Pre-Budget Report

The Treasury Select Committee criticised the temporary operating rule, which in turn, in line with the pre-Budget report of 2009, has been followed by the Fiscal Responsibility Bill, debated yesterday, to implement those provisions. That includes the code for fiscal stability, the principles of which are set out—including the principle that""the Government shall publish sufficient information to allow the public to scrutinise the conduct of fiscal policy"." This includes debt, and provision is made for the definition of debt. I am sure that the Minister will understand it when I say that organisations such as PIMCO and others that are working out the degree of credibility they can ascribe to the Government's position will take account of whether the definitions and the actualité, as they say, of net borrowing are actually true. The Minister knows that we do not agree on that, so is he prepared to spell out the definition of net borrowing? I asked his Front-Bench colleague the same question yesterday and she did not or could not answer. Will he do so now? What is net borrowing?