Finance
Who has the power of the purse if the Assembly does not agree a budget?
Piecing together a budget is one of the most fundamental activities of government. But in Northern Ireland (NI) there is currently neither a government nor a budget for the next financial year. Fresh elections have just
Autumn Statement 2016: a fiscal molehill?
Has the Chancellor’s statement had the mountainous impact on the Executive’s budget that was expected?
How good are Northern Ireland’s Explanatory and Financial Memoranda?
In the 2011-16 Assembly Mandate, MLAs debated, scrutinised and passed a range of legislation across a number of policy areas – from Mental Capacity to Licensing of Pavement Cafes, from Tobacco Retail to Rural Needs. When
What are the key obstacles to introducing a preventative approach in Northern Ireland?
In recent years ‘Preventative Expenditure‘ (PE) has gained a high level of political consensus. There are many definitions, and this imprecision has resulted in departments sometimes claiming that all of their expenditure is preventative. Generally speaking,
How much of what we spend on public services in Northern Ireland is paid for by locally raised tax revenue?
Northern Ireland (NI) receives a sizeable fiscal transfer from the United Kingdom (UK) Government. In other words, considerably more is spent on public services than is raised in revenue. NI therefore relies on taxpayers elsewhere in
Financial Transactions Capital: What is it, and how can it be used?
Financial Transactions Capital (FTC) is funding allocated to the Executive by the United Kingdom (UK) Government. The Executive has discretion over FTC allocation to projects. However, FTC can be deployed only as a loan to or
What are Public Sector Annual Reports and Accounts and how can I access them?
The purpose of an ‘Annual Report and Accounts’ is to provide information about an entity’s financial position, changes in financial position, financial performance and cash flows. It should be useful to a wide range of users,
What is in-year monitoring and how does it work?
Later this month, the new Minister of Finance will announce the outcome of the Executive’s June Monitoring Round. But what is a Monitoring Round, and what opportunities does it present for the Assembly to scrutinise the