APPENDIX B
EXCHANGES OF CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN THE
CHAIRMAN AND THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR NORTHERN IRELAND
Letter from the Chairman to the Secretary
of State
The Committee's Third Report, published on 27 April,
dealt with the 2000 Departmental Report. It recommended the preparation
of a document covering the expenditure of the devolved Northern
Ireland Departments, as data relating to these is no longer included
in the NIO Departmental Report. At the time, the devolved Assembly
was suspended and the matter was therefore within your own responsibilities.
The purpose of the recommendation was to ensure that information
similar to that available in previous years was available concerning
the expenditure of the Northern Ireland Departments, building
on the commitment you gave in your evidence to the Committee on
5 April to ensure that the maximum amount of information was available
on the work of those Departments.
Shortly before the expiry of the two month period
in which Government Replies are normally made to Reports, the
Clerk wrote to the Northern Ireland Office seeking information
on when the reply would be forthcoming and on progress made towards
implementing the recommendation in the period between publication
of the report and 30 May 2000, the date when devolved government
resumed in Northern Ireland. The Department's response to this
letter was to refer the matter to the Department of Finance and
Personnel (DFP) in Northern Ireland and to forward a response
from the DFP which stated that the matter was now a devolved responsibility.
A further letter from the Clerk, pursuing the question
of what was done before 30 May, a period when the matter fell
within the responsibility of NIO Ministers, elicited the response
that NIO had pursued the matter with the DFP and that Department
"was considering what advice to give when devolution was
restored and the matter no longer came within the Secretary of
State's responsibilities". A subsequent enquiry by the Clerk
established that the two letters from the NIO were considered
by it to constitute the Government's response to the Committee's
Third Report.
I have to say that this is a response which appears
to me to be deficient, both in form and in substance. As to its
form, I have never before encountered a case where a Government
Response is in effect to be implied from a series of letters from
two officials to the Clerk. In substance, it is clear that nothing
material was done either by the DFP or the NIO between 27 April
and 30 May (or, indeed, thereafter) to respond to the substance
of the recommendation. Indeed, the DFP appears to have been allowed
to act as an independent body rather than a Government Department
under NIO Ministerial supervision. Given that the Northern Ireland
Executive simply took forward the financial provisions agreed
by NIO Ministers prior to the first period of devolution, it should
not have been difficult to produce a report of the type sought
by the Committee. As a result of the failure to produce one, the
House was asked to vote a block of expenditure substantially greater
than that of many Government Departments, with minimal direct
supporting information.
The Committee will shortly be considering publication
of the Government Response to this report and may wish to comment
on it. However, before it does so, I should welcome any observations
you may wish to make on the reservations I have expressed in this
letter about both its content and form.
15 November 2000
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