Budget Responsibility and National Audit Bill [HL]

My Lords, I tried to make clear in summary what the Government understand by ““sustainability””. It encompasses the thinking of my noble friend, which is the bare minimum that anyone would understand by ““sustainability””. I want to allow the OBR to interpret it further. The noble Lord, Lord Peston, shakes his head. I say it is the bare minimum but I want to give the OBR the freedom to interpret ““sustainability”” in as wide a way as it thinks appropriate. Of course the OBR can and should say that the public finances are not sustainable if it considers that to be the case. It has written on sustainability already and will do a lot more work. I do not want to constrain it with a government definition that people may criticise. Having said that, there is a need for further consideration to ascertain whether the matter of sustainability can be reflected in the charter. However, it should not be done in a way that lays down a government definition of it.