Northern Ireland Budget (No. 2) Act 2023

2 Limits on use of resources

(1) The Schedule contains estimates relating to the persons mentioned in section 1(3) for the year ending 31 March 2024 (“Schedule estimates”).

(2) In the year ending 31 March 2024, a person mentioned in section 1(3) may use resources in accordance with subsections (3) to (7) and the Schedule estimate relating to that person.

(3) The person may use resources for the purposes specified in Part 2 of the estimate; but this is subject to subsections (4) to (7).

(4) Where Part 1 of the estimate authorises the use of net resources for current purposes, the person—

(a) may use resources up to the amount so authorised for current purposes;

(b) must not use those resources for capital purposes.

(5) Where Part 1 of the estimate authorises the use of net resources for capital purposes, the person—

(a) may use resources up to the amount so authorised for capital purposes;

(b) must not use those resources for current purposes.

(6) Where Part 1 of the estimate authorises the use of net resources in relation to a category of expenditure, the person—

(a) may use resources up to the amount so authorised for a purpose identified in the estimate as falling within that category of expenditure;

(b) must not use those resources for any other purpose.

(7) The categories of expenditure are—

(a) expenditure subject to a departmental expenditure limit;

(b) annually managed expenditure;

(c) non-budget expenditure.

(8) The authorisations in this section and in section 1 supersede those made by sections 8 and 9 of the Northern Ireland Budget Act 2023, which total £17,404,266,000.