Oral Answers to Questions

Patricia Gibson Excerpts

Thursday 3rd March 2016 Commons Chamber

[Dr Coffey]

Voter engagement in terms of general election turnout collapsed in the 2001 election, after four years of a Blair Government. I am pleased to say that voter turnout has increased. The hon. Lady talks about this institution potentially being corrupt. That is not the case, as we have high levels of integrity, but where MPs have been found to break the law, they have been sent to jail and that is where they belong.

[Patricia Gibson (North Ayrshire and Arran) (SNP)]

2. What parliamentary mechanisms are available to hon. Members to scrutinise Barnett consequentials within the estimates process. [R]

[Dr Philippa Whitford (Central Ayrshire) (SNP)]

7. What parliamentary mechanisms are available to hon. Members to scrutinise Barnett consequentials within the estimates process.

[The Deputy Leader of the House of Commons (Dr Thérèse Coffey)]

Estimates are formal requests for authorisation of expenditure proposed to the House by the Government. Scrutiny of these, which are effectively departmental budgets, is undertaken in a variety of ways, including debates selected by the Liaison Committee, and it is also open to Select Committees to examine these budgets. The Procedure Committee has recently announced that it will look at the House’s procedures for examining estimates and the passing of legislation that authorises this expenditure—the Supply and Appropriation (Anticipation and Adjustments) Bill, which we dealt with yesterday.

[Patricia Gibson]

I thank the Deputy Leader of the House for her answer. May we have a commitment today that steps will be taken to modify the estimates process so that Members representing Scottish constituencies can properly scrutinise the impact of legislation on Scotland?