Premier Paula Cox promised a tighter rein on finances after the United Bermuda Party laid into repeated overspending at King Edward VII Memorial Hospital.On Friday night, MPs approved overspends of $39.9 million in the Finance and Health Ministries after those Ministries spent $22.7 million and $17.9 million more than they had budgeted for respectively throughout 2010-11.That included $15 million more than the $85 million budgeted for KEMH, roughly the same figure it overspent in 2009-10.Following a succession of complaints from UBP MPs, Ms Cox, who is also Finance Minister, told the House: “This Government recognises that the expenditure plans need to be improved.“That’s why one signalled in 2012 there’s going to be a paradigm change in model.”Ms Cox has said Government is moving towards three-year budgeting instead of one-year, as well as an “open budget” policy, which allows better long-term planning and encourages more accountability.“There’s a need for the whole Government to improve our processes,” she told the House.“I want to have a much tighter rein on how we project going forward. Open budgeting isn’t going to be a panacean, it’s going to be unpacking the layers.“Strip away the layers, recognising where we are is not where we should be.”During the debate, Shadow Finance Minister Bob Richards said the Ministry of Finance’s overspending on interest was due not to rising interest, but because Government was borrowing more money.“Interest rates are low. They have been low for a few years now. It seems to me that if you’re going to be wrong, you’re going to be wrong on the other side,” he said.UBP MP John Barritt also questioned how overspending had been allowed to happen several years in succession.“What exactly is going on that the Government got it so profoundly wrong, if that’s the pattern that seems to be happening year after year after year?” asked the veteran politician.He also asked why Government was budgeting $84 million or KEMH again this year when it was over budget by $15 million for 2010-11 and 2009-10.“We are fooling ourselves and we are fooling the Country,” he said.Shadow Works Minister Patricia Gordon-Pamplin said the Progressive Labour Party had shown “tremendous pockets of sloppiness” in handling finance exactly what it had accused the UBP of when it was in power.“When we start getting $15 million out on $85 million, there’s no way we can justify that,” she said.Health Minister Zane DeSilva warned people need to improve their lifestyles or spending in his Ministry will keep going up as health officials try to tackle soaring diabetes rates.“Since becoming Minister, I have been active in promoting a healthy lifestyle,” he said. “We all have to fight in the battle of the bulge.”Throughout 2010-11, the Ministry of Finance spent an extra $17.9 million than budgeted on interest on debt.At the start of the fiscal year, it expected to spend $38.4 million on debt. However, plans to refinance a bank facility fell through due to the economic crisis, meaning Government needed to issue its first public bond.Ms Cox said: “Although the cost of funding for this transaction was higher than the interest budgeted there were many benefits accruing from this transaction.”She said it opened a “new, truly diverse and global investor base” to Bermuda, allowed Government to repay a bridge loan covering a revolving credit facility, short-term indebtedness with local banks, and to fund on-going capital expenditure programmes.The Ministry’s overspending also included $4.7 million due to underestimations over how much war veteran pension awards and medical claims would cost.At the start of 2010-11, the Ministry budgeted for $1.7 million on medical claims for war veterans and $2.6 million for their pension awards.However, as the number of war veterans eligible for awards went up, medical claims ended up being $6.2 million and pension awards $2.8 million.Useful websites: www.plp.bm, www.ubp.bm