AQW 18718/17-22


Mr Andrew Muir
Alliance Party
North Down


Tabled Date: 11/05/2021
Answered On Date: 18/05/2021
Priority Written: No


Question:
To ask the Minister of Finance how many Economic Appraisals his Department has reviewed in each of the past five financial years broken down by (i) Departments; (ii) arms-length bodies; and (iii) other public bodies.


Answer:
Economic appraisals (also referred to as business cases) are submitted by departments to DoF’s Supply Division by way of seeking DoF approval for expenditure decision which are outside the department’s delegated authority. Economic appraisals for expenditure decisions below departments’ delegated limits are not submitted to DoF.
Irrespective of whether the case originates from an Arms Length Body or the core department; it is submitted to DoF by the department, as the Departmental Accounting Officer must be satisfied with the case before it is submitted to DoF.
The breakdown of the number of economic appraisals which DoF have been submitted to DoF to be reviewed in each of the past five years is set out in the table below, based on the information provided by departments at the time they were submitted:
Department
2016-17
2017-18
2018-19
2019-20
2020-21
DAERA
Dept.
11
7
2
5
5
Arms Length Bodies
3
2
11
7
8
Communities
Dept.
20
12
20
13
22
Arms Length Bodies
11
12
22
11
13
Economy
Dept.
14
11
6
8
12
Arms Length Bodies
15
8
14
9
9
Education
Dept.
13
11
12
12
35
Arms Length Bodies
18
7
10
9
10
Finance
Dept.
15
19
14
12
21
Arms Length Bodies
10
3
6
6
7
Health
Dept.
2
2
2
14
5
Arms Length Bodies
31
21
19
13
21
Infrastructure
Dept.
23
5
11
9
13
Arms Length Bodies
12
20
17
33
32
Justice
DoJ – Dept.
8
1
0
2
1
Arms Length Bodies
13
22
25
18
12
TEO
Dept.
10
11
13
13
13
Arms Length Bodies
0
0
0
0
0
Other Bodies
FSA
1
0
0
0
0
NIAUR
2
0
0
0
0
PPS
0
0
1
0
0