Executive Summary

In light of the Budget Process Review Group's report published last year, and recent changes made to the National Performance Framework (NPF), this briefing sets out some practical suggestions on how Parliamentary committees can use the NPF to improve their budget scrutiny.

It demonstrates how committees can:

• use the NPF to help provide a focus to budget scrutiny;

• identify key questions relating to the different stages of the policy/spending process;

• link these key budget questions to the NPF's outcomes and indicators;

• use the NPF to improve the depth and scope of budget scrutiny.

The briefing also provides some background information on the original aims of the NPF, as well as a summary and assessment of recent changes.