This section enables the Secretary of State to incur expenditure on preparing for legislative changes within his responsibilities, provided that he has the consent of the Treasury and the approval of the House of Commons.
Under a 1932 Public Accounts Committee concordat, any functions of a Government Department that continue beyond a given year – particularly where there are financial liabilities – should normally be defined by specific statute, rather than rely solely on the authority of the annual Appropriation Act.
The section enables the Secretary of State to seek specific Parliamentary approval to incur expenditure to prepare for future changes in the functions within his responsibilities (i.e. social security benefits, child support, war pensions), without the need for further primary legislation.
For example, a new benefit, or major changes to existing provisions, requires a significant amount of preparatory work: such as developing and testing new computer systems, and preparing manuals for use by staff. Often such work has significant lead-in time. This power will enable the Secretary of State to obtain the approval of the House of Commons to commence such work, and so avoid the risk of a delay in implementation.
Commentary Commentary Part VI: General Section 82: Authorisation of certain expenditure