Oral question asked in the House of Lords, by Baroness Noakes (Conservative). It was answered on Tuesday, 31 October 2006.

EU: Budget

Question: My Lords, the Minister said that the Government were disappointed, but were they not appalled at the evident waste, not to mention fraud, in the Commission’s spending, with, for example, payments on non-existent farm animals and material errors in over two-thirds of structural funds? Will the Government now concede that the climb-down last December, which resulted in our pouring more good money into a wholly unreformed EU budget, was the wrong result for UK taxpayers?

Answer: My Lords, I do not agree with the noble Baroness’s latter point; I do not think that she seriously expects me to. We are not complacent about the issue. Important steps need to be taken so that assurance can be forthcoming in due course. The target date for the European Commission is for a statement of assurance to be positive by 2009—still too far in the future. Developments have taken place recently—for example, the new accrual accounting system, the integrated internal control framework and the single audit concept—but there is still more to be done. Although I do not have time to deal with the issue now, the suggestion that 65 per cent, or two-thirds, of expenditure is subject to material error needs to be seen in the context of the criteria used for materiality.

Secondary information

Type: Oral question
Reference: 686 c161
Session: 2005-06
Oral question type: 1st Supplementary
Chamber / Committee: House of Lords chamber
Subjects: Accountancy Fraud EU budget Maladministration Public expenditure European Court of Auditors
Link: View this Oral question on www.publications.parliament.uk