Excess Votes inquiry
Closed
What the inquiry looked at
“The need for an Excess Vote arises when a department has incurred expenditure or other use of resources upon an existing service beyond the amounts authorised for it during the financial year in question, or where there is no proper parliamentary authority for the service. When the exact amount of the excess expenditure or other use of resources has been ascertained on the completion of the audit of the Departmental Resource Accounts, the Comptroller & Auditor General makes a report to the House. His findings come before the Committee of Public Accounts, which, after an examination of the explanation provided by the department-in-question, submits its own report to the House, setting out the reasons and stating any objections (if any) to the excess being approved. This inquiry therefore will call in front of the Committee the department(s) which have incurred expenditure beyond the amounts authorised for it and will examine and report on the issues involved.”
The committee's words, from the inquiry page on parliament.uk ↗.
What it found
The Committee of Public Accounts scrutinises, on behalf of Parliament, the reasons individual departments exceeded their allocated resources, and reports to the House of Commons on whether it has any objection to the amounts needed to rectify the reported excesses. The Committee may also make recommendations to departments concerning the causes of these excesses.
In 2015–16, one body, the Department for Education, breached its expenditure limits.
On the basis of our examination of the reasons why the Department for Education exceeded its voted provisions, we have no objection to Parliament providing the necessary amounts by means of an Excess Vote.
This report also provides details on the excesses incurred by the Department for Education in 2014–15. The Department for Education was unable to meet the January 2016 statutory deadline for presenting its 2014–15 financial statements to Parliament.
We were therefore unable to report on any excesses in the Department for Education’s 2014–15 accounts in our February 2016 report.1 On the basis of our examination of the reasons why the Department for Education exceeded its voted provisions in 2014–15, we have no objection to Parliament providing the necessary amounts by means of an Excess Vote.
Within this report we also comment on HM Treasury’s approach to controlling Parliament’s spending limits and overseeing departmental financial performance.
Following the assurances received from HM Treasury and the Department for Education, we have decided not to raise any objections to Parliament approving the excesses detailed in this report. However, we reserve the right to raise objections to the approval of any future Excess Votes, triggering a Parliamentary vote on the Treasury’s Statement of Excesses. We will pay attention to the actions of Accounting Officers and the operation of HM Treasury’s oversight as we consider this position in future years.
What the government said
No government response is linked to this report.
How the inquiry ran
Each dot is a dated item listed on this page, from the inquiry's opening on 17 January 2017 to its close on 4 January 2018.
- Oral evidence 1 Feb 2017
- Report 10 Feb 2017
What it recommended
The committee's recommendations are not listed here yet. Read them in 41st Report - Excess Votes 2015–16 ↗ on parliament.uk.
Evidence
Oral evidence sessions 1
- 1 Feb 2017No witnesses recordedparliament.uk ↗