III. NORTHERN IRELAND PUBLIC EXPENDITURE
14. It is a responsibility of the Secretary of State
to secure Northern Ireland's share of public expenditure.[17]
Northern Ireland Office witnesses told us that the Northern Ireland
Block which existed during direct rule was split in preparation
for devolution. Mrs Doreen Brown, Director of Resources, described
the position in the following terms:[18]
"A decision was made on the quantum of resources
which should go to the devolved administration as opposed with
staying at the Northern Ireland Office and that took account of
the needs which Northern Ireland departments were projecting and
the views of the Government as to how that money might best be
used to serve Northern Ireland as a whole. So the split between
security funding and non-security funding was made on the basis
of a very conscious decision about trying to get the right balance."
15. Whereas during the period of direct rule, the
size of the whole of the Northern Ireland block had been determined
through the Barnett formula,[19]
on which we comment further below, the budget of the Northern
Ireland Office itself for expenditure previously included in Vote
1, and now included in Requests for Resources 1 to 4, is a matter
of negotiation with the Treasury;[20]
the requirement is based on assessed needs. The Barnett formula
continues to be the principal determinant of the public expenditure
bids of the devolved Northern Ireland administration, and the
Secretary of State is, in principle, not involved in the process.[21]
The Northern Ireland Office is therefore in the position of being
unable to provide details of what the relevant Estimates provision
is intended to cover, beyond that included in the published Estimate,
even though it accounts for the relevant expenditure.[22]
16. The Northern Ireland Office continues to account
to the House for both sets of funds. In practice, the bulk of
the expenditure is the grant to the Northern Ireland Consolidated
Fund, as the table below shows:
| | Provision for
Northern Ireland
Office (£ million)
| Provision for
Northern Ireland
Departments (£ million)
|
2000-01 (Cash basis) :[23]
Class XV, Vote 1
Class XV, Vote 2
|
1,152.3
·
|
·
7,405.4
|
|
TOTAL CASH VOTE FOR 2000-01 8,557.7
|
2001-02 (Resource basis):[24]
Requests for Resources 1-4
Request for Resources 5
|
1,128.7
·
|
·
7,652.0
|
| TOTAL RESOURCE-BASED VOTE FOR 2001-02 8,780.7[25]
|
17. Under section 58 of the Northern Ireland Act, the Secretary
of State is responsible for making payments into the Consolidated
Fund for Northern Ireland. In practice, this process is a mechanical
one, and no funds are received into, or withdrawn from, bank accounts
of the Northern Ireland Office.[26]
Mrs Brown described the role of the Northern Ireland Office in
relation to the control of this expenditure as "very limited".[27]
18. From our point of view, the present position is somewhat unsatisfactory.
The Secretary of State is responsible for securing Northern Ireland's
share of public expenditure but, in respect of over 85 per cent
of the total, his direct involvement is minimal, and only very
limited information is available to this House. Likewise, we can
in practice only exercise our own responsibilities to examine
the expenditure of the Northern Ireland Office in respect of less
than 15 per cent of the expenditure for which it is accountable
to the House.
19. Decisions on expenditure from the Northern Ireland Consolidated
Fund are properly a matter for the Northern Ireland Assembly and
Northern Ireland Ministers and we have no desire to involve ourselves
in these. However, on the information presently available to us,
it is not possible for us to make a meaningful assessment of the
overall success of the Secretary of State in securing the public
expenditure resources which Northern Ireland needs. Neither do
we have sufficient information on which to form a soundly based
judgement on the proposed level of Supply to be granted to the
Northern Ireland Consolidated Fund. Either the amount of available
information needs to increase, or our responsibilities in relation
to examination of Northern Ireland expenditure need to be modified
to reflect the current realities. We shall be giving further consideration
to this matter.
17 Ev.
p. 5. Back
18 Q
48. Back
19 Q
50. Back
20 Q
48. Back
21 Ev.
p. 6. See also Q 82 to 91. Back
22 Ev.
p. 6. Back
23 Source:
Spring Supplementary Estimates 2000-01, HC 256 (2000-01). Back
24 Source:
Central Government Supply Estimates 2001-02, HC 348 (2000-01). Back
25 From
2001-02, Parliament authorises both the amount of resources which
may be consumed as well as the associated amount of cash which
may be spent. Accruals to cash adjustments mean that the overall
net cash provision to be voted for this Estimate is £8,776.2
million. Back
26 Ev.
p. 6. See also Q 74 to 78. Back
27 Q
73. Back
|
