Oral answer to question provided on Wednesday, 10 December 2008 in the House of Commons, by Jim Murphy (Labour), Scotland Office.

Calman Commission

Answer: I am sure it will come as no surprise to the hon. Gentleman to hear that the Prime Minister was speaking on behalf of the Government, and it is important for that to be the case. The Calman commission and Anton Muscatelli have looked at those specifics in precise and great detail. Today's exchanges have also shown the merit of having a dispassionate, thorough, detailed analytic piece of work such as that currently being produced by the Calman commission. We look forward to the commission's final report next year and we will continue to give evidence to it. I say again that I think the process would be stronger if the Scottish Government joined the UK Government and gave evidence to the commission.

This is an answer to the Oral question asked on Wednesday, 10 December 2008 by Alistair Carmichael (Liberal Democrat).

Question: Does the Secretary of State accept that today's exchanges highlight the need for the financial issue to be addressed and that central to that will be the tax-raising position of the Scottish Parliament? Does he recall the Prime Minister telling the CBI dinner in September:"““Devolution has worked, but I do see one problem…the Scottish Parliament is wholly accountable for the budget it spends but not for the size of its budget…That is why we asked the Calman Commission to look carefully at the financial accountability of the Scottish Parliament””?" Is that still a statement of Government policy and can we expect to see that reflected in future submissions from the Scotland Office to the Calman commission?

Secondary information