PARLIAMENT AND DEMOCRACY - Inter-Parliamentary Union

140 I PARLIAMENT AND DEMOCRACY IN THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY
Further online reading about parliam entary oversight
of security policy:
Inter-Parliamentary Union, Geneva Centre for the Democratic Control of
Armed Forces (2003). Parliamentary oversight of the security sector principles,
mechanisms and practices.
National Democratic Institute (2005). Democratic oversight of police forces,
mechanisms for accountability and community policing.
Budgetary scrutiny and financial control
A central function of parliaments has always been to exercise control over
the raising and spending of public revenue. The familiar slogan ‘no taxation
without representation’ implies that only the express consent given by elected
representatives can make the compulsory exactions of government acceptable
to citizens. Parliamentary oversight of government finances can be separated
into two broad phases: consideration and approval of the government’s plans
for the raising and spending of revenue ex ante, through consideration of its
proposed budget; and the monitoring of expenditure ex post, to ensure that it
has conformed to the terms which parliament has approved. Naturally, the
outcome of the latter phase will affect the former in the next round of the
annual cycle, so the whole can be seen as a continuous process. For purposes
of analysis, however, the two phases can be considered separately.
Budgetary scrutiny
It is a task of the executive to draw up detailed annual budget proposals for
the raising and expenditure of revenue by government. In Westminster-type
systems the tradition has been for the budget to be presented for parliamentary
scrutiny on an appointed day as a complete package, with little room for parliament
to make substantive policy changes. The Chancellor of the Exchequer
or equivalent might receive submissions from various social and economic
interests during the process of budget formulation, but parliament itself would
not be consulted or informed of the contents prior to the presentation of the