Debate contribution: Northern Ireland Fiscal Council Bill: Second Stage

Debate contribution by Ms Diane Forsythe on 1 July 2025.

MLA

Ms Diane Forsythe

Party at the time

Democratic Unionist Party

Date

1 July 2025

Type

Debate contribution

Business

Executive Committee Business

Heading

Northern Ireland Fiscal Council Bill: Second Stage

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 5061239

Read the official Assembly record

Text

We welcome the Bill to underpin the Fiscal Council's work on a statutory basis. The DUP has been a consistent voice when it comes to the need to transform Northern Ireland's public finances. In particular, we continue to lead calls for a fairer fiscal framework underpinned by Treasury funding that meets the objective need of our vital front-line services. As I am an accountant, my trained thinking takes me straight into the analysis of finances. As well as getting stuck into the detail of the numbers, I really value truly independent analysis, critique and evaluation of financial processes and systems. In Northern Ireland, where do you go for that? It has to be the Northern Ireland Fiscal Council. We have a range of sources, including university analysts, think tanks, departmental reviews and audits. Those all serve a purpose, but they have different perspectives, whereas the Fiscal Council offers independence that is needed and invaluable. The statutory grounding of the Northern Ireland Fiscal Council will further bolster its ability to carry out independent scrutiny of our financial situation. At a time of economic uncertainty and unprecedented pressures facing our public service delivery, having a legally binding oversight body should help in our efforts to place our finances on a steady footing and spearhead reform and transformation. There is nothing more important to taxpayers than transparency and accountability when it comes to our public money. To date, the Fiscal Council has demonstrated its positive impact in improving transparency, scrutiny and understanding of our public finances. Its range of reports far exceeds what it is required to do, as the Minister outlined. Just last week, the Fiscal Council reported that Northern Ireland Water's funding model is neither fit for purpose nor sustainable. That shows the ability of the council to scrutinise across departmental remits and address the uncomfortable truths that hamper our collective ability to deliver for households, communities and the economy. Its challenge function is vital. The Fiscal Council has helped us to gain a better understanding of our public finances, as well as establishing an independent and credible evidence base to inform our discussions with the Government, wherein we champion the case for Northern Ireland being funded according to need and our finances being put on a sustainable footing. The critical value of the Fiscal Council is its independence. Financial reviews, opinions, presentations or bids that come from within government are shaped by a particular perspective. If the Department of Finance presents a position, it can be perceived as its view, its Minister's view or even a party political view. That is why we need to ensure that the independence of the Fiscal Council is paramount. On clause 5 and the ability of the Department to amend the scope and functions of the council, we will seek clarity and assurance that the independence of the Fiscal Council will be maintained and strengthened as an outworking of the Bill. There can be no prospect of the body being used as a vehicle for pushing particular political agendas. That is particularly relevant to the flawed arguments put forward by the Opposition and others on fiscal devolution. The Bill mentions that there may be additional funding requirements for the operation of the council, once it is placed on a statutory footing. It will be important that the Assembly is consulted on any additional funding that the council will need and the benefits that that will bring to our public purse in return. We need to maintain scrutiny and ensure governance over all of our funded public bodies. We must never write a blank cheque for any part of our public services without approved proposals or business cases that define what will be achieved by the additional funding. We must always work to ensure that the best value for money is achieved for taxpayers in Northern Ireland. The Fiscal Council reports that Northern Ireland's finances could be on a cliff edge in the near future. With that in mind, it is vital that the council is given the scope that it needs to drill down into our public finance and highlight the areas in which efficiencies could be made by doing things differently. We have all spoken at length in the Chamber on multiple occasions about the huge financial pressures in delivering public services in Northern Ireland. We need to ensure that effective financial scrutiny occurs at every level. The role that the Northern Ireland Fiscal Council plays in all that is so important.

We welcome the Bill underpinning the Fiscal Council's work on a statutory basis and will work through the details of the issues highlighted to ensure that safeguards are in place and that the council achieves the status that it should. Public-sector finances underpin all that we do here. Independence and scrutiny are critical, and I thank the Northern Ireland Fiscal Council for its professionalism and its work to date. I look forward to progressing the Bill.

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

Assessment

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Assessed 21 October 2026 at 12:58 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.

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