Clause 25 - Expenditure and receipts of NDA
Energy Bill [Lords]
3:00 pm
Mr Stephen Timms (Minister of State (e-Commerce & Competitiveness), Department of Trade and Industry; East Ham, Labour)
The amendment would require a grant to a non-departmental public body, which is part of a departmental budget presented to Parliament in the estimates, to be subject to a separate approval process. I accept that £2 billion is a substantial sum, but it is appropriate for its approval process to be the same as that which applies to much larger sums for spending on schools, hospitals and transport.
Approval and oversight of all Government expenditure is carried out through the estimates and supply procedure. That includes grants to non-departmental public bodies and it concludes with the Appropriations Act 1994. There is no case for taking that sum outside of the normal procedures, so I hope that the hon. Member for Tewkesbury accepts that the amendment is unnecessary.