Northern Ireland Budget Act 2017

1 Issue of sum out of the Consolidated Fund for the year ending 31 March 2018 and appropriation of that sum

(1) The Department may issue out of the Consolidated Fund and apply to the service of the year ending 31 March 2018 the sum of £16,116,048,000.

(2) That sum is appropriated for the purposes specified in Schedule 1.

(3) The authorisation and appropriations in this section supersede those made under section 59 of the Northern Ireland Act 1998 for that year (which total £12,272,909,000).

2 Power of the Department of Finance to borrow

(1) Subject to subsection (2), the Department may borrow on the credit of the sum specified in section 1(1) any sum or sums not exceeding in the whole £8,058,024,000.

(2) Any money so borrowed is to be repaid, with any interest due on it, out of the Consolidated Fund not later than 31 March 2018.

3 Use of resources (other than accruing resources) in the year ending 31 March 2018

(1) For the purposes of section 6(1) of the 2001 Act, this section authorises the use of resources in the year ending 31 March 2018.

(2) The use of resources by—

(a) the Northern Ireland departments;

(b) the Food Standards Agency;

(c) the Northern Ireland Assembly Commission;

(d) the Northern Ireland Audit Office;

(e) the Northern Ireland Authority for Utility Regulation;

(f) the Northern Ireland Public Services Ombudsman;

(g) the Public Prosecution Service for Northern Ireland,

in that year is authorised to the amount of £18,007,637,000.

(3) In that year, resources may be used by a Northern Ireland department or a body or person mentioned in subsection (2) for the purposes specified in relation to that department, body or person in column 1 of Schedule 2 up to the amounts specified in the corresponding entries in column 2 of that Schedule.

(4) The authorisations in this section supersede those made under section 7 of the 2001 Act for that year (which total £14,935,660,000).

(5) In this section “resources” does not include accruing resources within the meaning of section 8(1) of the 2001 Act.

4 Limits on use of certain accruing resources in the year ending 31 March 2018

(1) For the purposes of section 8(1) of the 2001 Act, this section sets the relevant limits on the accruing resources that may be directed to be used for certain purposes in the year ending 31 March 2018 in addition to resources authorised by this Act or any other statutory provision to be used for those purposes in that year.

(2) In that year accruing resources not exceeding the amount specified in column 3 of Schedule 2 may be directed to be used for the purposes specified in the corresponding entries in column 1 of that Schedule.

5 Act to take effect as if it were a Budget Act of the Assembly etc

(1) The authorisations and appropriations in this Act, and the limits set by it, are to take effect as if they were authorisations and appropriations in, and limits set by, an Act of the Assembly; and accordingly any reference in any statutory provision to a Budget Act of the Assembly is to be regarded as including a reference to this Act.

(2) The 2001 Act applies in respect of the year ending 31 March 2018 with the following modifications—

(a) section 6(4) has effect as if for “if an estimate is approved by the Assembly for that body or person in respect of each financial year” there were substituted “if an estimate is laid before Parliament for that body or person in respect of the year ending 31 March 2018”;

(b) section 9(1) has effect as if for “for which an estimate is approved by the Assembly in respect of a financial year” there were substituted “for which an estimate is laid before Parliament in respect of the year ending 31 March 2018”;

(c) section 13(1) has effect as if for “where an estimate is approved by the Assembly for any body or person in respect of any financial year” there were substituted “where an estimate is laid before Parliament for any body or person in respect of the year ending 31 March 2018”.

(3) For the purposes of preparing accounts for the year ending 31 March 2018 for—

(a) the Northern Ireland Audit Office (as required by Article 6(3) of the Audit (Northern Ireland) Order 1987), or

(b) the office of the Northern Ireland Public Services Ombudsman (as required by paragraph 19 of Schedule 1 to the Public Services Ombudsman Act (Northern Ireland) 2016),

any estimate of the use of resources for that year that is laid before Parliament is to be treated as if it had been laid before the Assembly under Article 6(2) of that Order or (as the case may be) under paragraph 18 of Schedule 1 to that Act.

6 Repeal of spent provisions

The following Acts (which are spent) are repealed—

• Budget Act (Northern Ireland) 2014;

• Budget (No. 2) Act (Northern Ireland) 2014.

7 Interpretation

In this Act—

• “the 2001 Act” means the Government Resources and Accounts Act (Northern Ireland) 2001;

• “the Consolidated Fund” means the Consolidated Fund of Northern Ireland;

• “the Department” means the Department of Finance in Northern Ireland;

• “Northern Ireland department” has the same meaning as in the Northern Ireland Act 1998;

• “statutory provision” has the same meaning as in section 1(f) of the Interpretation Act (Northern Ireland) 1954.

8 Short title

This Act may be cited as the Northern Ireland Budget Act 2017.