Meeting of the Parliament 10 March 2016
In reality, I suspect that the time would probably be less than two weeks before the date of the budget. That will not be specified. We can probably shed more detail on that in the memorandum of understanding, which I suspect will be deployed to inform relationships between the Government and the Fiscal Commission on working practices. The commission would be fully empowered to determine what it thought to be reasonable in that context.
The prior notification is essential to the Scottish budget process because the commission’s forecast will determine the overall resources that will be available to deploy in that budget. The timing of that advance access to forecasts will be specified in the protocol, as I have indicated to Mr Brown, and as provided for in section 4A.
Amendment 9 will adjust the process for laying reports before Parliament as a consequence of the change to the forecasting model. The purpose of amendment 12 is to dispense with the requirement for the commission to provide Scottish ministers with a copy of a report that is prepared under section 2(1), where it has already been sent by virtue of the changes that will be introduced by amendment 8.
Amendments 15 to 18 are technical consequential amendments that reflect the shift in the forecasting functions in amendment 1.
The purpose of amendments 20 and 21 is to protect the core forecasting function as set out in proposed new section 2(A1) from being removed through regulations. That means that primary legislation would be required to remove the general forecasting function from the Scottish Fiscal Commission. The amendments will create a statutory framework that could be added to by regulations as the competence of the Scottish Parliament is expanded by the Scotland Bill. We have undertaken to consult on the scope of the commission’s expanded powers, and we will bring forward a timetable for doing so after the bill has been passed.
I invite members to agree to amendment 1 and the other amendments in the group.
I move amendment 1.