MPs set out funding solutions to help solve Northern Ireland public service crisis

• Report: Funding and delivery of public services follow up
• Inquiry: Funding and delivery of public services: follow up
• Northern Ireland Affairs Committee

The report from the cross-party Northern Ireland Affairs Committee highlights how the health service, schools and criminal justice system are facing particular pressures, partly because of the legacy of the recent past, with poor public services stifling Northern Ireland’s ability to invest in skills, infrastructure and grow its economy.

While the current needs-based element of funding means that since the restoration of the Executive, Northern Ireland has received 124% of any increase in funding for England - in part due to comparatively widespread poverty, greater disadvantage and a higher proportion of the people being in receipt of benefits - the Committee highlights evidence that such a figure will not be enough to make a significant difference to public services in the short term.

The Committee therefore calls on the Government to ensure that Northern Ireland’s next Block Grant baseline, from 2026–27 onwards, is calculated according to NI’s level of need.

The report also calls on the Government to provide stable and sustainable multi-year funding as part of future settlements to enable the Northern Ireland Executive to properly plan public services transformation in the medium term. The Committee does note, however, that money currently earmarked for transformation has been diverted to day-to-day spending.

In the longer term, the Committee calls on both the Government and Executive to agree a route map to further fiscal devolution to reduce Northern Ireland’s reliance on central government funding and give it the ability to raise more revenue itself.

Chair comment

Tonia Antoniazzi MP, Chair of the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee, said:

“The crisis afflicting public services in Northern Ireland has gone on for far too long with the crippling effects of underfunding impinging on the day to day lives of people across communities.

"The current hand to mouth approach when it comes to funding has often been too little, too late, particularly when it comes to what one witness to our inquiry called the three hungry children of the health service, schools and the police.

"The aim must be that public services in Northern Ireland are fully funded according to need, through stable, sustainable and predictable allocations, and our recommendations for the short, medium and long term set out the path to get there.”

Main findings and recommendations

The state of public services in Northern Ireland

Health

• Witnesses to the inquiry told the committee that of all Northern Ireland’s public services, there is particular pressure on the health service, with long waiting lists, a struggling primary care sector and an acute mental health situation, in part due to Northern Ireland’s recent history.

Education

• Lack of funding for children with special educational needs, a discrepancy in spend between pupils in Northern Ireland compared with the rest of the UK and a schools maintenance backlog were all highlighted in evidence to the inquiry.

Police and justice

• Policing and justice continue to operate under budgetary constraints, while dealing directly with the legacy of Northern Ireland’s recent past.

Other sectors

• The Committee also heard concerns about funding in the infrastructure, childcare, housing and skill sectors.

The needs-based assessment

• The Committee welcomes the independent assessment of need in Northern Ireland being undertaken by Professor Gerald Holtham and says the Government must engage constructively with the conclusions when deciding on future levels of, and mechanisms for, needs-based funding.
• The Government should backdate assessed need to the start of the 2021 Spending Review period, in order to include it in the Block Grant baseline figure for the next Spending Review period.

Transformation and reform

• The Executive, public service providers and, most importantly, service users need longer-term funding settlements to enable better long-term planning, implementation and outcomes.
• The Government must provide stable, sustainable, multi-year funding as part of future budget settlements, to enable the Northern Ireland Executive and service providers to plan for long-term public services transformation.

Raising revenue

• While easier said than done, in the longer term one way in which Northern Ireland could reduce its reliance on the vagaries of the Block Grant, Barnett formula and short-term funding would be to raise more revenue itself.
• As a matter of urgency, the Government and Executive should agree a final Fiscal Framework which includes a route map to potential further fiscal devolution — to improve Northern Ireland's public services and the daily lives of all the people of Northern Ireland.

Further information

• About Parliament: Select committees
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