Official Report: Minutes of Evidence

The Chairperson (Mr Chambers): I welcome to the meeting Rodney Allen, the chief operating officer at the Northern Ireland Audit Office, and Brian O'Neill, its corporate services director. The floor is yours, gentlemen.

Mr Rodney Allen (Northern Ireland Audit Office): Thank you, Chair. Good morning to you, Committee members and Committee staff. I will give a quick introduction, particularly for the benefit of Miss Dolan, as we have not attended the Committee since she joined it.

Ms Dolan: Thank you.

Mr Allen: Dorinnia Carville, the Comptroller and Auditor General, is normally with us in Committee, but she cannot make it today, as she has been double-booked. She sends her apologies.

My role as chief operating officer means that everything that moves in the Audit Office comes via me. Brian is one of our senior team members. He is one of our directors, heading up corporate services. That area includes all things to do with finance, corporate matters, governance, accountability and so on. That is the reason why it will probably be us whom you will see at the Committee all the time.

Chairman, I wrote to you on 25 April setting out our Main Estimates for 2025-26. The correspondence included an associated Main Estimates memorandum for 2025-26. Both documents were requested by the Department of Finance to support the preparation of the Budget Bill and to provide readers with a greater understanding of the information that is contained in the Estimates. The Estimates reflect the resources that the Committee approved around six months ago. The resource and capital departmental expenditure limit (DEL) budgets for the Audit Office were £11·153 million on the resource side and the very small amount of £40,000 on the capital side.

There is, however, a small twist, in that there is an additional £55,000 of ring-fenced DEL, from depreciation specifically. In prior years, the Audit Office had an allocation of £275,000 for depreciation, but, for 2025-26, we estimated that we needed £220,000, which is a reduced amount. That was agreed by the Committee. DOF, however, has advised us that all bodies' ring-fenced DEL allocations are being retained at the 2024-25 level pending confirmation of the Westminster Main Estimates for 2025-26, and adjustments will subsequently be processed in in-year monitoring. That explains the additional £55,000 that has been included at the request of the Department of Finance.

Other than that, the Estimates are totally in line with what the Committee approved. The memorandum that was submitted gives you a little bit more detail on the main spending areas, the comparison with prior years and a bit of a three-year trend line. I will stop there — I have kept my introductory remarks relatively brief — and take any questions.

The Chairperson (Mr Chambers): Thank you very much, Rodney. Do members have any questions? They are shaking their heads to say no, Rodney, so we have no questions for you.

Mr Allen: We are getting off very lightly, Chairman.

The Chairperson (Mr Chambers): Sorry to have dragged you all the way up here —

Mr Allen: It is fine.

The Chairperson (Mr Chambers): — for such a short meeting, but it has to be done. We do appreciate your being here. Once again, I put on record how much we appreciate the work that you and the rest of the Audit Office do.

Mr Allen: Likewise, Chairman, we are very grateful for the Committee's support and for the finances that you have provided to enable us, hopefully, to have a good 2025-26. If I may say so, it has been nice to be here to meet the new faces.

The Chairperson (Mr Chambers): Thanks very much.