New Decade, New Approach Agreement

The agreement of parties in Northern Ireland, as well as of the UK and Irish Governments, to the New Decade, New Approach deal was welcome, because it restored the devolved institutions in Northern Ireland. The UK and Irish Governments must support the Northern Ireland Executive to implement the commitments in the agreement in full. The UK Government must continue to focus on nurturing devolution in Northern Ireland.

We received evidence questioning the equity of the decision in the New Decade, New Approach agreement to link funding for public services in Northern Ireland to the restoration and operation of the devolved institutions. Although we understand this argument, we recognise the Government’s rationale of using the incentives available to it to encourage the restoration of, and commitment to, devolved government after a prolonged suspension. The Government’s focus must now be on helping to foster stable devolved government in Northern Ireland, where politicians deliver on their commitments to transform public services, so that such an incentive is rendered redundant in future.

We heard that £2 billion of Government funding is insufficient to meet the objectives of the agreement. In addition, the economic effects of Covid-19 will exacerbate pressure on public finances in Northern Ireland. We also heard that the need to prioritise which commitments to enact in the agreement due to insufficient funding could destabilise the Northern Ireland Executive.

The Government must set out a long-term financial plan for the implementation of the agreement that is costed over the next five financial years and that acknowledges the effects of Covid-19 on public finances in Northern Ireland. The plan should be deposited in the Libraries of both Houses of Parliament before the 2020 Autumn Budget. The Government should issue quarterly updates to this plan, also to be deposited in the Libraries of both Houses of Parliament.

The Government must re-examine the powers to borrow funds available to the Executive and local authorities, including any conditionality placed on those powers, to mitigate ongoing pressures on public finances and to exploit the historically low cost of borrowing.

The long-term success of the Independent Fiscal Council will depend on its establishing strong working relationships with both HM Treasury and the Northern Ireland Department of Finance. It must engage positively and constructively with the UK Government and the Northern Ireland Executive, but it must always maintain its independence and integrity.

The Independent Fiscal Council must be independent from all government departments to ensure that it can fulfil its function to scrutinise public spending.

The Council will require a dedicated secretariat to carry out work as directed by Council Members. The UK Government and Northern Ireland Executive must ensure that the Council has sufficient resources and powers to fulfil its core functions.

For the Independent Fiscal Council to be truly effective, its remit must include costing not only spending decisions, but alternatives to meet the same policy aims in the most cost-effective way.

As part of its Terms of Reference, the Independent Fiscal Council should be given a mandate to evaluate costings where the Northern Ireland Executive has chosen to implement UK-wide policies and where it has chosen to diverge from them.

The Independent Fiscal Council should be tasked with providing distributional analyses of public spending in Northern Ireland to help clarify the effect of spending decisions on income distribution.

We welcome the creation of a UK Government-Northern Ireland Executive Joint Board and the accompanying commitment that the Joint Board will be convened by the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland. We welcome this as evidence of the UK Government’s commitment to supporting the Northern Ireland Executive to implement the agreement. However, greater clarity is needed on the Joint Board’s form and function, and in particular on whether its role will be to advise and/or to decide.

The Secretary of State for Northern Ireland should issue a joint statement with the Executive First Minister and deputy First Minister detailing how the Joint Board will carry out its work. We recommend that • the powers of the Joint Board are clearly set out in its Terms of Reference; • the Joint Board produces an Annual Report that is deposited in the Libraries of both Houses of Parliament; and • the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland writes to the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee shortly after the Report is laid to update the Committee on the Board’s work in overseeing the implementation of the agreement. This should be followed by a one-off oral evidence session, where the Secretary of State appears before the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee to discuss implementation.

The institutional reforms in New Decade, New Approach include some safeguards against the future collapse of the devolved institutions. We heard how amendments to the Northern Ireland Act 1998 will be useful in granting more time and space for parties to come together, if power-sharing breaks down in the future. The Government should make the relevant amendments to the Act before the end of 2020. However, it is unclear whether those reforms would have prevented the breakdown that led to the absence of devolved government between 2017 and 2019.

We recommend that the UK Government-Northern Ireland Executive bi-annual Cabinet delegation establish a working group to consider additional institutional reforms that might help improve both the stability and function of devolved government.

For devolution in Northern Ireland to succeed, institutional reforms must be accompanied by the development of a more productive political working culture at Stormont.

The UK Government should work with the Northern Ireland Executive to support the development of schemes to promote knowledge exchange, best practice and institutional links between the Assembly and other UK legislatures. This support should include: • a scoping exercise considering the merits of establishing an Academic Fellowship scheme for the Northern Ireland Assembly; • consideration of the facilitation of secondment schemes between the Northern Ireland Civil Service and the civil services of other governments in the UK; and • examination of the provision of secondment opportunities between officials in the Northern Ireland Assembly and the secretariats of other devolved legislatures in the UK, as well as consideration on a case-by-case basis of secondment opportunities between the Assembly and the Oireachtas.

We welcome the commitment to undertake quarterly reviews of the implementation of the agreement via both Executive-led Implementation Review Meetings and the UK Government-Northern Ireland Executive Joint Board. While we regret that the Joint Board has not yet been convened and that no Implementation Review Meetings have taken place so far, we acknowledge the challenges Covid-19 has created to timetabling these meetings. Notwithstanding those challenges, digital technology is available and a virtual meeting could and should have been convened.

To demonstrate the Government’s commitment to implementing the agreement, we urge the Secretary of State to show personal leadership by convening the Joint UK Government-Northern Ireland Executive Board before 1 October 2020.

Implementation Review Meetings should also be arranged as soon as possible. A Review must be made of the progress made on the implementation of both Governments’ commitments in New Decade, New Approach, as well as the implementation of the Northern Ireland Executive’s commitments.

The UK and Irish Governments and the Northern Ireland Executive should treat New Decade, New Approach as a foundation on which to build and evolve the operation of dynamic devolution in Northern Ireland, rather than as a static deal.

The Government’s commitment in the agreement to establish a bi-annual Cabinet delegation with the Northern Ireland Executive is welcome. If realised, it should enhance co-operation between the UK Government and the Northern Ireland Executive.

The bi-annual Cabinet delegation must facilitate meaningful, high-level engagement between the UK Government and the Northern Ireland Executive. To fulfil its aim of improving co-operation and collaboration between the two governments, the delegation’s agenda should include a: a) meeting between the UK Government and the Northern Ireland Executive, led by the Prime Minister, First Minister and deputy First Minister; b) break-out programme of bi-lateral meetings between Cabinet Ministers and their relevant Executive counterparts to discuss their portfolios and potential areas for co-operation between the Government and the Executive; c) plenary meeting of the UK Government and the Northern Ireland Executive, after which a Joint Statement should be published summarising the meeting of the delegation and that statement placed in the Libraries of both Houses of Parliament; d) discussion of progress made on the implementation of the New Decade, New Approach agreement should be on the agenda at each meeting of the bi-annual Cabinet delegation; and e) working group, to be established at the first meeting of the delegation, to consider additional institutional reforms that might help improve devolved government in Northern Ireland. In addition, a Report on each meeting of the delegation should be laid in the Libraries of both Houses of Parliament.

The need to implement, in full and in spirit, the New Decade, New Approach agreement has been highlighted by recent events. The need to improve the stability of the devolved institutions in Northern Ireland remains pivotal. The stability of power sharing rests on the commitment of all parties in the Northern Ireland Executive to work within the spirit and letter of the rules. It is vital that the UK Government works with the Northern Ireland Executive to build on the New Decade, New Approach agreement and to protect the roots of devolution in Northern Ireland. We urge all parties to focus on the needs of the people of Northern Ireland, who have been ill served by the prolonged absence of the devolved institutions, and to deliver the commitments in New Decade, New Approach. We welcome the implementation of the New Decade, New Approach agreement, which will be key to ensuring that devolved government delivers for the people of Northern Ireland.