Debate contribution: Administrative and Financial Provisions 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

Administrative and Financial Provisions Bill: Extension of Committee Stage

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 5142893

Read the official Assembly record

Text

The Committee welcomes the Administrative and Financial Provisions Bill. Such Bills come along once in a while, but we have not had one here for more than a decade. For that reason, this is a more substantial one than most. The Committee sees the proposed new date of 27 March 2026 to end the Committee Stage as a limit rather than a target, as we did with the Fiscal Council Bill. We aim to complete our report on the Administrative and Financial Provisions Bill without any undue delay prior to that date. I will not go through the provisions of the Bill beyond noting that, as I have just said, financial provisions Bills, which deal with administrative matters or give Departments powers to spend money or levy fees in certain ways, come along at semi-regular intervals to deal with routine financial matters that require amendment to governing legislation. During debates on Estimates documents, many of you will have heard complaints about the use of the black box, which is a device to use Budget Acts to authorise spending where no free-standing legislative provision exists. These Bills are designed to tidy up those anomalies and to minimise the use of what is called the "sole authority" of the Budget Act. In developing the Bill, the Department of Finance sought inputs from other Departments. A number of Departments indicated miscellaneous administrative matters that they wished to have included in the Bill. Therefore, the Bill gives effect — this is where it is different from the Fiscal Council Bill — to policy proposals from DAERA, DFC, DFE, DFI, TEO and DE, as well as policy proposals from DOF itself. The Bill was introduced in the Assembly on Monday 23 June 2025. It completed its Second Stage, as with the Fiscal Council Bill, on Tuesday 1 July 2025 and moved to Committee Stage on 2 July 2025, just before recess. I will not read Standing Order 33(2) into the record again, because I did it for the Fiscal Council Bill and I am sure that Members can refer back to what Standing Orders say about Committee extensions. As I said, however, without extending this Committee Stage too, it would end next Tuesday, 7 October, and we would not have enough time to scrutinise the Bill in detail. We would have to forgo oral evidence sessions, and neither I nor the Committee thinks that we would have sufficient time to scrutinise all of the substantial measures in the Bill. Many are technical, but they still require further detailed scrutiny, while some are not that technical. Not seeking an extension to Committee Stage would, quite possibly, result in criticism of the Committee and, indeed, the broader Assembly for not sufficiently scrutinising the Bill. It has already become apparent to the Committee that the clause that deals with the transfer of the procurement and management of external auditors for the Audit Office from the Department of Finance to the Assembly's Audit Committee is a subject of live dispute between the Audit Committee and the Department of Finance. That is just one issue on which further evidence needs to be taken. We need to understand exactly the appropriateness of that power. The Audit Committee does not believe that it has the capacity or, indeed, the vires to undertake that role — the Bill would give it the vires — while the Department believes that the Audit Committee does or should have the capacity. The Audit Committee has sought legal advice on the matter, and the Committee for Finance will do the same. Part of the purpose of our extended Committee Stage will be to allow us to consider that advice and work towards a resolution. Additionally, the extension will allow the Committee to deal with any issues raised by other Committees. We have written to all of the other relevant Statutory Committees to ask them for their views on the issues raised by the Administrative and Financial Provisions Bill. As with the Fiscal Council Bill, an extension would recognise the Halloween and Christmas recesses and the Committee's broader work programme, which includes the Fiscal Council Bill; Budget scrutiny, including, we hope, a multi-year Budget; and work on Civil Service reform; as well as all the ongoing other work that Statutory Committees have to deal with. We have a busy schedule. I listed the calculations for Bill scrutiny that Committees include in their schedule in the previous motion, so I will not list them all again. While requesting that the Assembly supports the extension, however, the Committee asks that Members give us the flexibility that we need to discharge our statutory scrutiny role in respect of the Bill. At our meeting on 7 September, the Committee agreed the motion to extend Committee Stage. We believe that it is necessary, but I reiterate and underline that the extension date is a deadline and a limit rather than a target. As Chair, I am very much committed to that. The Committee commends the motion and asks the House to approve it. I will now make a couple of brief comments in a party capacity. The Administrative and Financial Provisions Bill is extremely important. We passed it at Second Reading because it is important that we look at some of the powers being taken here. There is a range of things that the public will expect us to have scrutinised. I will say gently to members of other Committees that they should not expect the Finance Committee either to simply wave the Bill through or to do their job of scrutiny for them.

I will pick a few aspects out of the Bill. The Minister happens to be in the Chamber for another item of business, but I am not going to ask her to respond. The Bill, however, gives her Department the power to grade tourist facilities and to levy certain charges on tourism providers for training. It gives TEO sweeping powers to spend money to end violence against women and girls. That is a huge and important subject, but we need to understand what those powers are. The Bill contains powers to address housing association fraud. It also gives the Department for Infrastructure the power to levy charges on SmartPasses, which is somewhat interesting for Members and people who are over the age of 60. Those are really big powers, so it is really important that we scrutinise them. We know that we have had a lot of people criticise the Assembly's capacity and ability to scrutinise — I say that diplomatically — so we need to get this one right. I therefore say gently to members of all Committees and Members from all parties that the Bill needs to be scrutinised properly and that it is not just the Committee for Finance's job to do so. I beg the indulgence of the Speaker to make that point. I ask the Assembly to pass the motion.

1,156 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

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