Finance Minister Conor Murphy has put forward proposals to the Executive for establishing a fiscal council and a fiscal commission which includes terms of reference and membership of both bodies.
Here’s the rundown:
Once the Executive has considered those proposals, he hopes that he will be able to put the council and the commission in place very quickly so they can begin their work.
The intention is that the fiscal commission will look at the broad range of economic, policy and revenue-raising levers available to the Executive and make recommendations.
It is envisaged that the fiscal commission will engage over the rest of this calendar year and produce a report for the Executive.
Given the time frame in this mandate, it is more than likely that it will become a point of action for an incoming Executive, says the Minister.
When its work has been done, any decisions taken by the Executive will then become a matter of immediate interest to a fiscal council. The Minister says that he sees the work of both bodies being interlinked.
For the fiscal council, the Finance Minister has brought initial propositions in order to set it up.
He has asked the personnel involved in the fiscal council and the fiscal commission to engage early with stakeholders, including the Finance Committee.
Senior officials in the Department will support the council, the commission and the secretariat.
The fiscal council will be operational as soon as the Executive approve it, which should be in “a matter of days”.
The council's relationship with the Department of Finance is that the costs will be met by the Department, already budgeted for.
The fiscal council will have responsibility to look over the Executive's finances to make sure that we are on a sustainable footing.
Interaction with the Procurement Board, which provides policy for spending £3 billion, will be an important function. Any agencies or bodies that have an impact or give advice on spending will be of interest to the council. The Finance Minister has said that he fully expect the council, when it is up and working, to have wide engagement not only with bodies outside government that have an interest but with this institution, Departments and arm's-length bodies.