Government Resources and Accounts Act (Northern Ireland) 2001

The Consolidated Fund

The Consolidated Fund Account

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• (1) The receipts of Northern Ireland departments shall be paid to an account (to be called “the Consolidated Fund Account”) at such bank (in this Act referred to as “the Bank”) as the Department may from time to time determine.

• (2) All other moneys payable to the Consolidated Fund shall be paid into the Consolidated Fund Account.

• (3) Accounts of all payments made into the Consolidated Fund Account shall be rendered by the Bank daily to—

• (a) the Comptroller and Auditor General, and

• (b) the Department.

• (4) Subsection (1) is subject to—

• (a) sections 8 and 17(2)(b), and

• (b) any other statutory provision which provides for a Northern Ireland department to deal with particular receipts in a particular manner.

• (5) Section 1 (payments to Consolidated Fund) of the Exchequer and Audit Act (Northern Ireland) 1921 (c. 2) (in this Act referred to as “the 1921 Act”) shall cease to have effect.

The Consolidated Fund

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• (1) All moneys paid to the Consolidated Fund Account shall be considered as forming, in the books of the Bank, one general fund, being the Consolidated Fund of Northern Ireland.

• (2) All orders directed by the Department to the Bank for issues out of credits granted by the Comptroller and Auditor General for the public service shall be satisfied out of the Consolidated Fund.

• (3) The Department shall restrict the sums to be issued to the credit of the account of a Northern Ireland department to such total sum as the Department considers necessary for conducting the current payments for the public service for which that department is responsible.

• (4) Section 2 of the 1921 Act (the Consolidated Fund) shall cease to have effect.

Payment out of Consolidated Fund: standing services

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• (1) This section applies in respect of services which are, under any statutory provision, payable out of the Consolidated Fund.

• (2) The Comptroller and Auditor General shall, on receipt of a requisition from the Department, grant the Department a credit on the Consolidated Fund Account.

• (3) Where a credit has been granted under subsection (2), issues shall be made to relevant Northern Ireland departments and other bodies or persons from time to time on orders given to the Bank by the Department.

• (4) An order under subsection (3) shall specify the service to which it relates.

• (5) The Bank shall send to the Comptroller and Auditor General and the Department a daily account of all issues made from the Consolidated Fund Account in pursuance of this section.

• (6) A requisition or order under this section—

• (a) may be produced, authenticated and transmitted in any manner which the Department, with the approval of the Comptroller and Auditor General, decides to adopt, but

• (b) shall be accompanied by evidence of the approval of two officers of the Department appointed for that purpose.

• (7) Section 4 of the 1921 Act (credits for services charged on Consolidated Fund) shall cease to have effect.

Payment out of Consolidated Fund: sums authorised by Act of the Assembly

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• (1) This section applies in respect of sums which the Assembly has authorised by Act to be issued out of the Consolidated Fund.

• (2) The Comptroller and Auditor General shall, on receipt of a requisition from the Department, grant the Department a credit on the Consolidated Fund Account.

• (3) Where a credit has been granted under subsection (2), issues shall be made to relevant Northern Ireland departments and other bodies or persons from time to time on orders given to the Bank by the Department.

• (4) The Bank shall send to the Comptroller and Auditor General and the Department a daily account of all issues made from the Consolidated Fund Account in pursuance of this section.

• (5) The Department shall send to the Comptroller and Auditor General a daily statement specifying the Northern Ireland department or other body to which or person to whom each issue was made from the Consolidated Fund Account in pursuance of this section.

• (6) A requisition or order under this section—

• (a) may be produced, authenticated and transmitted in any manner which the Department, with the approval of the Comptroller and Auditor General, decides to adopt, but

• (b) shall be accompanied by evidence of the approval of two officers of the Department appointed for that purpose.

• (7) Section 6 of the 1921 Act (credits for ways and means granted) shall cease to have effect.

Supply

Application of sums issued

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• (1) Where a Budget Act authorises a sum to be—

• (a) issued out of the Consolidated Fund, and

• (b) applied to the service of a specified year,

every sum issued in pursuance of the Act shall be applied towards the service of that year.

• (2) Section 8(1) of the Exchequer and Financial Provisions Act (Northern Ireland) 1950 (c. 3) (issues from Consolidated Fund) shall cease to have effect.

Use of resources

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• (1) The use of resources by—

• (a) a Northern Ireland department, and

• (b) any relevant body or person,

for any purpose in any financial year must be authorised for that year by Budget Act or under section 8 and must not exceed any amount so authorised in relation to that purpose.

• (2) Subsection (1) does not apply to the use of resources for services which are under any statutory provision payable out of —

• (a) the Consolidated Fund;

• (b) the Northern Ireland National Insurance Fund; or

• (c) any other fund established under a statutory provision.

• (3) Subsection (1) is subject to section 7.

• (4) A body or person is a relevant body or person for the purposes of this section and section 8 if an estimate is approved by the Assembly for that body or person in respect of each financial year.

Use of resources without Budget Act

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• (1) If a Budget Act is not passed at least three working days before the end of a financial year ( “year 1”) authorising the use of resources mentioned in section 6(1) for the service of the next financial year ( “year 2”), the authorised officer of the Department may, subject to any Budget Act subsequently passed, authorise the use of resources for the service of year 2 for such purposes and up to such amounts as he may direct.

• (2) The aggregate of the amounts authorised under subsection (1) for the service of year 2 shall not exceed 75 per cent of the total amount of resources authorised by Budget Act for the service of year 1.

• (3) If a Budget Act is not passed before the end of July in any financial year authorising the use of resources mentioned in section 6(1) for the service of the year, the authorised officer of the Department may, subject to any Budget Act subsequently passed, authorise the use of resources for the service of the year for such purposes and up to such amounts as he may direct.

• (4) The aggregate of the amounts authorised under subsection (3) and (where applicable) the amounts authorised under subsection (1) for the service of any financial year shall not exceed 95 per cent of the total amount of resources authorised by Budget Act for the service of the preceding financial year.

• (5) In this section “authorised officer”, in relation to the Department, means the Permanent Secretary or such other officer as may be nominated by him for the purpose.

Use of accruing resources

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• (1) The Department may, subject to any relevant limit set by a Budget Act, direct that resources accruing to a department or a relevant body or person ( “accruing resources”) may be used for any purpose in any financial year in addition to resources authorised by Budget Act to be used for that purpose in that year.

• (2) A direction under subsection (1) shall be—

• (a) made by minute, and

• (b) laid before the Assembly.

• (3) Subsections (4) and (5) apply where money is received in connection with a use of accruing resources which has been or is expected to be directed under subsection (1).

• (4) Where the money is received in the year for the service of which the use of accruing resources is authorised—

• (a) the money may be used in accordance with the Department's direction, and

• (b) in so far as not so used, it shall be paid into the Consolidated Fund.

• (5) Where the money is received in a year other than that for the service of which the use of accruing resources is or is to be authorised, it shall be—

• (a) retained and applied as a use of resources authorised by Budget Act for the service of the year in which the money is received, or

• (b) paid into the Consolidated Fund.

• (6) Section 8(2) and (3) of the Exchequer and Financial Provisions Act (Northern Ireland) 1950 (c. 3) (appropriation in aid) shall cease to have effect.

Departmental accounts

Resource accounts: preparation

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• (1) A Northern Ireland department for which an estimate is approved by the Assembly in respect of a financial year shall prepare accounts (to be known as resource accounts) for that year detailing—

• (a) resources acquired, held or disposed of during the year by—

• (i) the department, or

• (ii) any body that is a designated body under section 8A in relation to the department for the year, and

• (b) the use of resources during the year by the department or any such body.

• (2) Resource accounts shall be prepared in accordance with directions issued by the Department.

• (3) The Department shall exercise the power to issue directions under subsection (2) with a view to ensuring that resource accounts—

• (a) present a true and fair view,

• (b) conform to generally accepted accounting practice subject to such adaptations as are necessary in the context of departmental accounts, and

• (c) accord with guidance issued by the Department about the inclusion of an explanation of the difference between an item appearing in a department's estimate and a corresponding item appearing in or reflected in the department's resource accounts.

• (4) For the purposes of subsection (3)(a) and (b) the Department shall in particular—

• (a) have regard to any relevant guidance issued by the Accounting Standards Board Limited or any other body prescribed for the purposes of section 256 of the Companies Act 1985 (c. 6) (accounting standards) or to UK-adopted international accounting standards, within the meaning given by section 474(1) of the Companies Act 2006 , and

• (b) require resource accounts to include, subject to paragraph (a)—

• (i) a statement of financial performance,

• (ii) a statement of financial position, and

• (iii) a cash flow statement.

• (5) A Northern Ireland department which prepares resource accounts shall send them to the Comptroller and Auditor General not later than 31st July of the financial year following that to which the accounts relate.

• (6) The Department shall, in the case of each department which is obliged to prepare accounts in accordance with subsection (1), appoint an official of the department as its accounting officer.

• (7) While a person holds appointment as a department's accounting officer he shall be responsible for—

• (a) the preparation of the department's resource accounts, and

• (b) their transmission to the Comptroller and Auditor General.

• (8) The Department may appoint an official of a Northern Ireland department as accounting officer in respect of a particular part of the department's resource accounts; and that person shall be responsible for the preparation of that part of the accounts.

• (9) The following provisions of the 1921 Act shall cease to have effect—

• (a) section 11 and the Schedule (appropriation accounts);

• (b) section 13 (balance sheet);

• (c) section 14 (statements of adjustments and excesses);

• (d) section 17 (objections by Comptroller and Auditor General);

• (e) section 25 (mode of keeping accounts).

Resource accounts: scrutiny

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• (1) The Comptroller and Auditor General shall examine any resource accounts which he receives from a Northern Ireland department under section 9(5) with a view to satisfying himself—

• (a) that the accounts present a true and fair view,

• (b) that money provided by the Assembly has been expended for the purposes intended by the Assembly,

• (c) that resources authorised by the Assembly to be used have been used for the purposes in relation to which the use was authorised, and

• (d) that—

• (i) the financial transactions of the department, and

• (ii) the financial transactions of any body that is a designated body under section 8A in relation to the department for the year in question,

are in accordance with any relevant authority.

• (2) If resource accounts appear to the Comptroller and Auditor General to suggest that a material use of resources required but did not receive the authority of the Department—

• (a) he shall inform the Department, and

• (b) if the Department sanctions the use of resources, he shall treat it as always having had the Department's authority.

• (3) Where the Comptroller and Auditor General has conducted an examination of accounts under subsection (1)—

• (a) he shall certify them and issue a report,

• (b) he shall send the certified accounts and the report to the Department not later than 31st October of the financial year following that to which the accounts relate, and

• (c) if he is not satisfied of the matters set out in subsection (1)(a) to (d), he shall report to the Assembly.

• (4) The Department shall lay accounts and reports received under subsection (3)(b) before the Assembly not later than 15th November of the financial year following that to which they relate.

• (5) Sections 15 and 16 of the 1921 Act (examination of appropriation accounts) shall cease to have effect.

Other departmental accounts

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• (1) The Department may direct a Northern Ireland department to prepare for each financial year accounts in relation to any specified matter.

• (2) Accounts under subsection (1) shall be prepared in accordance with directions issued by the Department.

• (3) Where a department prepares accounts under subsection (1)—

• (a) it shall send them to the Comptroller and Auditor General not later than 31st July of the financial year following that to which the accounts relate,

• (b) the Comptroller and Auditor General shall examine and certify the accounts, issue a report on them and send the certified accounts and the report to the Department not later than 31st October of that year, and

• (c) the Department shall lay the certified accounts and the report before the Assembly not later than 15th November of that year.

• (4) The Comptroller and Auditor General shall carry out his examination of accounts under subsection (3)(b) with a view to satisfying himself—

• (a) that money provided by the Assembly has been expended for the purposes intended by the Assembly,

• (b) that resources authorised by the Assembly to be used have been used for the purposes in relation to which the use was authorised, and

• (c) that the department's financial transactions are in accordance with any relevant authority.

• (5) The Department may, in relation to accounts under subsection (1) generally or in relation to specified accounts under subsection (1), direct that this section shall have effect as if references to the relevant department were substituted for the references to the Department in subsection (3)(b) and (c).

• (6) Section 22 of the 1921 Act (preparation and examination of trading accounts, &c.) shall cease to have effect.

Comptroller and Auditor General: access to information

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• (1) For the purposes of an examination by the Comptroller and Auditor General of a Northern Ireland department’s accounts—

• (a) he shall have a right of access to any of the documents relating to the department’s accounts, and

• (b) a person who holds or has control of any of those documents shall give the Comptroller and Auditor General any assistance, information or explanation which he requires in relation to any of those documents.

• (2) Subsection (1) applies only in relation to documents which are held or controlled—

• (a) by a Northern Ireland department, or

• (b) in pursuance of arrangements made by a Northern Ireland department for the compiling or handling of any of its financial records.

• (3) Section 24 of the 1921 Act (access to departments' documents) shall cease to have effect.

Resource accounts: non-departmental bodies and other persons

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• (1) Subject to subsection (2), where an estimate is approved by the Assembly for any body or person in respect of any financial year, sections 9, 10 and 11 apply with appropriate modifications in relation to that body or person in respect of that financial year as they apply in relation to a Northern Ireland department.

• (2) Subsection (1) does not apply to the Northern Ireland Audit Office.

Whole of government accounts

Preparation

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• (1) The Department shall prepare in respect of each financial year a set of accounts for a group of bodies each of which appears to the Department—

• (a) to exercise functions of a public nature, or

• (b) to be entirely or substantially funded from public money.

• (2) Accounts prepared under this section may include information referring wholly or partly to activities which—

• (a) are not activities of bodies falling within subsection (1), but

• (b) appear to the Department to be activities of a public nature.

• (3) The accounts shall contain such information in such form as the Department thinks fit.

• (4) In determining the form and content of the accounts the Department shall aim to ensure that the accounts—