Appendix 6
Memorandum submitted by the Northern Ireland Office
on 23 October 2007 in response to Questions from the Committee
relating to the Winter Supplementary Estimates 2006/07
GENERAL POINTS RAISED BY THE COMMITTEE:
I would draw your attention to the recent Liaison
Committee report on Estimate Memoranda which recommends that departments
follow the Scrutiny Unit guidance in preparing such memoranda,
which is available online. In particular the Committee would like
to see:
- Detailed
explanation of changes: more substantial explanation of the reasons
for changes;
- Impact on priority
areas: under the PSA section, explanations of the impact of additional
resources on the Department's priority areas to assist in understanding
the changes requested;
- Disclosure
of comparatives: for the three previous years and future years
Departmental Expenditure Limit (DEL) and Administration Budget
Limit (ABL), and the amount of DUP which can be called on; and
- End Year Flexibility
(EYF): the total stock of EYF and how it has been built up, whether
any of the EYF is ring-fenced for a specific future use and what
the Department's plans are for the remaining EYF.
This information would help the Committee to fully
understand all the changes to resources that the Department was
requesting.
Departmental response:
Thank you. These points have been noted, and in
preparation of the next Memorandum, we will include these aspects.
Specific questions:
The Winter Supplementary Estimate for 2006-07
contains a significant number of changes to RfR1. The Committee
would be grateful for further explanation for the most significant
movements, including:
1. An increase of £26.2 million for Police
expenditure and £5.5 million for the NI Prison service. These
are described in the WSE 06-07 as being "part of overall
SR2004 allocation". The Committee requests further explanation
for why these additional funds are necessary and how they go towards
achieving the Office's priorities.
The Department's strategy for the SR2004 period was
always to supplement baseline funding, as per the SR2004 settlement,
with end year flexibility funding. This is drawn down and allocated
during the Supplementary Estimate rounds to enable the Department
to meet its key service delivery objectives.
2. Increase of £3.7 million
for the Youth Justice Agency and a reduction in the Estimate of
£4.7 million for Criminal Justice.
Youth Justice Agency
The total of £3.7million was transferred by
Criminal Justice Directorate to the Youth Justice Agency (£1.1m
from Administration and £2.6m programme). Of this, £2.1million
was for Community Services funding for prevention and development
activities and £1.6m was for the Youth Conferencing Service.
Criminal Justice
£1.1m administration was released by the Criminal
Justice Directorate and was transferred to the Youth Justice Agency
as programme.
£2.6m was transferred to Youth Justice Agency
from programme budget.
This total of £3.7m was then used for prevention
and development funding (£2.1m) and the Youth Conferencing
Service (£1.6m) as described above.
£1.4m was transferred to create a new estimates
line for the Criminal Justice Inspectorate which was set up as
an NDPB.
This was partly offset by a transfer of £0.4m
received from the Probation Board NI as the opening budget was
adjusted in line with their stated requirements.
3: Significant number of movements between
subheads in the estimate. Why have so many movements been necessary?
Movements of the subhead totals in the estimate relate
to the drawdown of EYF and realignment of the budget since the
Main Estimate. There are three main reasons for this.
1. The Department established three new lines on
our estimate for the NI Human Rights Commission, the Criminal
Justice Inspectorate and the Policing Board. Funding for these
bodies was previously held in other estimate lines. The NI Human
Rights Commission funding was removed from the Political Directorate,
the Policing Board funding from Policing and Criminal Justice
Inspectorate funding from the Criminal Justice Directorate.
2. In some cases, a service which was budgeted for
in the SR2004 settlement has now moved to another part of the
organisation. As an example, the Youth Conferencing Service,
whose funding was originally budgeted for within Criminal Justice
Directorate, was transferred to the Youth Justice Agency. For
the 2007-08 Main Estimate we have tried, where possible, to align
such expenditure and thus reduce the number of transfers of this
nature which will need to take place through Supplementary Estimate.
3. All Directorates can reforecast funding
requirements in-year. In some cases this requires a draw down
of end year flexibility funding to increase the Main Estimate
budget allocation. In the case of a reduced Directorate requirement,
resources are surrendered to the centre (Central Administration)
or redistributed to other Directorates.
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