.; General should be authorised to report > ■'■; to the . Publio Accounts Committee on \ ] matters needing theirVatte'ntion.uas and ~; when they are brought to light in the '■ j course, of his continuous audit. i (14) The Committee.of Public Accounta . . should be invited, to consider -whether a • i return on tho lines of the national in- - come and'outgo return of 1909 should be , presented annually to Parliament. .' (15) A Minister should not be at liberty : to dissociate himself publicly "from hie ■ . i 'colleagues in matters of expenditure andl to throw upon- the Treasury 'alone the i onus of refusing, a particular grant affect- . '■ | inc his Department ' • . ■•' ' '■•:'■: (16) The Treasury '■' should" cease to be ■,• iteelf a spending Department. . :■] 670 Committee Men.. "\ In pleading for a change of method /~} the authors of the report point out that ; the Committee of the whole House on. • j Supply has the'aame but none of the. | methods of a committee:— • j "A so-called Committee , of 670 mem v -J bers cannot effectively consider the de- ;\ tails of finance ...A. body .so large, so . j limited in its time, so Unequipped for '■; inquiry would be a very imperfect instrument for tho control of expenditure, ; even if the discussions in . Committee of ■ ~,} Supply were devotijd entirely 'to that ■'.■'< end. But those discussions afford the ' . j chief, sometimes the. duly, j in the course of; the year for the debate': •< of grievances.arid.of many questions of: i policy. In , the competition for time j those mattei-s of .greater interest and often of greater importance, usually, take "■; precedence, and. questions of finance are [ crowded out ... Under these conditions' j it is not surprising that there ,has' not •{ been a single motion in" the last twenty- ■ five years when the House of Commons, ■ j by its owji direct actionyiias reduced, on. i financial grounds, any estimate submit*' < tedto.it". ' . .'■■

"It cannot be contended," the Commit', tee forcibly remark, "that there is never* an occasion in any year or under anyhead on which proposals for expenditure could with advantage be reviewed or amended." They decline. to subscribe' to the doctrine that the only: safeguard against extravagance likely to be sue- ■ cessful is to be found in the Ministers and officials of the spending Departments themselves. As to Treasury control, they point out that the Treasury is itsolf part of the Executive:— "When any Departmental Minister has eecured the personal assent of the' Chancellor of the Exchequer to any proposal which he desires to" in6ert or to retain in his estimates tho Treasury is necessarily silent. Treasury control, invaluable as it is up to ft point, is not a substitute for Parliamentary .control."