AQW 44756/22-27

Ms Diane Forsythe
Democratic Unionist Party
South Down

Tabled Date: 24/04/2026
Answered On Date: 03/06/2026
Priority Written: No

Question:
To ask the First Minister and deputy First Minister to detail the basis of the calculation informing the First Minister’s assertion that if we were funded to the same tune as Wales we would have an additional £1.1billion and if we were funded to the same tune as Scotland we would have an additional £3 billion.

Answer:

The First Minister’s assertions regarding the potential additional funding available to the Executive are based on a report published in 2010 by the Independent Commission on Funding and Finance for Wales, which was chaired by Professor Gerald Holtham.

The report sets out that estimated levels of need in Wales and Scotland, compared with those in England, are 115% and 105%, respectively.

Analysis shows that Wales is actually funded some eight percentage points above its estimated level of need and Scotland some 20 percentage points above its estimated level of need. For the Executive, an additional one percentage point of relative funding currently equates to around £150 million in cash terms.

For the Executive, an additional one percentage point of relative funding currently equates to around £150 million in cash terms. An increase of eight percentage points in Northern Ireland’s funding allocation would therefore be in the region of £1 billion in additional annual funding for the Executive, while an increase of twenty percentage points would be some £3 billion per year, with the precise amounts varying by year within the Spending Review period.