Written Ministerial Statement

Published at 11.30 am on Wednesday 10 February 2021.

 

Mr Murphy (The Minister of Finance): I wish to update the Members on the Executive’s agreement to further allocations for 2020-21.

Since my statement on 2 February Executive Ministers have continued to develop further ways to utilise additional funding in this financial year and I can announce a number of additional allocations today.

This is being done by written statement in order to confirm the relevant allocations for immediate use and provide members with as much notice as possible of the changes to public spending for the remainder of the financial year.  It remains my intention to make an oral statement to the House which will provide the opportunity for Members to ask questions and raise specific issues.

 

Funding Available

I noted in my previous statement that I was pressing Treasury for flexibility to carry forward unallocated Covid funding to 2021-22.

We are in the process of finalising 2020-21 funding with Treasury and we will be expecting to carry forward any further funding provided into 2021-22, and I will advise the Assembly of the outcome of these discussions when they are concluded.  However, we have been advised by Treasury that this will not include flexibility in relation to funding received before Christmas. It is therefore prudent that I now release the £200 million I had held centrally, to allow it to be spent in 2020-21, and Departments are factoring this into their considerations.

I have pressed the Treasury again for further flexibility given the demands on the Health Service and the business support we are providing some of which will inevitably continue into the next financial year.

Departments have declared further reduced requirements of £10.1 million Resource DEL and £30k Capital DEL against previously announced allocations and details are provided in the tables accompanying this statement.

The total funding now available to be allocated this year is £461 million Resource DEL, £25.9 million Capital DEL and £55.7 million Financial Transactions Capital.

 

COVID Allocations

The Executive has agreed the following allocations details of which are shown in Table B which accompanies this statement.

The Department for the Economy will receive £27.3 million Resource DEL for Student support measures agreed by the Executive last week.

The Department for Agriculture Environment and Rural Affairs will receive £9.0 million Resource DEL for Forest Service which will help this newly classified public corporation create some financial resilience with the uncertainty that Brexit may cause.

The Department of Health will receive £175 million Resource DEL for Covid related PPE which will help reduce pressures next year.  The Department of Health will also receive £15.2 million Capital DEL for Capital equipment and the procurement of IT Licences.

The Executive Office receives £42k Capital DEL for the Commission for Victims and Survivors.

 

Outcome

Following these allocations there remains some £249.7 million Resource DEL, £10.7 million Capital DEL and £55.7 million Financial Transactions Capital available for allocation.

I continue to urge Executive Ministers to work on proposals to use this funding, particularly for those who have been unable to access support to date.