Debate contribution: Budget Bill: Second Stage

Debate contribution by Mr Tom Buchanan on 18 February 2025.

MLA: Mr Tom Buchanan
Party at the time: Democratic Unionist Party
Date: 18 February 2025
Type: Debate contribution
Business: Executive Committee Business
Heading: Budget Bill: Second Stage
Assembly identifier: Official Report component 4806229

Text

I welcome the opportunity to make a few comments at the Second Stage of the Budget Bill as a member of the Committee for Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs. The Chair of the Committee highlighted a number of issues yesterday, so I will keep my comments brief. Our agriculture industry and farm businesses are the cornerstone of the rural economy and are fundamental to our local communities and rural life. I welcome the fact that the agriculture support fund has been ring-fenced as part of the draft Executive Budget for 2025-25. I would, however, have liked to see it increase in line with inflation. Direct farm support is essential to our farming, the agriculture sector and, by extension, the Northern Ireland economy. Therefore, it is vital that this statement of intent be built upon in future financial years. One of the huge financial pressures on the Department's budget is bovine TB. Almost £56 million was spent on the control of TB in the past year, and, whilst current estimates indicate a rise in programme costs of approximately £60 million for this financial year, the current situation with respect to dealing with bovine TB in the next financial year is not only stark but, we believe, unsustainable. The veterinary service animal health group projects an increase in compensation of £14·2 million above the £32·3 million baseline, yet the Minister proposes to allocate just £3·6 million, leaving a significant shortfall of some £10·6 million. There is also a project deficit of £3 million in the Department's proactive work in reducing TB incidence. It is, therefore, clear that the current proposed allocation falls far short of what is needed to proactively tackle the disease. I urge the Finance Minister to reflect on the prospective impact of not adequately funding TB compensation or future interventions. Going forward, we must see positive action from the AERA Minister in introducing proposals to deal with what has been a long-standing issue for many years.
In these challenging financial times, with small margins and high input costs, it is imperative that the Budget supports the vitality of farm businesses and promotes profitable and productive agriculture. The increase in employers' National Insurance contributions will have a huge financial bearing on our farm businesses in terms of their labour costs. Coupled with the inheritance tax proposals, that has the potential to be the end of the road for many farm businesses, yet I do not see in the Budget any mitigating measures to help farm businesses absorb the extra National Insurance costs. It is therefore vital that the Finance Minister leaves no stone unturned in making the case for the Treasury to fully fund those costs and that he continues to lobby for the reversal of the proposed change in inheritance tax. As a member of the Public Accounts Committee, I will turn to public services for a moment. Although investment in public services is vital, so is ensuring that projects are delivered on time and within budget. Perhaps the parties that relentlessly call for the devolution of further fiscal powers should focus their attention on tackling some of the preventable waste in the system. The scale of financial mismanagement in the Northern Ireland Civil Service is deeply concerning. The recent revelation of a £2·45 billion overspend on major capital projects raises serious questions about oversight, accountability and the responsible use of taxpayers' money. It is clear that accountability mechanisms are wholly inadequate: the Northern Ireland Civil Service board does not have proper oversight. Moreover, there is long-standing concern that Committees are not provided with sufficiently detailed information in adequate time for scrutiny or, indeed, with the presence of officials to analyse Departments' bids, expenditure and future spending. In particular, Departments ought to provide briefings on bids for monitoring rounds no later than seven days following their submissions to the Department of Finance, as stipulated in legislation. Those issues must be adequately dealt with because, given all the pressures in all the Departments, we cannot continue to sustain such exorbitant overspends. We will therefore continue to scrutinise the issues to make sure that budget is spent in the most efficient and effective way.

693 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

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