Select committee: Northern Ireland Affairs Committee
Recommendation 6
Third Report - The funding and delivery of public services in Northern Ireland
Published 26 Mar 2024
Paragraph 38
Addressed to Northern Ireland Executive; Northern Ireland Office
Northern Ireland Affairs Committee The funding and delivery of public services in Northern Ireland All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Recommendation (the committee's words)
Northern Ireland’s public services, especially in the health, education and justice sectors, are in a poor state after years of political instability, lack of funding and of reform. The additional £520 million per year promised by the Government in 2024/25 and 2025/26 will help to address pressures in the immediate term, as well as public sector pay offers for 2023/24. However, the Northern Ireland Fiscal Council has warned of “an abrupt ‘cliff-edge’ drop in funding” from 2026/27. Given this concern, we invite the Government to set out its assessment of the implications for public services of the expected drop in funding from 2026/27 and the rationale for its decision on the two-year stabilisation funding in response to this report.
From: Northern Ireland Affairs Committee, Third Report - The funding and delivery of public services in Northern Ireland (HC 46), paragraph 38, 26 March 2024
Government response
The government responded to the whole report on 14 November 2024 (deadline 26 May 2024).
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The Government welcomes the Committee's report and says it is committed to working with the Executive and Assembly on public services, while treating many recommended actions, such as SEN, policing allocations and workforce reporting, as devolved matters for the Executive.
- On funding, it points to a record £18.2 billion settlement for 2025/26 and says it is committed to progressing from the interim to a "full fiscal framework"; it adds that "funding alone will not address the challenges" and that there is an "onus on the Executive" to deliver transformation.
- On SEN, policing allocation and the statutory duty on health workforce projections, it says these are devolved matters; on the PSNI it "trusts the Executive will give consideration" to using its funding to support the PSNI.
- On UKSPF, it says the fund "will be extended for 2025–26 at a reduced level of £900 million", with nation-level and local allocations to be published on gov.uk "in due course".
- On the £559 million debts, repayment is paused subject to a Budget Sustainability Plan; if the Executive balances its 2024/25 budget and raises an additional £113m from 2025/26, the Chief Secretary to the Treasury will confirm the debts "do not need to be repaid".