Warning NI '˜just drifting along' as Brokenshire revises budgets

Northern Ireland Secretary James Brokenshire declared that virtually every department’s 2017/18 budget would increase slightly compared with the spending figures he had cited in April.

Once redundancy payments under the current Voluntary Exit Scheme are stripped out of the calculations, the general budgets for all nine departments combined – used for day-to-day things like wages – have been expanded from £10.48bn to £10.58bn, with health and education both being among the beneficiaries.

None of this money has anything to do with the colossal extra funding package agreed between the DUP and Tories; Mr Brokenshire made clear that “a restored Executive will need to agree how it wishes to allocate these funds”.

He said: “What I am announcing to Parliament today is by no means a solution for the long-term...

“In the autumn, Northern Ireland must have a proper budget in place to put its finances on a secure footing.

“Although we are not at that critical point yet, this is approaching.”

He will put forward such a budget himself if he must, he said, but added that it is meant to be the job of devolved ministers to do it themselves.

“I want that power to be exercised by those who should be exercising it – the Northern Ireland parties, who have been elected by the people of Northern Ireland to provide devolved government here,” he said.

UUP economy spokesman Steve Aiken MLA said: “We simply cannot keep just drifting along.

“What sort of message does it send to those on hospital waiting lists or victims of historical institutional abuse that it could now be the tail-end of the year before there are ministers in place making strategic decisions?

“Devolved institutions, with local politicians making decisions on behalf of local people, is still the best option for Northern Ireland.”

The annual spending for each of Northern Ireland’s nine departments is usually agreed in an overall annual budget in around December or January, covering the financial year beginning in April.

However, three times per year – typically in June, October and January – the finance minister can alter his spending plans in a monitoring round.

In March, civil servants – not ministers – took charge of spending because no government had been established.

With one still not in place by April 24, Mr Brokenshire drew up his own “indicative budget”.

However, it did not take account of more than £40m-worth of extra funding promised to Northern Ireland by Chancellor Philip Hammond in March. Nor did it take into account any underspend from the previous financial year.

The increased spending which was announced on Wednesday is largely a combination of this cash promised by Mr Hammond, plus money left over from 2016/17.

So whilst Wednesday’s announcement is not really a true “monitoring round”, it largely does the same thing, in that it rejigs the budgets for each department which were set on April 24.

Back in April, it looked like most departments’ 2017/18 general budgets were in for a cut when compared with 2016/17, but the rejigged figures show that most of them are now in for a rise.

The only department which will receive less money compared to the April spending plan will be the Department for Communities.

Departments’ general spending budgets (known as ‘resource departmental expenditure limits’), minus redundancy payments, are set out below:

Departments’ general spending budgets for 2017/18 compared to 2016/17, as announced on April 24:

• Agriculture/Environment: –3.2%

• Communities: +10.3%

• Economy: –1%

• Education: –0.9%

• Finance: +1.9%

• Health: +3.4%

• Infrastructure: –1.3%

• Justice: –1.1%

• Executive Office: –0.4%

Departments’ general spending budgets for 2017/18 compared to 2016/17, as adjusted on Wednesday:

• Agriculture & Environment: –1.1%

• Communities: +8.9%

• Economy: –0.9%

• Education: +0.7%

• Finance: +1.9%

• Health: +4.6%

• Infrastructure: +0.1%

• Justice: –0.6%

• Executive Office: +9.8%