Flexible Expenditure Rules
RHI Inquiry · The Report of the Independent Public Inquiry into the Non-Domestic Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) Scheme · Issued 13 March 2020 · Addressed to: Department of Finance
Source — verbatim from the inquiry
●Inquiry recommendation
Public expenditure rules should be sufficiently flexible so that false economies can be avoided. In order to deliver a policy objective, Departments should not be required to choose a more expensive option in overall terms because they cannot use the available funding in a flexible cost-effective way. The Department of Finance should engage with HMT to determine how such false economies, impacting as they must on the value for money taxpayers receive for the funds they provide, can be identified and avoided in the future in respect of government initiatives in Northern Ireland.
RHI Inquiry, The Report of the Independent Public Inquiry into the Non-Domestic Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) Scheme · 13 Mar 2020 Source PDF →
Published evidence summary
Publicly available evidence relating to this recommendation:
- The NIAO Second Progress Report (October 2024) assessed this recommendation as Implemented, stating that flexible expenditure rules had been addressed through updated Managing Public Money NI and business case guidance (NIAO Second Progress Report, October 2024).
Response — verbatim from government
●Department of Finance
[Note: The NI Executive responded to recommendations 19-23, 29-33 together as a group under the 'Governance and Financial Controls' theme.] Accepted with note that public expenditure in NI is governed by UK Budgeting rules set by HM Treasury with limited flexibility. Protocol for engagement with HMT issued. Financial monitoring systems confirmed operational.
Department of Finance · 7 Oct 2021 Written response →
Evidence trail — what's actually happened since
- 15 Oct 2024 NIAO Second Progress Report (October 2024): Implemented. Flexible expenditure rules addressed through updated Managing Public Money NI and business case guidance. Source →
Each entry above links to a primary source — gov.uk written statement, consultation response document, or inspection report. The Index does not characterise government intent; it tracks what has been published.
How this page is built
Source and Response are verbatim from primary documents. The Evidence trail records published activity since — written statements, consultation outcomes, inspection findings, parliamentary references. The Index does not paraphrase or characterise intent; it tracks what has been published. Where the evidence is the absence of action (a missed deadline, a slipped timetable), that absence is documented from primary sources rather than inferred.
This recommendation's data is verified periodically against primary sources. The Index is monitored for staleness weekly.