Hon. (Dr.) Harsha de Silva

¶ 01 Hon. Speaker, I present the Report of the Committee on Public Finance on the Appropriation Bill for the Financial Year 2025 in terms of Standing Order No. 121(5)(11) of Parliament (on the estimates including whether the allocation of money is in compliance with the policies of the Government) only in the English language with special leave of the House and the copies of Sinhala and Tamil languages will be presented as soon as possible.

¶ 02 Ordered to lie upon the Table.

¶ 03 Hon. Speaker, this is the second Report presented prior to commencing the debate at the Committee Stage on the Appropriation Bill 2025. This is a 50-page Report. I will not read it at length. This Report examines whether the budgetary allocations are in accordance with Government policy.

¶ 04 That is, if we say we prioritize education, how much is spent, how it comparatively increases or decreases, etc., are analyzed here, Hon. Speaker.

¶ 05 I must reiterate that we have no technical support. Without technical assistance this work is extremely difficult. The purpose of this Committee is scrutiny and oversight. COPE and COPA have assistance from the Auditor-General and technical teams. But we have no one. It is very difficult, Hon. Speaker, to carry out this work like this.

¶ 06 The Secretary-General wrote to me asking to select a consultant. The Leader of the House also spoke to me asking to select a consultant, and that consultants would be selected for the other two Committees as well. Hon. Speaker, more than a consultant, we need a technical team. It is essential. After the country’s collapse, this Committee was re-assigned to us. We completely analyzed 7 or 8 new Bills. Next, we analyzed about 200 Regulations. The challenge is preparing the background for Hon. Members to analyze these. Therefore, I kindly ask you again to understand my concern. Unlike COPE and COPA, this Committee is different. We urgently need a technical team.

¶ 07 We presented this Report without technical support. Annually, we get this done through the Institute of Policy Studies of Sri Lanka. This year too, it was done by that institution.

¶ 08 I wish to place on record special thanks of the Committee to Dr. Dushni Weerakoon, Dr. Nisha Arunatilake and Dr. Lakmini Fernando. Thank you.