Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 30 May 2013
113. Deputy Sean Fleming asked the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform his plans to publish a new comprehensive review of expenditure before budget 2014; the expected date for its completion; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [26536/13]
View answerThe Stability Programme Update, published in April 2013, sets out medium term aggregate parameters for 2013-2016, which gives the fiscal framework for Budget 2014.
With regard to savings to be made next year, my Department has requested that all Departments identify savings which will feed into the expenditure decisions by Government for the Estimates 2014 and the setting of future Ministerial ceilings. The identification of savings options should ensure that a sufficient range of proposals are made by all Departments to help the Government make well-informed choices about spending priorities and allocations. The scale of the adjustments for 2014 were set out in part 1 of the Expenditure Report 2013 , which was published in December 2012. Government will be making decisions on the future ceilings as part of the forthcoming budgetary deliberations.
In addition to this, all spending lines are being reviewed in advance of the Budget and my Department continues to conduct in-depth Focused Policy Assessments This is supplemented by ongoing work in relation to Value for Money reports. The results of the FPA’s and VFM reports will help inform Government decisions for expenditure which will be published as part of the Budget in October.
