§ 29. Mr. David Howellasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what instructions have been given to Departments to submit their estimates in future on the basis of programmes and functions rather than by standard administrative category.
§ Mr. DiamondI am considering whether the presentation to Parliament of information on public expenditure could be improved.
§ Mr. HowellIn view of the trends in public spending, is it not a matter of prime urgency that Parliament should know much more about the way in which the Government are spending public money? Does the Chief Secretary know that the West German Parliament will be presented next year with estimates broken down both traditionally and on a functional cost basis? Will he look at that system, because there may be something in it?
§ Mr. DiamondThe answer to the first question is an unqualified "Yes, Sir". The answer to the second is that I hope to go much further than the Government which he has mentioned in enabling Parliament to take a real interest and a real share in determining the shape of public expenditure.