Speeches by Anderson.

“The UK Government will agree this detailed methodology again as well, so what the Fiscal Council will be looking at, as well as the multiple credible sources. We are receiving multiple credible sources all the time for different factors. It is up to the Fiscal Council to say whether, in its judgment, it considers them …”

“To be clear, the Northern Ireland Executive are receiving 124%, according to their level of need, for the next two years. We are now into negotiations for the future. They are not going to only reach it in 10 years’ time. They are receiving it.”

“I hope that there will be multi-year budgets. I agree with you. I know from my own council and from also speaking to so many community groups across Northern Ireland that multi-year funding is needed. It is needed for certainty and the ability to plan departmental budgets into the future. It is also needed to be able t…”

“There are always going to be changes within the year. I do not want to give any impression that we are blasé. I know the enormous mountain that the Northern Ireland Executive have to climb. I know the challenges within each departmental budget and across the budget that there are. I am in no way blasé about that.”

“There is absolutely recognition of that pressure and an understanding of the challenges we face. Our main message is not, “You have lots of money. Get on with it”. The main message is, “There are tough decisions to be made. It is a difficult climate, but do not let that stop transformation”. That is the clear message. …”

“These are being held by the Treasury directly with the Northern Ireland Executive. I am glad that you are speaking to the Minister of Finance after this. It is very much a devolved matter. This is a political decision for the Executive to make. I know the potential options that there are. The discussions we are having …”

“In short, they have the powers they need. These are decisions that they need to make. There is devolution of the full fiscal framework, so it is up to them to make those decisions. A negotiation of that would be to change the means of devolution. The devolved settlement is there, giving them all the powers and levers. …”

“It is, yes. I have spoken directly with Northern Ireland Ministers about this for different areas of work, and it is under active consideration. We want to be able to unlock the finance to provide for better outcomes in public services. I cannot guarantee that there will be a great outcome in all of them, but it is und…”

“All of these conversations are with the Treasury as well, so it is very much a joined-up conversation.”

“It is a great question. I also come from a project management background and I want to see outcomes. We all do as well, do we not? We want to see the outcomes that are best for people in Northern Ireland, so absolutely driving that transformation forward. That is some of the thinking behind two aspects of this. One is …”

“Digital transformation is really fundamental to changing the model and that whole part of transformation. This is actually linked to the transformation board, because one aspect of the transformation board is the digital landscape review, by which we mean looking at how we can use digital to transform the different are…”

“On the £47 million a year, you can also ask the Minister of Finance about this, but I think that there have been conversations about actually not having that, but dividing the total pot by five and allocating it by year. We need to frontload some of that money, so I hope that we will see that. More of it needs to be sp…”

“To be clear, the Northern Ireland Executive are receiving 124%, according to their level of need, for the next two years. We are now into negotiations for the future. They are not going to only reach it in 10 years’ time. They are receiving it.”

“The UK Government will agree this detailed methodology again as well, so what the Fiscal Council will be looking at, as well as the multiple credible sources. We are receiving multiple credible sources all the time for different factors. It is up to the Fiscal Council to say whether, in its judgment, it considers them …”

“There will be a review by the independent Fiscal Council. There will be a review.”

“I am sure that there was absolute integration across. There is all the time. I would like to highlight that there has been a big settlement this year. This is what we are dealing with. This is the new situation that we are in, with the 124% figure arrived at by the independent Fiscal Council, looking at relative need a…”

“Thank you for raising that here. I will take it up. We have been talking about difficult decisions, and I do not know what the outcome will be, but I will certainly take that up. Thank you for raising it.”

“I absolutely agree with that. It has been my absolute privilege to visit some of the organisations that you are mentioning there and to talk with young people. I have made a point of asking to speak to young people at every opportunity. I used to be a youth worker and I know how difficult it is sometimes. It takes a bi…”

“I am Fleur Anderson. I am an Under-Secretary of State for the Northern Ireland Office.”

“As you may know, Claire, I come from the voluntary sector, so my absolute passion is seeing this. I see this as part of public service delivery, so I am glad that you are raising this. As you say, the sector is often picking up the pieces. When we talk about cliff edges of the devolved Government’s budget, it is often …”