Secret Service Moneys, in the widest sense of the term, include all funds placed at the disposal of ministers of state, to be expended at their discretion without giving an account. In the 18th century large sums were paid for secret service out of the king's civil list; these moneys were used chiefly for the purpose of bribing members of parliament. In 1782 Burke carried his scheme of financial reform; the amount to be paid from the civil list was limited to £10,000, and ministers expending secret service money were required to make a declaration that they had done so in accordance with the intentions of parliament. In 1886 the matter was further considered, and an act was passed under which the payment authorised by the law relating to the civil list was discontinued.
All moneys required for secret service are now included in the estimates; a sum of £35,000 has been voted on this account for some years past. The declarations required by Burke's Act are sufficiently stringent to prevent any gross abuse; there is no ground for the suggestion, still occasionally made, that secret service moneys are used in paying the election expenses of ministers. Almost all governments have some fund of which no public account is given; and all secret expenditure is naturally viewed with suspicion by the representatives of the taxpayers. See SPY.