Select committee: Northern Ireland Affairs Committee
Recommendation 13
Third Report - The funding and delivery of public services in Northern Ireland
Published 26 Mar 2024
Paragraph 77
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 endorse calls for a review of the fiscal framework for Northern Ireland and welcome the willingness of the Government to open negotiations with the Executive in this regard. However it is deeply regrettable, because of the failure to baseline the new needs-based Barnett factor as if it had been in place at the point public spending in Northern Ireland fell below assessed need–April 2022–that the new formula will operate as a fiscal ceiling, rather than as a floor, slowly lifting Northern Ireland’s funding to a point below which it should never have been permitted to fall in the first place. A review of the exact calculation and assessment of the needs-based factor should be included as part of the terms of reference for the upcoming Fiscal Framework negotiations between the Government and Northern Ireland Executive.
From: Northern Ireland Affairs Committee, Third Report - The funding and delivery of public services in Northern Ireland (HC 46), paragraph 77, 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".