To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what recent assessment he has made of his Department's rules on public spending; and what plans he has to revise these guidelines. [102689]

The 1998 Economic and Fiscal Strategy Report set out the Government's new framework for the planning and controlling of public expenditure. This framework was implemented with the plans set out in the 1998 Comprehensive Spending Review. Further modernisation of the regime has taken place through the implementation in two stages of resource accounting and budgeting in the 2000 and 2002 Spending Reviews.