Debate contribution: Administrative and Financial Provisions 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

Administrative and Financial Provisions Bill: Second Stage

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 5061839

Read the official Assembly record

Text

I beg to move

I welcome the opportunity to move the Second Stage of the Bill. As Members will be aware, financial provisions Bills are required at regular intervals to deal with miscellaneous and routine financial matters that require amendments to governing legislation. It is on that basis that I present the Bill today. It has been 11 years since the previous Financial Provisions Bill, and many matters need to be resolved. In developing the Bill, I received several requests that it include some additional miscellaneous administrative matters. As there is no alternative or timely legislative vehicle to address those issues, I have agreed to accommodate them in the Bill. Hence, the Bill is the "Administrative and Financial Provisions Bill". The Bill has three broad sections: powers, fees and financial governance. I will take each in turn. Clauses 1 to 14 provide new powers to five Departments: the Department of Finance, the Department for the Economy, the Executive Office, the Department of Education and the Department for Communities. First, my Department seeks clause 1 to provide it with the statutory authority to issue loans to the Investment Fund. As Members will be aware, my Department is the policy lead for the Investment Fund. However, it does not have the power to make loans and has relied on TEO and the Strategic Investment Board (SIB) to make them. Clause 1 will address the legislative gap, and full responsibility for the Investment Fund will then transfer to my Department, thus enhancing financial governance, regularity and accountability. Clauses 2 to 5 have been requested by DFE and will provide it with additional powers in several key areas. First, clause 2 will enable the Department to provide financial assistance, such as grants, loans, guarantees or indemnities, where such action is in the interest of our economy. That will help to address concerns expressed during the COVID-19 pandemic about the Department's ability to provide such assistance. Clause 2 will also restore its power to form limited companies, which will aid the Department's flexibility in policy delivery, a further gap highlighted by the COVID response. Clause 3 allows the Department for the Economy to issue loan funding to the higher education sector, improving its ability to successfully deploy financial transactions capital (FTC) funding for capital projects in our universities and higher education institutions. Clause 4 will repeal an outdated aspect of employment and training legislation that dates back to the 1950s. That amendment will remove the requirement for Department of Finance approval for all schemes. Such approvals will, instead, be sought through the existing delegated limited procedures that are already being used successfully. Under clause 5, Tourism NI will be provided with powers to classify and grade tourist amenities beyond accommodation providers. That power is sought by the Department for the Economy to develop and strengthen the broader tourism sector.

Clauses 6 to 10 and clause 14 relate to the Executive Office. Under clause 6, TEO will be provided with the authority to provide services for victims and survivors of historical institutional abuse and other forms of institutional harm. TEO requested clause 7 because a gap in the current legislative framework exists. The new clause will enable it to coordinate integration support for asylum seekers and refugees locally, thus permitting TEO to utilise funds that have been provided to it by Whitehall Departments for those purposes. A further power that TEO requested is at clause 8. That provision will give TEO the power to arrange and facilitate opportunities for people to acquire the skills or experience that are necessary for public appointments, thereby encouraging equity, diversity and inclusion in such appointments. That will ensure that our public appointments best reflect the communities that they serve. As Members will be aware, ending violence against women and girls is a Programme for Government commitment. The Bill will support that priority through clause 9, which will give TEO the powers that are required to implement the strategic framework on ending violence against women and girls, including funding initiatives that are aligned with the aims that are set in that framework. Clause 14 amends the appointment terms for the Commissioner for Survivors of Institutional Childhood Abuse, allowing for terms of fewer than five years where appropriate. Clause 11 provides the Department of Education with the power to fund postgraduate qualifications in educational psychology. The clause will correct a legislative oversight and ensure DE's continued support for the doctorate in educational, child and adolescent psychology, which is essential for meeting statutory duties in special educational needs. Clauses 12 and 13 relate to the Department for Communities. Clause 12 enables the Housing Executive to investigate tenancy fraud on behalf of registered housing associations (RHAs) and to charge housing associations for that service. Clause 13 will transfer the responsibilities for setting the basic allowance for councillors from individual councils to the Department for Communities, ensuring consistency and fairness across local government. Clauses 15 to 17 relate to additional fee-raising powers, which were requested by the Department for the Economy, DAERA and the Department for Infrastructure. Those Departments requested those powers to safeguard the provision of public services and improve financial sustainability. Under clause 15, DFE will be permitted, in exceptional circumstances, to exempt or reduce fees that are charged by Tourism NI and to introduce new fees where appropriate. Clause 16 enhances DAERA's ability to recover costs from marine licensing services that are provided by the Department. Clause 17 permits DFI to introduce a fee for the issuing or replacing of SmartPasses under the concessionary fares scheme, thereby supporting that important scheme's long-term financial sustainability. Clauses 18 and 20 focus on financial governance. Clause 18 will provide my Department with an increased limit on advances from the Consolidated Fund. That limit is currently 2% of the previous financial year's authorised expenditure. I wish to increase that to 4%. That would be a prudent measure in order to further safeguard against the risk that the lower limit is not sufficient to ensure the continued provision of public services. Clause 19 will remove the requirement for DFE to maintain separate accounts for petroleum and mineral receipts, thus streamlining financial reporting. Clause 20 will transfer the responsibility for appointing the external auditor of the Audit Office from DOF to the Assembly's Audit Committee, thereby enhancing independence and improving governance arrangements. Members have previously raised concerns about the overuse of the sole authority of the Budget Act, which has been used to provide the legislative underpinning for various spending by Departments. I agree with Members on that. The Bill will address many of those concerns by providing Departments with the necessary legislative means under which such expenditure can be incurred. The Bill will also address other legislative gaps that have been identified. Furthermore, it will aid financial sustainability, strengthen financial governance and improve accountability. It is for those reasons that I have brought the Bill to the House today. I commend the Bill to the House and urge Members to support its Second Stage passage.

1,168 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Assessment

Not flagged

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Assessed 21 October 2026 at 13:06 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.

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