VI. THE GOVERNMENT RESPONSE TO THE COMMITTEE'S
THIRD REPORT, SESSION 1999-2000 (HC 450)
29. Our Third Report of last Session was produced
in April 2000 in the context of the suspension of the devolved
administration in Northern Ireland. In view of the reversion to
the Secretary of State of responsibility for the Northern Ireland
Departments, we called for work to be put in hand on preparation
of a public expenditure report, similar in scope to the material
previously included in Northern Ireland Office Departmental Reports,
covering the devolved Northern Ireland Departments, to be presented
to the House in adequate time for its contents to be studied before
the relevant Estimate was voted in the summer. We also recognised
that if the suspension of the Assembly ended before the report
had been completed, it would be for that body to receive any public
expenditure report on the devolved Northern Ireland Departments.
In this event, we expressed the hope that the Assembly would aim
to ensure that appropriate information was available to this House
before it was asked to vote the substantial financial subvention
in support of expenditure by the Northern Ireland Departments
which was being sought in respect of the 2000-01 financial year.
30. In the event, the devolved administration was
restored at the end of May 2000. We nonetheless inquired of the
Northern Ireland Office, ahead of the evidence session on 28 June
2000, what steps it had taken in response to our recommendations
and sought a formal response to our Report. This produced the
exchanges of correspondence at Appendix A to this Report.
31. We did not consider this a satisfactory response
and have had subsequent exchanges on this matter with successive
Secretaries of State. These are reproduced at Appendix B. While
we welcome the acceptance displayed by this correspondence that
the matter could have been better handled, it is clear that the
fundamental problem was that the Department of Finance and Personnel
failed to address in a timely fashion, despite pressure from the
Northern Ireland Office, our key recommendation, namely, that
the information be provided. In other words, when devolved government
was restored, some five weeks after our Report had been produced,
the Department had still not decided whether or not to recommend
to the Secretary of State that he provide the information, let
alone started work on preparing it. In the context of the 'two
month rule' for replies to Select Committee reports, this was,
in our view, far too leisurely an approach for it to take. It
seems unlikely that there should have been any difficulty of principle
in assembling suitable information, as Mrs Brown had told us[45]
that the devolved administration had accepted the existing public
expenditure plans for 2000-01, which had been put together prior
to devolution.
32. We recognise that the situation in which we
made our recommendation was exceptional but, should it recur,
we expect to be in a position to consider all matters falling
within the responsibilities of the Secretary of State, however
temporarily. In that event, we recommend that the Northern Ireland
Office issues appropriate guidance to the Northern Ireland departments
and, in particular, draws their attention to the conventions relating
to the period within which Select Committees expect replies to
their reports.
45 Q 92-93. Back
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