Policy background
- Ordinarily the passage of a Budget Act to authorise the issue of sums from the Consolidated Fund of Northern Ireland is a devolved matter, taken through the Northern Ireland Assembly following the agreement of a budget by the Northern Ireland Executive.
- While the budget-setting process for the year ending 31 March 2018 was begun by the previous Executive, this process was not completed prior to the resignation of the then deputy First Minister and the Assembly election of 2 March. Since then, there has been no functioning Executive able to agree a budget. From 31 March 2017, therefore, public services in Northern Ireland have been funded using authorisations by the Permanent Secretary of the Northern Ireland Department of Finance under section 59 of the Northern Ireland Act 1998 and section 7 of the Government Resources and Accounts Act (Northern Ireland) 2001.
- The point at which the authorisations available under these powers will be exhausted is approaching. Section 59 of the Northern Ireland Act 1998 and section 7 of the Government Resources and Accounts Act (Northern Ireland) 2001 do not enable the use of accruing resources (the income received by a department which it is authorised to retain instead of transferring to the Consolidated Fund), which means that the resources available to departments are in reality significantly less than 95 percent of the previous year’s provision. In combination with the broader requirement to provide funding for public services, the legal limit of spending is now approaching.
- This Act provides authority for departments and other public bodies in Northern Ireland to deliver public services for the remainder of the year ending 31 March 2018. This supersedes the authorisations provided up to this point under the powers described above.
- This step has been delayed in order to provide space to enable an Executive to be formed and power-sharing government to return to Northern Ireland. It leaves in place the requirement for devolved spending decisions to be made by the Northern Ireland Executive or, in the absence of Ministers, the Northern Ireland Civil Service. In addition the allocations set out in the Act are on the advice from the Head of the Northern Ireland Civil Service and the Northern Ireland Civil Service Board.
- No new money is voted as a result of the Act. Instead it appropriates sums already in the Consolidated Fund of Northern Ireland, consisting of monies already appropriated by Parliament through the Supply and Appropriation (Main Estimates) Act 2017, together with revenue generated locally within Northern Ireland under the Assembly’s devolved powers. It therefore functions as though it were a Budget Act passed by the Assembly.
