Meeting of the Parliament 16 December 2025 [Draft]
I agree that there is money to save, but it raises the whole question about preventative spend. We need to spend £1 today, but where is that £1 going to come from? However, Brian Whittle’s general point is absolutely correct.
Paragraph 24 of the supplementary financial memorandum, which deals with costs for parents and carers, says:
“the precise cost of the Bill’s provisions on parents and carers is impossible to estimate”.
That means that neither is the cost to the Government estimated.
No one is asking that the FM or supplementary FM give precise costs, but they should give best estimates. It causes me considerable concern that the bill is not associated with even estimated costs for the Government. We are faced with passing a bill today with no idea of what the costs are likely to be. As members will have seen, I asked both the member in charge of the bill and the minister for an estimate of costs, but neither was able to give one.
I am somewhat surprised that the Government has agreed to that. It very much goes against the whole principle of financial memorandums, which require the best estimates of all costs.
The Finance and Public Administration Committee has not discussed the issue recently, but I feel that this sets a difficult precedent. Although I fully support the intentions of Liz Smith and her bill, I have reservations about voting for such an open-ended blank cheque when it comes to the finances. We are asking for trouble after the election, when a new Government will be faced with demands that it might or might not be able to meet. Therefore, it is my intention to abstain at the final vote. I regret that I feel that that is my only option, for the reasons that I have given, and I hope that I am proved wrong.