Statement
My right honourable friend the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland (Shaun Woodward) has made the following Ministerial Statement.
Subject to parliamentary approval, the Northern Ireland Office (NIO) will be taking a 2008-09 spring supplementary estimate. This will increase the NIO’s net cash requirement by £1,387,681,000 from £11,546,811,000 to £12,934,492,000. £1,285,000,000 of the increase relates to request for resources 2 in respect of the Northern Ireland Consolidated Fund. Given the estimated date of parliamentary approval for 2008-09 spring supplementary estimates, the Northern Ireland block requires an advance from the Contingencies Fund to meet urgent cash requirements in advance of Parliament’s approval for public expenditure commitments that cannot be deferred.
Parliamentary approval for additional resources of £340,309,000 will be sought in a supplementary estimate for the Northern Ireland Office. Pending that approval, urgent expenditure estimated at £340,309,000 will be met by repayable cash advances from the Contingencies Fund.