Mixed reaction to Executive budget
Northern Ireland’s business community has given a mixed reaction after the Executive agreed a budget for the year ahead on Thursday.
The one-year budget is based on the nine new departments, and contained protections for health spending, as well as an additional £40 million for education and £5 million for “skills”.
Announcing the spending plans, the newly elected DUP leader and current minister of finance Arlene Foster said the budget addressed “significant pressures” facing public services and provided an extra £133 million for key services.
“£40million has been allocated to schools and £5million for skills. This includes £30million of funding from the money which was set aside to mitigate tax credit changes,” she said.
Chief executive of the Northern Ireland Independent Retail Trade Association (NIIRTA), Glyn Roberts, said agreement on the budget was to be welcomed, and described it as “rightly focusing on investment in key economic areas such as skills and Infrastructure”.
He also welcomed a freeze on non-domestic rates.
“Minister Foster has made the right call in again freezing the regional rate given the cost of business pressures many of our members are under,” he said.
However, Stephen McCully, president of Northern Ireland Chamber of Commerce, said months of emphasising the importance of investment in skills had been ignored.
“It is… disappointing the Department of the Economy [renamed from the Department of Finance and Personnel] is receiving a cut in the NI Executive’s 2016/17 budget, and doesn’t seem to complement the need to prepare for a lower rate of Corporation Tax in 2018.
“A change in the corporation tax regime is expected to change the employment market within Northern Ireland, with a need for more skilled staff to fill higher paid jobs.
“It is therefore vitally important that budget is allocated to the Department of the Economy to support the development of STEM programmes and retaining the Assured Skills programme which engages the FE sector to bridge the skills gaps in priority sectors such as IT, advanced engineering and financial services.”
Mr McCully urged the Executive to begin 2016 by reconsidering the draft budget allocations for the Department of the Economy and in particular the allocations to higher and further education and skills.
Meanwhile, within hours of the deal being announced, the Alliance Party revealed its two Executive members, justice minister David Ford and minister for learning Dr Stephen Farry, had voted against it.
“This budget is bereft of strategic planning,” Mr Ford said. “Areas of waste and duplication remain unaddressed. Reforms of key services such as health and education have yet to be considered. Opportunities for even modest, progressive forms of revenue raising remain ignored, leaving us yet again relying on cuts to public services to balance our budget.
“To compound this, the DUP and Sinn Fein retain funds for them to spend on pet projects at a time when there is a clear need for spending in strategic areas.”
