Written Ministerial Statement

Published on Tuesday 2 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.

Following the Executive’s January Monitoring Round a total of some £346.4 million Resource, £28.3 million Capital and £55.7 million FTC remained unallocated.

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.  Once further stages of allocations have been confirmed I will make an oral statement to the House which will provide the opportunity for Members to ask questions and raise specific issues.

 

Funding Available

In the course of assessing COVID schemes the Department for the Economy has declared further reduced requirements of £7.2m The PPS has also returned £0.7m against previously announced allocations.  These come to £7.9 million bringing the total of Resource DEL available for allocation to £354.2 million. 

 

Allocations

Departments have put forward a number of proposals which the Executive has agreed to fund. These allocations are shown in Table B which accompanies this statement.

The Department for Communities will receive £26.1 million for the Housing Executive to provide supplier relief payments, support for landlord loss of rental income and maintenance.

The Department for the Economy will receive £10.4 million for Higher Education student support and a further £12.4 million to extend the business support scheme and the large tourism and hospitality business support scheme for 4 weeks.  A further £1.7 million will be provided to DfE for Further Education remote working.

The Department of Education will receive £35.4 million to support a pay settlement for teachers.

The Department for Infrastructure will receive £15 million to increase Translink resilience.

The Department of Health has received £2.7 million of Capital funding for minor capital works and NIAS fleet upgrades.

The Public Prosecution Service has received £40k of Capital DEL for remote working upgrades.

 

Outcome

Following these allocations there remains some £251.1 million Resource DEL, £25.9 million Capital DEL and £55.7 million Financial Transactions Capital available for allocation.

Further proposals are being developed and they will be brought to the Executive in the coming days.  I continue to urge Ministers to come forward with proposals to spend this money, particularly on sectors that have missed out to date. I have specifically asked Ministers to consider schemes for FHE students, for primary and secondary school pupils with poor internet connectivity, for the agriculture sector, and for travel agents.  In recognition of the difficulties faced by business I have also asked Ministers to also consider reopening the hardship Fund and extending the large tourism and hospitality scheme to include others such as the leisure/events sector.

I also continue to press the Treasury for additional flexibility to ensure the funding can be carried over into next year.

However, I have also prepared contingency plans to ensure that in any circumstances the remaining 2020-21 funding will be fully allocated.