Question to the Northern Ireland Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have for the process of future budgetary allocations to departments of the Northern Ireland Executive.

In the absence of functioning devolved institutions, the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland has intervened to set a Northern Ireland budget for the 2023-24 financial year, which he did on 27 April in his statement to Parliament. It will be for the relevant Northern Ireland Executive departments to manage their funding within their budget allocations. The UK Government has introduced the Northern Ireland (Interim Arrangements) Bill to ensure ongoing governance, should Northern Ireland remain without Executive Ministers beyond 5 June.

It remains the UK Government’s firm view that the right people to make these decisions and set a budget are locally elected politicians in a fully functioning Northern Ireland Executive and Northern Ireland Assembly.