Secretary of State writes to Northern Ireland Civil Service on revenue raising measures

Northern Ireland Secretary of State Chris Heaton-Harris has written to the Permanent Secretaries of the NI Civil Service departments to ask for information on revenue-raising measures.

These measures include domestic water charges, prescription charges and tuition fees.

The move comes during a difficult period for finances in Northern Ireland, with most government departments here facing cuts.

Senior civil servants are currently running public services in NI in the absence of devolution.

They have estimated that Stormont departments need hundreds of millions of pounds in extra funding to maintain public services at their current level this year.

And many more millions are needed to settle a series of public sector pay disputes.

The permanent secretaries have been asked to provide information to the secretary of state on how measures could help raise revenues.

The Secretary of State says this is "to help to make the budget more sustainable and to ensure public services in NI are affordable on an ongoing basis".

Mr Heaton-Harris said public finances were not sustainable and that, in the absence of an Executive, the UK Government had to take measures themselves.

The Secretary of State also repeated his calls for the restoration of the Executive, saying that decisions on revenue-raising measures should be made by devolved government.

"I remain firmly of the view that the right people to take these decisions are locally elected and accountable ministers sitting in a fully-functioning devolved government. 

“I once again call on the Executive to get back up and running so that they can progress much needed and long promised public service transformation and address the systemic issues that are facing public services in NI. 

“Simply spending more is not the answer to transforming NI’s public services and does not serve the best interests of the people of NI."

In the 2021 Spending Review the Government announced that the total block grant for the Northern Ireland Executive would be £15billion per year, on average, over the next three years.

Government has provided around £7bn in additional funding to Northern Ireland since 2014, on top of the Barnett-based block grant.

The government has public spending per person in NI is around 20% higher than equivalent spending in the rest of the UK.

It added: “The Secretary of State is seeking to ensure that work progresses towards a more sustainable budget position in Northern Ireland that better reflects the balance between locally generated revenue and UK Government funding that is happening across the rest of the United Kingdom.

“The Secretary of State will continue to engage with Northern Ireland Civil Service departments on the detail of their responses.

“Any final decisions for implementation should be taken by Northern Ireland’s elected leaders.”

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