The Northern Ireland Affairs Committee is launching a follow-up inquiry into
the funding of public services in Northern Ireland.
The inquiry will look at the challenges facing Northern Ireland's
public services (including health, education and the police) and
consider: Northern Ireland's level of need relative to the rest
of the UK, the implications of the Autumn Budget for NI public
services, and what measures might be included in Northern
Ireland's Final Fiscal Framework, including options for raising
revenue.
The previous Committee in the last Parliament published a report in March on
funding and delivery of public services and the inquiry
announced today will be an opportunity to test the new Government's
approach to the issues.
MP, Chair of the Northern
Ireland Affairs Committee, said: “Essential public services such
as health and education have a huge impact on everyone's day to
day lives, so it's vitally important that they are funded in a
way that reflects the true level of need in Northern Ireland.
With the new Government in Westminster set to carry out a
spending review in the spring, our inquiry is looking to hear
views on the adequacy of the current assessment of need, what the
package of funding agreed by the Treasury and Stormont should
look like, and how the UK Government can best support the NI
Executive to deliver quality public services for all.”
Following the announcement in February of a £3.3billion spending
settlement, in May the Treasury and NI Executive announced the
agreement of an Interim Fiscal Framework. Further discussions are
taking place on issues including needs based funding, with
Department of Finance officials confirming that they are
currently compiling evidence that Northern Ireland's relative
need is higher than the proposed 124% of any equivalent increase
in funding for England for the policy areas run out of Stormont.
Terms of reference
The Committee is inviting written submissions on
the following. The deadline is Wednesday
15thJanuary.
- whether the current assessment of need in NI is accurate;
- what measures the Final Fiscal Framework should include;
- what revenue-raising measures the Executive should adopt;
- implications of the Autumn Budget and Barnett consequentials
for NI;
- the effectiveness of the Northern Ireland Executive's budget
sustainability plan;
