Friday 26 January 2001
Written Answers to Questions (Continued)

Mr Savage asked the Minister of Finance and Personnel to give his assessment of EU funding to Northern Ireland, currently retained by the Treasury under the Barnett formula.

(AQW 1235/00)

Mr Durkan: The Barnett formula allocates Northern Ireland it’s population share of changes in planned spending on comparable programmes in England. No funds allocated to Northern Ireland by the EU are retained by HM Treasury under the Barnett formula. These EU funds are additional to any allocations determined by the Barnett formula. Indeed much of these EU funds are ‘ring-fenced’ and cannot be used for any other purpose.

Mr Hilditch asked the Minister of Finance and Personnel to detail the total cost of each of the six North/South bodies since 2 December 1999 and how much was spent by these bodies during the period when the Assembly was suspended.

(AQW 1243/00)

Mr Durkan: The North/South Implementation Bodies are currently in the process of preparing their accounts for 2000 which, subject to audit, will be available to the Assembly in due course. These accounts will cover a thirteen-month period including December 1999.

Unfortunately, I am unable to provide you with the amount spent by the bodies during the period the Assembly was suspended as it is not possible to disaggregate these accounts without incurring disproportionate costs.

Mr Hilditch asked the Minister of Finance and Personnel if, following the discovery of an error when calculating the penny products that affected the year 1997/98, he will outline the measures being taken to ensure the Rate Collection Agency can provide a quality service to Local Government.

(AQW 1244/00)

Mr Durkan: The Rate Collection Agency accounts for rate income and discharges and provides financial information to enable each district council to determine a district rate. The agency also calculates and advises each district council of the amount of rate revenue due for each financial year. The amount of district rates paid over by the agency to district councils is based on a complex formula and the error affected this calculation.

The error originated in 1995 when a new public category of data was created in the agency’s database but only affected payments of rate revenue to district councils for 1997/98 and 1998/99. It appears that the appropriateness of this data set was never questioned regarding penny product calculations until new and more robust checking arrangements were introduced by the agency during 2000.

The agency very much regret the error and the chief executive has assured me that the robust checking arrangements which detected this error will continue to operate to ensure the accuracy of penny product calculations in the future.

The agency is very much committed to continuous improvement and providing a quality service to all its customers. This commitment is publicly stated in the agency corporate and business plans and annual reports. The agency’s annual report, which is submitted to the Assembly, sets out performance against key targets, including quality of service.

The chief executive has overall operational responsibility for the day to day management of the agency and has established a system of internal control to provide assurance on the efficient, effective and economic operation of its business activities. The system of internal control is based on a framework of regular management information, administrative procedures including segregation of duties and a system of delegation and accountability.

The Department’s internal audit unit conducts independent reviews of the Agency based on an analysis of the risk to which the Agency is exposed. The head of internal audit provides regular reports on internal audit activity in the Agency including his professional opinion on the adequacy and effectiveness of the system of internal control. The Northern Ireland Audit Office also conduct annual audits of the agency’s financial statements.

The agency and I appreciate the importance of the penny product information in terms of the councils’ financial planning process. The chief executive has assured me that he has taken a personal lead in ensuring that effective systems of control are in place and that the Agency will in future ensure that accurate penny product information is provided to councils in early November each year.

Mrs I Robinson asked the Minister of Finance and Personnel pursuant to AQW 907/00 to detail; (a) the solicitors and barristers acting on behalf of the Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety; (b) their fees; (c) the total cost of this case to the Department, and; (d) the total cost in respect of the previous ruling on the Minister’s decision regarding maternity services.

(AQW 1252/00)

Mr Durkan: The information requested is as follows:-

(a) The solicitors acting on behalf of the Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety in the high court litigation referred to in AQW 907/00 are the Crown Solicitor’s Office, instructed by the Departmental Solicitor’s Office. The barristers are Mr Ronnie Weatherup QC and Mr Bernard McCloskey QC.

(b) The fees of the Crown Solicitor’s Office and Counsel are not known at this stage.

(c) The solicitors and barristers for the applicant in this case have not yet submitted a note of their fees. At present, therefore, the total cost of the case to the Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety in respect of legal representation is not known.

(d) The total cost of legal representation in the application by Clare Angela Buick for judicial review of the decision by the then Minister, Mr Anthony Worthington MP, regarding maternity services was £63,081.23.

Mrs I Robinson asked the Minister of Finance and Personnel to detail; (a) the amount surrendered to the Consolidated Fund as a result of house sales by the Housing Executive; (b) if the Department for Social Development was re-imbursed in any way, and; (c) his policy to ensure that moneys generated by Departments are kept within those Departments.

(AQW 1256/00)

Mr Durkan: Additional receipts totalling £48 million, which were generated by the house sales programme during 2000/01, were surrendered by the Department for Social Development in in-year monitoring rounds to be reallocated by the Executive.

Approximately £2·5 million was allocated to the Department for Social Development in in-year monitoring rounds to compensate it for the loss of rental income resulting from the house sales programme.

Receipts from house sales need to be looked at in relation to the most pressing needs across the public sector, including housing pressures, and not linked automatically to any particular area or the Department in which they arise. As not all Departments generate receipts, it could skew the allocation of resources if all receipts were simply retained within programmes.

Dr O’Hagan asked the Minister of Finance and Personnel to list the administrative data sets held by the Department and its agencies and detail whether these data sets provide qualitative data at enumeration district, electoral ward level, by district council area or by parliamentary constituency.

(AQW 1259/00)

Mr Durkan: The information requested is as follows:

Mr Paisley Jnr asked the Minister of Finance and Personnel if he has made representations to the Chancellor of the Exchequer to take account of the remoteness and low population in Northern Ireland when calculating the fixed rate of the proposed aggregates tax and if he will make a statement.

(AQW 1266/00)

Mr Durkan: I am acutely aware of the profound impact, which the aggregates tax will have on the quarrying industry and the local economy. I met the quarry products association (QPA) on 29 November to hear their concerns, and I have taken careful heed of the motion passed by the Assembly on 12 December. I have now received further information from other Departments and the QPA about the implications of the tax and consider the time is now right to raise the issue with the Treasury.

I have been liaising closely with the First Minister and the Deputy First Minister on this matter. They will be raising the issue when they meet the Chancellor on 24 January. We will make further representations in the light of the response received at this meeting.

Mr Dodds asked the Minister of Finance and Personnel to detail the average rates bill in the last financial year for; (a) domestic ratepayers, and; (b) non-domestic rate payers in each district council area.

(AQW 1295/00)

Mr Durkan: I attach two tables, which provide details of the average rates bill for 1999/2000 for; (a) domestic ratepayers, and; (b) non-domestic ratepayers in each district council area.

Mr Dodds asked the Minister of Finance and Personnel to detail the increase in; (a) monetary terms and; (b) percentage terms for administration revenue costs across all Departments for next year.

(AQW 1298/00)

Mr Durkan: The increases in departmental running costs (DRC) next year are detailed in the table below. These exclude DRC which is specific to administering welfare to work programmes.