Vol. 457 No. 3
12 Mr. Clohessy asked the Minister for Finance if he will consider publishing once again the comprehensive Public Expenditure Programmes which in previous decades were of considerable assistance in grounding public debate on the effectiveness of public spending. [15232/95]
In the context of the strategic management initiative and the preparation of proposals for the reform of the public service generally, a major review of all procedures in relation to the budget and public spending is being carried out at present.
An important part of this review will be to consider what changes and improvements in budget and estimates documentation might be made. A key focus in this will be to seek to make documentation in relation to public spending as useful as possible in informing public debate. The experience with the Public Expenditure Programmes published some years ago is being taken fully into account in this review and revival of publication is one option, among others, that will be considered.
