(1)The Department may issue out of the Consolidated Fund and apply to the service of the year ending 31 March 2019 the sum of £8,907,660,000.
(2)That sum is appropriated for the purposes specified in Schedule 1.
(1)The Department may borrow on the credit of the sum specified in section 1(1) any sum or sums not exceeding in total £4,453,830,000.
(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 2019.
(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 2019 by the persons mentioned in subsection (3) to the amount of £9,934,658,000.
(2)In that year, resources may be used by a person mentioned in that subsection for the purposes specified in relation to that person in column 1 of Schedule 2 up to the amounts specified in the corresponding entries in column 2 of that Schedule.
(3)The persons are—
(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.
(4)In this section “resources” does not include accruing resources within the meaning of section 8(1) of the 2001 Act.
(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 2019 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.
(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 Northern Ireland 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 2019 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 2019”;
(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 2019”;
(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 2019”.
(3)For the purposes of preparing accounts for the year ending 31 March 2019 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 Northern Ireland Assembly under Article 6(2) of that Order or (as the case may be) under paragraph 18 of Schedule 1 to that Act.
The following Acts (which are spent) are repealed—
the Budget Act (Northern Ireland) 2015;
the Budget (No. 2) Act (Northern Ireland) 2015.
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.
This Act may be cited as the Northern Ireland Budget Act 2018.