11 January 2011
Moves to simplify financial reporting at the Department for Transport must not lead to spending information being concealed from public view, MPs warned today.
A report by the Commons transport select committee welcomed Transport Secretary Philip Hammond’s introduction of simplified annual breakdowns of planned spending (main estimates), aligned with the department’s five priority areas: roads and driving; rail; smarter travel; London; and aviation, maritime, security and safety.
The MPs said the change would help track commitments and cuts made in October’s Comprehensive Spending Review.
Chair Louise Ellman said: ‘These changes are to be welcomed as they will make it easier for this committee to hold the government to account about the delivery of its transport policy pledges, including those made in the recent Comprehensive Spending Review.
‘However, it is essential that in moving to a simplified structure for the annual estimate of expenditure, important detail about departmental spending is not hidden from public view. We will be carefully monitoring the new arrangements to ensure that this is not the case.’
Hammond told the committee his move was intended to complement the Treasury’s Alignment project, which aims to simplify financial reporting to Parliament by better aligning rules for departmental budgets, estimates and resource accounts.
A spokeswoman from the Department for Transport added that the new way of reporting would ‘provide greater clarity and accountability in the department’s expenditure, in line with the government’s transparency agenda’.The MPs’ report also said that the committee will focus in this Parliament on monitoring the 33% cuts to the department and their impact on transport policy.
The committee will also hold an inquiry into the effect of the Spending Review on bus services.
