George Osborne has been explaining how the coalition government will make decisions on reducing public spending over a four-year period from 2011. He said the new Office for Budgetary Responsibility would produce its first independent assessment of "the growth forecast and other forecasts" next Monday. The Budget on 22nd June will set out overall spending plans but he outlined plans for further consultation on the best way to make savings over the summer, ahead of the autumn spending review which will set limits for every department.
Steady on, George
Every spending programme would face "probing questions", he said, including whether it was essential, could be done cheaper or could be delivered by the private or voluntary sector. He pledged to involve people from inside and outside government in a consultation over the summer including think tanks, pressure groups and people working in front line services. Civil servants as well as head teachers, police officers, nurses and others would be asked to contribute, he said.
"What we want to do is make sure that all political parties, that the brightest and best brains across Whitehall and the public sector, that voluntary groups, think tanks, trade unions that members of the public are all engaged in the debate and discussion about how collectively we deal with the problem - after all it is our collective national debt," Osborne said. A cabinet committee, dubbed a "star chamber" [see below] is to be set up to oversee the process and would be staffed by ministers with smaller departmental budgets - with others being allowed to join when they had tackled their own allocation of funds.
Meanwhile, in a parliamentary debate, former City minister Lord Myners said he had been frustrated by the "flawed thinking" on the economy among his colleagues in the Labour government. He argued there was "nothing progressive" about running up huge public debt and urged the coalition to crack down on "considerable waste" in spending.
What is a star chamber?
What is a star chamber?
- The term is used now for an ad hoc group of people given power to rule for or against things - in this case spending
- The term was also used last year to describe the panels parties set up to review their MPs' expenses claims
- The name comes from the room in the old Palace of Westminster in which medieval King's Council met
- The Star Chamber tribunal of privy councillors and judges was a court of law from 1485 until 1641
- It oversaw operation of lower courts and heard direct appeals mostly about property disputes, corruption and public disorder
- Heard cases in private and had freedom to decide on punishments ranging from fines to mutilation.
