25th Oct 2007
A business budget, but where is the incentive?
The Executive published three important documents today. First up was the Programme for Government (PFG), which outlines the devolved administration’s policy agenda for the next three years followed closely by the Investment Strategy for Northern Ireland (ISNI) which does what its says on the tin. Immediately after Finance Minister, Peter Robinson MP published his first Budget.
Big headline is the focus on infrastructure and investment to bolster our regional economy. It will be presented as a budget for business and whilst there is support for Tourism and important infrastructure work there are no major stimulants for economic growth such as a reduction in corporation tax. ‘Not my fault’, Robinson will say as he does not have tax varying powers but a major weakness none the less.
O’Conall Street would be more inclined to describe it as a public sector reform and investment budget. In short it’s a spending plan on a balance sheet with no significant revenue stream beyond the regional rate. The promise of 6,500 news jobs from inward investment is achievable but begs the question - how many more could this region be vying for if it had an attractive headline rate of corporation tax?
The public service is also targeted today for savings across the board with efficiency targets at savings of up to £790million by 2010 - 2011. This is long overdue but will prove very difficult to achieve unless the entire Executive and the senior civil service across our eleven departments buy in to reform. With an Assembly full of career public servants this may not be as straightforward as it sounds.
Two important points for those of you involved in representative roles. The PfG and ISNI are both consultative documents with a ten week window for comment.
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