Public Finance

Losing confidence in the civil service: Public Finance

 
Poor planning by Northern Ireland’s Department of Finance and Personnel delayed three major projects within the civil service reform programme, leading to extra costs, an interim report from the Northern Ireland Assembly’s Public Accounts Committee has concluded. It doubts whether DFP will be able to fully implement the £3bn Reform Agenda.
 
Paul Maskey MLA, chair of [...]

Northern Ireland’s £1bn problem: Public Finance

 
Northern Ireland government departments face a £1bn revenue shortfall – 10% of their annual spend - finance minister Nigel Dodds admitted to the Northern Ireland Assembly.
 
Dodds said that the worsening UK economy meant that the Northern Ireland Executive expected to receive a reduced block grant from the Treasury. It also faces spending demands not budgeted [...]

Belfast rapid transit gets approval: Public Finance

 
The go-ahead for a rapid transit system for Belfast and a £43.5m allocation for a Titanic Museum have been agreed by the Northern Ireland Executive.
 
Following research into alternative tram and bus schemes, the Executive approved the establishment of a bus scheme that will use dedicated roadways for much of its length, linking the city centre [...]

PFI office rent programme delayed: Public Finance

 
The sale and leaseback of 65 government offices that was to have taken place under the Workplace 2010 programme has been suspended, Northern Ireland’s finance minister Nigel Dodds has announced. The PFI project will not now be procured until next year, at the earliest.
 
A statement by the Department of Finance and Personnel claimed that the [...]

A Place in the Sun?: Public Finance

As the global financial crisis deepens, public sector pension schemes are facing a double whammy. Not only are they suffering from falling share values, but there are increasing calls for their ‘generous’ retirement benefits to be curtailed. Paul Gosling investigates
Public sector pensions make a surprising topic for newspaper headlines, but they have increasingly grabbed them [...]

Coming to the crunch: Public Finance

The crisis in the markets has left a trail of financial giants in tatters. Public services, especially those with Icelandic investments, are feeling the strain. Paul Gosling reports on how the sector is preparing for the worst
‘Never send to find for whom the bell tolls, it tolls for thee.’ John Donne’s lament for the passing [...]

Efficiency targets threaten health service jobs: Public Finance

Around 2,000 health service jobs will be lost in Northern Ireland in the next three years as part of efficiency savings, Health Minister Michael McGimpsey has said.
The cuts are likely to include 700 nursing posts, 900 administrative jobs and 450 posts in social services, although there are unlikely to be redundancies, McGimpsey told the Assembly’s [...]

Reasons to be optimistic - a profile of Nigel Dodds: Public Finance

The sun was, for once, shining on Stormont Parliament at the end of a very wet Northern Irish summer. The omens seemed good for the crisis meeting between First Minister Peter Robinson, Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness and their leading colleagues in the Democratic Unionist and Sinn Fein parties, as they attempted to resolve an [...]

NI health takes legal services back in-house: Public Finance

Legal services for Northern Ireland’s health bodies taken back in-house
Legal services provided to health bodies in Northern Ireland are being brought in-house as part of the fallout from a massive fraud committed by a firm of solicitors against the Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety.
A report from the Northern Ireland Audit Office, published [...]

NI Water ordered to clean up its act: Public Finance

NI Water ordered to clean up its act
Northern Ireland’s government-owned water company, NI Water, has been ordered by the utility regulator to improve its business planning and corporate governance, following errors predicted to cause an annual £20m shortfall in income.
An investigation by the Northern Ireland Authority for Utility Regulation followed disclosure of the mistake in [...]