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FROM
STEWARDSHIP TO STEWARD - THE DEPARTMENT OF FINANCE AND PESRONNEL
Some time ago I sat in a meeting with a group of civil servants. One or
two of the people expected were late and the meeting chairman mused on
who was missing. "God," muttered one of those present under her breath.
"Sorry’," said her neighbour thinking he’d missed something. "God ," she
said, and then with ironic emphasis "the man from the Department of Finance
and Personnel." "Oh, God’s representatives on earth," he replied with
a wry smile.
These comments, however
jovially meant, emphasise the central role and power which the Department
of Finance and Personnel has had within the Northern Ireland system of government.
The department’s old web-page says it all: ‘The
Department is responsible for the control of expenditure of Northern Ireland
Departments; liaison with Her Majesty’s Treasury and the Northern Ireland
Office on financial matters … ' So, historically, it has been
the Department of Finance and Personnel which has both negotiated with the
Treasury on Northern Ireland’s behalf and the DFP which has held the purse
strings within the Northern Ireland government system. As part of serving
the Assembly this role remains largely intact with the added proviso ‘that
Northern Ireland public expenditure is allocated, managed and accounted
for in accordance with Ministers’ priorities and the requirements of the
Assembly’.
DFP’s responsibilities
do not stop with the provision of finance to government within Northern
Ireland. Other groups within DFP are responsible for personnel management
within the civil service, the provision of buildings and office accommodation,
legal reform and the provision of legal services to Northern Ireland departments.
It does not stop there, however. DFP also has responsibility for the provision
of IT and research services to government departments and the valuation
and rates collection agency. Aside from the breadth of these responsibilities,
it is clear that the DFP and its minister play a crucial role in determining
both the overall size of public sector spending in Northern Ireland and
its allocation between spending priorities. DFP also plays an important
role in ensuring the probity and fairness of public spending both in the
award of public sector contracts (through the Government Purchasing Agency),
in recruitment and in shaping the ‘culture’ governing public spending within
the civil service.
The advent of the Assembly
has probably made life a lot more difficult for the civil servants in DFP.
Led by Mark Durkan, the minister, it is their job to steer a course between
the Treasury in London who would like to reduce public spending in Northern
Ireland and our ministers from health, education etc who would like larger
departmental budgets. Each minister will of course have been lobbied by
those affected by his or her spending decisions, and each will probably
want a budget well above that which is feasible. How then to judge these
alternative spending plans, particularly given the greater degree of discretion
over policy now available to the Assembly?
Does a principle of
justice and equality of opportunity, for example, dictate that spending
on secondary education in Northern Ireland should be increased? Or, should
the same resources be spent on improving cancer care, child health services
or building roads? Ultimately it is not DFP which is responsible for either
these dilemmas or the ultimate spending plans which emerge. The latter at
least are ultimately the responsibility of the Assembly. DFP does play a
crucial role, however, in helping to facilitate a compromise between often
irreconcilable claims.
This balance or compromise
between spending demands is important because it may affect the livelihoods
and living standards of thousands of people in Northern Ireland. It is also
important because it must strike a balance between spending. Economists
would describe the tension between spending on short-term social needs and
long-term capability building as the difference between consumption and
investment. The situation is not that straightforward, however, as the amelioration
of social problems can often contribute very positively to creating a climate
in which economic development can take place. Government support for rural
bus services or low cost child-care facilities, for example, may be significant
in helping people to find and undertake paid employment.
Before the advent of
the Assembly it was very largely DFP’s job to take into account these factors
and to exercise stewardship over the contents of the public purse. Today
the situation is different with the Assembly taking the decisions over public
expenditure priorities and DFP acting as steward in their implementation.
This change is of course
positive. It means that locally elected politicians – and through them each
of us – have much more influence on how public money is spent in Northern
Ireland. This power over the allocation of spending brings with it, however,
increased responsibility both for politicians and for us as electors. We
need to be prepared to ask hard questions about our politicians’ views of
public spending priorities and we have a right to expect sensible answers.
For the churches too
the new political dispensation has important implications. We may wish to
argue alongside Martin McGuinness or Bairbre De Brún for more spending on
education or health, but how well do we understand the downside? If there
had to be matching cuts in spending elsewhere where would we make them?
Do we favour the type of moves made in Scotland on teachers' pay, university
fees etc or do we see other spending priorities? If so, can we identify
and articulate a common position between the churches on what we see as
future expenditure priorities? Developing such a vision would be difficult
but is vital, I think, if the churches are to contribute effectively to
debates about the future shape of Northern Ireland society.
Stephen
Roper works in the School of Management and Economics at Queen’s University
of Belfast and is Assistant Director of the Northern Ireland Economic
Research Centre. He is a member of Newtownbreda Presbyterian Church.
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