This House of Lords Library briefing provides background information in advance of the second reading of the Budget Responsibility and National Audit (Fiscal Mandate) Bill in the House of Lords on Friday 9 September 2016.
Budget Responsibility and National Audit (Fiscal Mandate) Bill (151 KB , PDF)
The Budget Responsibility and National Audit (Fiscal Mandate) Bill [HL] is a private member’s bill introduced by Baroness Kramer (Liberal Democrat). The Bill received its first reading in the House of Lords on 24 May 2016, and is scheduled to have its second reading on 9 September 2016.
The Bill would amend the Budget Responsibility and National Audit Act 2011. The Act provided that the Treasury must prepare a Charter for Budget Responsibility and that the Charter must include a fiscal mandate to show how the Treasury’s objectives, in relation to fiscal policy, would be attained. The Bill contains two clauses. Clause 1 would provide that, in preparing the fiscal mandate under section 1(2)(b) of the Budget Responsibility and National Audit Act 2011, the Treasury must have regard to:
Clause 1 of the Bill would also ensure that, in considering the above provisions, the Treasury “must consult independent experts”. Clause 1 states that the meaning of “infrastructure” would be taken in accordance with section 1(2) of the Infrastructure (Financial Assistance) Act 2012; therefore “water, electricity, gas, telecommunications, sewerage or other services; railway facilities (including rolling stock), roads or other transport facilities; health or educational facilities; court or prison facilities, and housing”. Clause 1 defines the term “intergenerational fairness” as “the overall wealth of future generations”. Clause 2 states that the legislation would be applicable to the whole of the United Kingdom.
Budget Responsibility and National Audit (Fiscal Mandate) Bill (151 KB , PDF)
Assessing Scotland’s contribution to the wider UK economy and to UK wellbeing is complex. This article presents information on factors involved in this relationship, including data on the Scottish and UK economies and the effect of devolution on the UK economy as a whole. It also summarises surveys of peoples’ wellbeing in the UK.
What institutions and arrangements will govern the UK’s post-Brexit relationship with the EU? And what will be the implications of Brexit for UK-EU trade in services and trade in goods? This article summarises the findings of three reports from a House of Lords committee that addressed these questions, as well as the Government’s responses. The House of Lords is due to debate the reports on 6 December 2021.
In November 2021, the National Infrastructure Commission published the baseline report from its forthcoming second National Infrastructure Assessment. The baseline report evaluates the current state of the UK’s economic infrastructure and identifies key challenges for the coming decades, informing recommendations in the full assessment in 2023. The baseline report found that there has been significant progress in some areas such as gigabit broadband since the last Assessment in 2018. However, it added much more was required, particularly in areas such as electricity emissions and water pollution.
