Strategic Investment Board
5.In the context of the Reinvestment and Reform Initiative, the Executive decided in the summer of 2002 to create a new organisation in the form of a Strategic Investment Board to ensure that strategic infrastructure is planned and delivered in the most effective way possible. It is intended that the Strategic Investment Board will help create a programme of strategic capital investment for Northern Ireland. The aim is to provide the best possible opportunities to promote the effective use of all the resources available.
6.The Order also sets out the way in which the Strategic Investment Board will work in partnership with bodies carrying out major investment projects by empowering it to advise the Executive and these bodies and places a duty on statutory bodies to have regard to the Board’s advice. The Order differs in a number of ways from the Bill brought before the Assembly. The Strategic Investment Board will be established as a company limited by guarantee and funded by the Office of First Minister and Deputy First Minister (OFMDFM). The Board’s remit is such that it can participate with other bodies in carrying out major investment projects, joint ventures or participating in Public Private Partnerships. The scope and powers of the company at any time will be controlled by the Memorandum and Articles of Association.
7.The membership of the company’s board will be controlled by the Office of the First Minister and the Deputy First Minister; accounts will be subject to scrutiny by independent auditors, and the affairs of the company will be subject to audit for value for money under Article 9 of the Audit (NI) Order 1987 by the Comptroller and Auditor-General. The legislation also confers the appropriate functions on the company, empowering it to carry out its duties.
