2025 draft budgets: transparent finances, abstract goals
A good budget is the starting point for good accountability for expenditure and results. Every year, the Netherlands Court of Audit publishes its considerations on the ministries’ draft budgets the government presents on the state opening of parliament. MPs can use the information in their debates of the budgets in the House of Representatives in the coming weeks and in the Senate in the weeks thereafter.
Key considerations
The Court of Audit’s key considerations for parliament regarding the 2025 draft budgets are:
- The Schoof government’s spending increases and cuts and the allocation of funds to the 3 new ministries are easy to follow.
- Goals are set so abstractly, if at all, that it will be difficult for parliament to monitor and oversee progress.
- Most of the draft budgets do not pay due attention to the risks and uncertainties in policy implementation but parliament needs this information to prevent unexpected policy outcomes and/or expenditure and to exercise proper scrutiny.
Learning from evaluation
Several draft budgets include agendas, stating when evaluations of the ministries’ main policy themes will be completed. The strategic evaluation agendas are very full. More than 200 evaluations are planned for 2025. Evaluations improve accountability for funding and results. They help ministers celebrate policy results, learn where improvements are still necessary and render account to parliament.