APPENDIX A
EXCHANGES OF CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN THE
CLERK OF THE COMMITTEE AND THE NORTHERN IRELAND OFFICE
Letter from the Northern Ireland Office
to the Clerk
I passed a copy of your letter to me of 14 June to
the Department of Finance and Personnel in Northern Ireland. Their
response to the request in the third paragraph for a response
to the Committee's Third Report is as follows:
"The question of the publication of information
about the expenditure plans for devolved matters is now entirely
the province of the Northern Ireland Assembly and Executive Committee
and the Department of Finance and Personnel cannot act in advance
of their decisions.
At this stage no commitment can be given about if
or when any additional document about 2000-01 spending plans will
be published, other than the Main Estimates which are available
now. Suspension, allied to the creation of new departments under
the Agreement, has meant that Ministers have had no opportunity
to develop new spending priorities. The Main Estimates are therefore
based on earlier spending proposals which the Executive inherited.
Plans for 2000-01 are now being reviewed by the Executive, but
no decisions are expected that would allow a document to be published
by 28 June."
23 June 2000
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