Committee publication · Correspondence · 20 May 2026

Correspondence with the Minister of Finance in Northern Ireland relating to the publication of the Open Book exercise, dated 16 April and 7 May 2026.

From: Northern Ireland Affairs Committee

Summary

Correspondence between the UK Parliament's Northern Ireland Affairs Committee Chair and Northern Ireland's Minister of Finance regarding the Treasury's 'open book exercise' on NI Executive finances. The Minister contests several Treasury findings on property values, service delivery costs, and funding comparisons with Scotland and Wales, arguing the Executive is underfunded relative to need and lacks fiscal levers to manage budgets effectively.

Key findings

The Executive disputes Treasury analysis on property values, non-domestic tax base comparisons, and per-head spending on Health and Education, stating these are 'significantly over-stated'
The Executive lacks economies of scale and must manage additional unfunded pressures (Legacy, Victims' Payment Scheme, Truth Recovery) that other devolved administrations do not face
Wales receives 8 percentage points above its funding need; Scotland receives 20 percentage points above—if the Executive were funded like Wales, it would receive an additional £1 billion annually; like Scotland, £3 billion annually
Treasury officials had insufficient time to fully scrutinise the analysis before publication; the report is a Treasury document whose publication is not solely the Executive's decision
The Executive lacks fiscal levers available to other devolved administrations and seeks these to be addressed in Fiscal Framework discussions

Tone

Adversarial

Topics

public-financedevolved-governancefiscal-frameworknorthern-ireland

Key actors

Tonia Antoniazzi MP, John O'Dowd MLA, HM Treasury, NI Executive, Northern Ireland Affairs Committee, Matthew O'Toole MLA, UK Secretary of State for Northern Ireland

Notable line

“If the Executive was funded above need in the same way as Wales, it would have received around an additional £1 billion to spend in each year of this Spending Review.”

Key Quotes

“Treasury have been clear that the analysis underpinning the report was carried out at pace and that the estimates presented within it are only to be viewed as indicative of the savings and revenues that the Executive could potentially achieve.”
— John O'Dowd MLA, Minister of Finance · Explaining Treasury's position on the open book exercise findings

“… the final report is a Treasury document and, as such, its publication is not a decision for the Executive alone.”
— John O'Dowd MLA, Minister of Finance · On the Executive's position regarding publication of the findings

“The Executive believes, though, that the exercise has highlighted that it is not being treated on an equitable basis compared to Scotland and Wales in terms of funding.”
— John O'Dowd MLA, Minister of Finance · Stating the Executive's overall assessment of the exercise

“If the Executive was funded above need in the same way as Wales, it would have received around an additional £1 billion to spend in each year of this Spending Review. If we were funded like Scotland, that would be around an additional £3 billion in each year.”
— John O'Dowd MLA, Minister of Finance · Illustrating the funding disparity between Northern Ireland and other devolved administrations

“… will you commit to publish the report anyway, so that we and other interested parties have the opportunity to consider them alongside the Department's alternative assessment?”
— Tonia Antoniazzi MP, Chair, Northern Ireland Affairs Committee · Requesting the Executive publish the Treasury findings despite their objections

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Source · parliament.uk record ↗