Written - Timing of the 2007 Assembly Government Budget

In his March Budget statement, the then Chancellor announced that the outcome of the 2007 Comprehensive Spending Review (CSR) would be published in the autumn rather than in the summer. It is this settlement which will determine the size of the Assembly Government’s Budget or Departmental Expenditure Limit for the period 2008-09 to 2010-11.  The new Chancellor confirmed on 25 July that the conclusion of the CSR and the Pre-Budget Report will be announced together in the House of Commons in October.

Standing Orders set out a clear timetable for the process of determining the Assembly Government budget.  They specify that a draft budget – setting out the amounts of resources and cash which the government proposes to use for the following financial year and, normally, provisional amounts for the subsequent two years – must be laid before the Assembly no later than 7 October.  In practice, this would mean laying the draft budget by 5 October.  

We will not know the final outcome of the CSR until 8 October at the very earliest and it will almost certainly be later than that.  Therefore, to comply with Standing Orders we would have to lay a draft three year budget before we know the level of resources actually available to us.  Publishing a budget in these circumstances would not be meaningful to our own democratic processes or helpful to our delivery partners.  We need certainty as to the resources we will have at our disposal before we put a budget before the Assembly.  

On Tuesday 25th September I secured the agreement of the Business Committee for the Committee to lay before the Assembly, for consideration in Plenary on Wednesday 3 October, a temporary revision to Standing Orders – to cover the 2007/2008 budget process – in order to allow the Assembly Government to delay laying the draft budget until the outcome of the CSR is known.

In proposing this, I intend that the revised budget timetable will retain the key features of the current process.  In particular, the revised timetable will:

• Allow time for proper scrutiny and consideration of the Assembly Government’s spending plans – by the Finance Committee, scrutiny committees, the Assembly as a whole and other stakeholders;
• Seek to ensure that a final budget is presented for approval by the Assembly before Christmas recess.  In order to allow sufficient time after the draft budget is laid for consideration and scrutiny it may, however, be necessary to delay laying the final budget beyond the 3 December deadline currently set out in Standing Orders; and
• Ensure that delivery partners, including the NHS and local authorities, know the funding they will have available in 2008-09 as early as possible to allow them to plan effectively for the coming financial year.