Select committee: Northern Ireland Affairs Committee
Recommendation 8
Third Report - The funding and delivery of public services in Northern Ireland
Published 26 Mar 2024
Paragraph 47
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)
We are pleased to see reference to the publication and implementation of a fiscal sustainability plan as part of the settlement between the Government and Executive, which will include detail on long-term budget planning. It is noted that there is a strong view that the Government’s conditionality for writing-off Executive ‘debt’ is unacceptable and that these debts exist primarily due to the underfunding of public services. The Government should, in response to this report, clarify how it intends to evaluate and monitor the implementation of this plan given their view of the conditionality of the £559 million departmental overspend write-off.
From: Northern Ireland Affairs Committee, Third Report - The funding and delivery of public services in Northern Ireland (HC 46), paragraph 47, 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".