Debate contribution: Northern Ireland Fiscal Council Bill: Second Stage

Debate contribution by Mr John O'Dowd on 1 July 2025.

MLA

Mr John O'Dowd

Party at the time

Sinn Féin

Date

1 July 2025

Type

Debate contribution (made as a minister)

Business

Executive Committee Business

Heading

Northern Ireland Fiscal Council Bill: Second Stage

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 5061211

Read the official Assembly record

Text

I beg to move

Go raibh maith agat, a Phríomh-LeasCheann Comhairle.

I welcome the opportunity to move the Second Stage of the Fiscal Council Bill and open the debate on this important legislation. Members will be aware that the Executive agreed to the formation of the Fiscal Council in March 2021, when it was established as a non-statutory body. That followed a commitment in 'New Decade, New Approach' to set up a body to bring greater transparency and independent scrutiny to the current and future state of our public finances. I am sure that Members will agree that, since its establishment, the Fiscal Council has made a significant impact in improving the transparency, scrutiny and understanding of our public finances. Its work has also been hugely impactful in supporting my predecessor's negotiations with the Treasury last year to agree the interim fiscal framework, which we built on in further negotiations with Treasury, ahead of the spending review earlier this month. The Fiscal Council Bill, which, I hope, will gain the support of Members, will establish the body on a statutory basis and provide a legislative framework to underpin its work. That is in line with international best practice for fiscal institutions. The Bill will safeguard its independence, as well as ensure its continued access to information, both of which are vital to its role. I will now consider the Bill's provisions in more detail. The Bill will put the council into statute as a body corporate. The council will initially be established based on the nine broad principles that were recommended by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) for independent fiscal organisations. Those principles have been taken into account in the Bill. The functions in the Bill provide the council with a very broad remit to assess and comment on our public finances and their sustainability. In line with the OECD principles, it will be for the council to determine its own work programme within that mandate. However, the Bill requires the council to publish a budget assessment report and a fiscal sustainability report each year. In addition, the council can publish other reports as it considers appropriate. The legislation provides the flexibility that, should the council wish to examine areas of public finance beyond those referenced in the Bill, it is able to do so. Like with other independent fiscal institutions, the role of the Fiscal Council is expected to expand in time, and the Bill allows for that. Non-partisanship and independence are prerequisites for a successful independent fiscal institution. The Bill, therefore, has been drafted to provide the council with discretion to present its analysis with objectivity and free from the direction and control of others, including from a political perspective. That safeguards the operational independence of the council, which is one of the nine OECD principles.

Another important aspect of the independent fiscal institution is the clear separation between analysis, which is the role of the Fiscal Council, and policymaking, which is the responsibility of Ministers and their Departments. The Bill is clear on that distinction. While the council chair and members have indicated that they receive the information they need from Departments to perform their functions, the Bill will place a duty to guarantee in legislation the council's right of access to government information in the timely manner required for its purposes. To ensure transparency, the Bill requires the council to publish all the documents that it produces. The council already does that, having published over 20 reports since its formation four years ago. That will continue to build trust and credibility with the public, alongside informing the wider debate on public finances. The Bill also sets out the details of the membership, staffing and other operational matters of the council, including arrangements for evaluation of its work. That concludes the detail of the Bill, and I look forward to the Chair and the wider Committee's input and, indeed, input from other Members on this important legislation.

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

Assessment

Not flagged

Jev’s structured answers

Assessed 21 October 2026 at 12:57 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.

Disagree with this assessment?

Classifications can be challenged. A person reads every challenge, and any change is recorded publicly above with its reason.

Challenge this classification