Urgent delivery of budget needed: Claire Hanna, MP

There was no functioning devolved administration for two years due to the DUP's boycott of Stormont in protest against post-Brexit trading arrangements.

Following extended negotiations with the DUP, the UK government pledged a £3.3 billion package to support the return of devolution earlier this year.

Last week Stormont's Finance Minister Caoimhe Archibald said that the resource and capital bids made by ministers are far in excess of the funds available to her.

During Northern Ireland questions in the Commons, SDLP MP Claire Hanna (Belfast South) said people in Northern Ireland were frustrated “at the lack of pace of delivery by the executive,” and called for an imminent programme for government and budget to be released.

She told MPs: “After a two-year void, they're saying they don't want to be hurried to deliver for Northern Ireland. Healthcare staff who are pressed, people waiting for special educational needs and people watching Lough Neagh face another summer of algae bloom are very much in a hurry for action.

"Northern Ireland urgently needs a delivery plan, it needs a programme for government and it needs a budget.

“Yes, resources are a part of that, can the minister update on any negotiations on the fiscal framework and can he impress on the executive the need for urgent action and not just warm words?”

Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris (pictured) replied: “The one thing I did pick up from the first minister and the deputy first minister last week is they too want to act in all the ways that (Ms Hanna) said and their priorities include creating a programme for government which will include the vital work of public service transformation.

“They're only 12 weeks in and I do look forward to good results in the short, medium and long term.”

Earlier Mr Heaton-Harris said Whitehall civil servants would “collaborate with” Stormont in their efforts to upgrade public services in the province.