Paul Carlisle
Clerk to the Committee for
Agriculture and Rural Development
Parliament Buildings
Stormont
Belfast
BT4 3XX
Joe Cassells
Departmental Assembly Liaison Officer
Department of Agriculture and
Rural Development
Room 509
Dundonald House
Belfast
BT4 3SB
3 December 2008
Dear Joe
Financial Outturns
I refer to your letter dated 2 December 2008 in respect to the above.
I note that the Department intends to issue returns that will be consistent with the data provided to DFP every month and that this will commence by the 11 th December 2008.
I would advise that I have had a number of conversations with the Department’s Finance Division on this matter, most recently on 17 October 2008 following a presentation on the work of the Committee to officers from that Division. It was agreed then that the returns consistent with those submitted to DFP would not meet with the requirements of the Committee and that something more closely aligned with the strategic finance papers submitted to the Departmental Board on a monthly basis would be more appropriate. In addition, it was also agreed that said papers would be backdated from September 2008.
As you will be aware, the Committee raised a query at the meeting of 2 December 2008 in respect of the absence of any reduced requirements in the provisional December Monitoring Return. The Committee has also been critical of the levels of underspend identified previously in the Provisional Outturn. I would ask, therefore, that the papers, previously agreed by myself, on behalf of the Committee and Finance Division are forwarded through my office as soon as possible to allow the Committee to undertake appropriate scrutiny of the departmental budgets in the lead-up to the end of the financial year.
Yours sincerely