Public spending: New debates in the House

One of Parliament’s longest standing functions is the consideration and authorisation of the government’s spending plans, requiring the government to obtain parliamentary consent before spending public money.

From 2018, changes are being made to the way debates on public spending are allocated. This follows a Procedure committee report last year. 

In future, any Member will be able to submit a bid to Backbench Business Committee for a debate on public spending, in what are known as Estimates day debates.

The first allocation of debates is expected to take place in February 2018, following the publication of the 2017-18 Supplementary Estimates.