No additional Treasury funds in case of PSNI data breach

The Northern Ireland Executive is currently not in line to receive one-off funding from the government to cover costs. cost of PSNI data breach“, said the Minister of Finance.

The Executive had hoped to make a “standby bid” for the costs, which could amount to up to £240 million.

The reserve requirement is an appeal to the Treasury fund that exists to cover unexpected, unavoidable and unsustainable expenses.

The Minister told the MLA that the Treasury’s position was that costs should come from the Executive’s budget in the first instance.

Caoimhe Archibald gave an update on the impact of the Westminster budget last week.

Northern Ireland received an extra £660 million this year and a further £1.5 billion next year.

Archibald told the MLA the Executive also hoped the reserve requirement could be used to cover other one-off costs, such as the PSNI’s holiday pay decision.

She said: “It was assumed that if these costs were identified in 2024-25, they could be funded from Reserve requirements.

“However, given the level of annual funding provided to the Executive in this autumn Budget, the Chief Secretary to the Treasury has indicated that while further negotiations are possible, the Treasury’s position is that these should be funded from announced settlements in the first instance.”

She added that she still believes these items are not available and is still trying to negotiate the reserve requirement.

The Minister also confirmed that subsidies to agriculture and fisheries will no longer be capped, but will be dealt with through the Stormont budget process.

Before Brexit, subsidies were paid directly from the EU.

In the years since Brexit, UK devolved governments have received a premium on their normal Treasury funding to pay for grants.

The government has said that from next year this arrangement will no longer apply.

Archibald said: “Previously the Executive received limited funding for agriculture and fisheries support based on the level of EU funding in 2019.

“This £332.5 million is now included in the Executive’s baseline plan for 2025-26.

“Therefore, the executive branch will now have to agree on agricultural funding as part of the budget process.”