Debate contribution: Northern Ireland Fiscal Council Bill: Extension of Committee Stage

Debate contribution by Mr Matthew O'Toole on 30 September 2025.

MLA

Mr Matthew O'Toole

Party at the time

Social Democratic and Labour Party

Date

30 September 2025

Type

Debate contribution

Business

Committee Business

Heading

Northern Ireland Fiscal Council Bill: Extension of Committee Stage

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 5142876

Read the official Assembly record

Text

The Committee welcomes the fact that the Bill has been published, as we did when it was introduced and at Second Stage. In tabling the motion, the Committee sees the new date of 27 March 2026 as a limit rather than a target, and I underline that point for both Bills that we will discuss. I am keen for the Committee not only to do its scrutiny rigorously and to have the time to do that but to do it expeditiously. The Committee aims to complete its report on the Bill without any undue delay prior to that date. I will not set out the provisions of the Bill, beyond noting that the Northern Ireland Fiscal Council was established on a non-statutory basis in March 2021 as part of the New Decade, New Approach agreement. The rationale behind the council is that it:

"bring greater transparency and independent scrutiny to the current and future state of"

our public finances. It was:

"established based on the nine broad principles recommended by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development ... for Independent Fiscal Organisations. In accordance with these principles and in line with international best practice, the [NI] Fiscal Council Bill ... now establishes the Council on a statutory basis and provides a legislative framework to underpin its work."

The Bill was introduced to the Assembly on 23 June 2025. It completed Second Stage on Tuesday 1 July, with the Committee Stage beginning the day after, on Wednesday 2 July, immediately prior to the summer recess. As Members are aware, Standing Order 33(2) states:

"A statutory committee to which a Bill stands referred under this order, may, within the period of 30 working days from the date of referral, consider and take evidence on the provisions of the Bill, and report its opinion thereon to the Assembly."

Without an extension to the Committee Stage of the Fiscal Council Bill, the last day of Committee Stage will be Tuesday 7 October. That is next Tuesday, when the Committee would be required to lay its report on the Bill. To meet that deadline, the Committee would be likely to have to forgo the appropriate level of scrutiny of the Bill, which may well result in the Committee receiving criticism for not sufficiently scrutinising the Bill. On the establishment of the Northern Ireland Fiscal Council in 2021, its chair and members developed a communications and engagement plan to clearly articulate the remit of the Fiscal Council and engage with relevant stakeholders, including through consultations with the Minister of Finance, the Finance Committee, other Members of the Assembly, government officials and economic commentators. The council had its third or fourth — I do not know which — annual conference the week before last. I encourage any Members who want to attend one of those conferences to get in touch. There will not be another one for some time, obviously, but it is doing good work in communicating its work and its role. As the policy consultation carried out by the Fiscal Council was extensive, no further consultation was carried out. It is imperative, therefore, that key stakeholders be approached to give evidence on the Bill. The stakeholders are time-constrained individuals and organisations, so the Committee must offer them a level of flexibility in giving evidence and appearing in front of it. That represents a certain risk, as the Committee must have scope to consider responses to the call for evidence, and there may be a need to call further witnesses. Additionally, to allow the Committee to deal with any issues raised, the extension to the Committee Stage must recognise the Halloween and Christmas recesses. It is also important to reflect the Committee's wider work programme, which includes, we hope, scrutiny of the first multi-year Budget in a decade and supporting other Committees in their scrutiny of the five-year business plans; the Administrative and Financial Provisions Bill, which we will talk about next; an inquiry into Civil Service reform; and several other bits of pressing scrutiny. The calculation of a Bill's scrutiny timetable generally includes an eight-week call for evidence with, hopefully, written submissions and survey responses being received and a number of in-person evidence sessions at Committee meetings. Sufficient time needs to be built into the timetable, particularly given issues that may arise in oral evidence that require further investigation. As well as thorough consideration of the Bill, the other business of the Committee needs to be progressed in a timely manner. Members will be aware that the Committee will be scrutinising simultaneously the Administrative and Financial Provisions Bill, so, by requesting that the Assembly support the extension, the Committee is asking that Members give the Committee the flexibility that we need to discharge our statutory scrutiny role with respect to the Bill. At its meeting on 17 September, the Committee agreed the motion to extend the Committee Stage along with a revised Committee timetable. We believe that the extension is necessary in order to give the Bill the time and scrutiny that it deserves, but I underline that, in my role as Committee Chair, I am strongly of the view that it is a limit, not a target. Rather than seeking any further extension, I do not expect or want to come anywhere near the Chamber again to do anything but debate amendments. We commend the motion to the House and seek Members' approval.

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

Assessment

Not flagged

Jev’s structured answers

Assessed 21 October 2026 at 13:16 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