Multi-billion pound scale of Treasury pandemic money for Northern Ireland becomes clearer

The Treasury’s spending on tackling the pandemic in Northern Ireland is so vast that it has seen government spending almost double from that normally required to keep most public services – including schools and hospitals – working .
Chancellor Rishi Sunak has approved vast expenditure – either directly funded by the Treasury or via StormontChancellor Rishi Sunak has approved vast expenditure – either directly funded by the Treasury or via Stormont
Chancellor Rishi Sunak has approved vast expenditure – either directly funded by the Treasury or via Stormont

Today the Northern Ireland Audit Office will publish a report into the cost to Stormont of dealing with the crisis and that report estimates the total cost to date at more than £2 billion.

However, that figure does not include multiple smaller projects each worth less than £1 million and the report focuses solely on Stormont’s actions – even if the money has been provided by London – rather than policies implemented by Westminster such as the furlough scheme which has kept a wage coming to almost a quarter of a million people in Northern Ireland.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

The cost of the furlough scheme is met by the Treasury. No official figures are available for its cost in Northern Ireland but a crude calculation means that the 250,000 people on furlough here could have cost in the region of £2.4 billion over a six-month period, although it is likely to be slightly lower than that figure because some of those furloughed have already returned to work.

Treasury figures from July put total government UK spending on the pandemic at £190 billion at that point. In rough terms that would proportionately equate to about £5.7 billion in Northern Ireland. Those figures have increased over the last month and continue to do so.

To put the expenditure into context, Stormont’s annual resource budget for day to day spending on salaries and services is about £12.1 billion (which does not include other items such as pensions or social security funded directly from the Treasury) – or about £6 billion for the six-month period since the start of the pandemic.

The Audit Office stressed that it had not yet undertaken any assessment of the value for money, or effectiveness, of the measures which had been taken.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Most of the additional Stormont expenditure has been in health and economic survival.

Dodds gave three orders to top official

Economy Minister Diane Dodds has issued three ministerial directions to her top officials over pandemic spending they could not defend their value for money.

Senior civil servants must seek a ministerial direction if they cannot stand over a proposal.

The Audit Office said that there had been three ministerial directions, all relating to Business Support Grant Schemes.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Mrs Dodds’ department said it was “content that it took the necessary, swift action to support tens of thousands of businesses” and the whole executive backed her stance.

____

____

A message from the Editor:

Thank you for reading this story on our website. While I have your attention, I also have an important request to make of you.

With the coronavirus lockdown having a major impact on many of our advertisers - and consequently the revenue we receive - we are more reliant than ever on you taking out a digital subscription.

Subscribe to newsletter.co.uk and enjoy unlimited access to the best Northern Ireland and UK news and information online and on our app. With a digital subscription, you can read more than 5 articles, see fewer ads, enjoy faster load times, and get access to exclusive newsletters and content. Visit https://www.newsletter.co.uk/subscriptions now to sign up.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Our journalism costs money and we rely on advertising, print and digital revenues to help to support them. By supporting us, we are able to support you in providing trusted, fact-checked content for this website.

Alistair Bushe