The formulation of the Budget must be modernised and not left to the last six months of the year, Education Minister Evarist Bartolo said in Parliament yesterday.

Each line item, he said, should be justified every year, not just carried over from one year to the next.

He was answering supplementary questions by MPs from both sides of the House.

He said the current practice was an example of institutional apathy, when line items approved by the House but unspent were allocated to new “educational projects” so that the Finance Minister would not take the funds back.

Each item should be justified every year, not just carried over from one year to the next

As it was, no more than two per cent of leftover allocated funds were spent on real educational projects.

When Joseph Cassar (PN) asked why the changes were not done in consultation between Mr Bartolo and the Finance Minister, Mr Bartolo said he remembered being told by his predecessor Dolores Cristina that such moves were normal administration.

To a question by Opposition Whip David Agius, the minister said that rather than relying on his memory, he would have to check and revert on whether the Finance Ministry had cut back on allocated funds for education or whether it had taken unspent funds because there had been no take-up.

When Anthony Agius Decelis (PL) asked tongue-in-cheek if Mr Bartolo had ever found himself with €7 million on his hands and given them back to the Finance Ministry, the minister said it did sometimes happen that anticipated spending did not materialise.

Former Health Minister Joseph Cassar, who in the previous administration had given back €7 million unspent to the Finance Ministry, was smiling throughout this episode.