Spending Review Practices in the Netherlands

This study was conducted for the Budget Community
of Practice (BCOP) of PEMPAL (Public Expenditure
Management Peer Assisted Learning). PEMPAL is a
network that facilitates the exchange of professional
experience and knowledge transfer among public
finance management (PFM) practitioners across
Europe and Central Asia (ECA) countries. The network
at present includes members from 23 countries. The
objective of this study was to provide the BCOP
Program and Performance Budgeting Working Group
(PPBWG) with a knowledge product laying out the
spending review approach in a selected advanced
country, in this case the Netherlands. In the first
chapter the history of spending reviews and their
institutionalization in the Netherlands is described. The
second chapter covers the current spending review
procedure. The final chapter provides an illustration
of an influential spending review of child support
schemes conducted in 2010. A conclusion summarizes
lessons for countries introducing spending reviews.