Speeches by Anderson.

“I am Fleur Anderson. I am an Under-Secretary of State for the Northern Ireland Office.”

“These are being held by the Treasury directly with the Northern Ireland Executive. I am glad that you are speaking to the Minister of Finance after this. It is very much a devolved matter. This is a political decision for the Executive to make. I know the potential options that there are. The discussions we are having …”

“There is absolutely recognition of that pressure and an understanding of the challenges we face. Our main message is not, “You have lots of money. Get on with it”. The main message is, “There are tough decisions to be made. It is a difficult climate, but do not let that stop transformation”. That is the clear message. …”

“There are always going to be changes within the year. I do not want to give any impression that we are blasé. I know the enormous mountain that the Northern Ireland Executive have to climb. I know the challenges within each departmental budget and across the budget that there are. I am in no way blasé about that.”

“I hope that there will be multi-year budgets. I agree with you. I know from my own council and from also speaking to so many community groups across Northern Ireland that multi-year funding is needed. It is needed for certainty and the ability to plan departmental budgets into the future. It is also needed to be able t…”

“To be clear, the Northern Ireland Executive are receiving 124%, according to their level of need, for the next two years. We are now into negotiations for the future. They are not going to only reach it in 10 years’ time. They are receiving it.”

“The UK Government will agree this detailed methodology again as well, so what the Fiscal Council will be looking at, as well as the multiple credible sources. We are receiving multiple credible sources all the time for different factors. It is up to the Fiscal Council to say whether, in its judgment, it considers them …”

“There will be a review by the independent Fiscal Council. There will be a review.”

“I am sure that there was absolute integration across. There is all the time. I would like to highlight that there has been a big settlement this year. This is what we are dealing with. This is the new situation that we are in, with the 124% figure arrived at by the independent Fiscal Council, looking at relative need a…”

“It is the Secretary of State who is responsible for that within the Department, so the detail of what we are negotiating on is his, with the Treasury, but Ciarán will know what we are negotiating on.”

“The assessment of need is done by the independent Fiscal Council. As you know, it will be reassessing that need, so that will be an important part of it. You are going across different periods, so I think Ciarán is best placed to answer that.”

“They are ongoing. I cannot say an exact date, but they are absolutely ongoing at the moment.”

“I have no remit to speak just on my own. I spend time in Northern Ireland meeting with Ministers. For example, I met jointly recently with Minister Givan, Minister of Education in Northern Ireland, and Minister Morgan, the UK Government Minister, to talk about the childcare strategy. When I go to Northern Ireland with …”

“Welcome to my world. My whole remit is being a champion of Northern Ireland in the UK Government, and then being the champion of the UK Government in Northern Ireland and facilitating those connections. I see this like a corridor where you have all the Ministers’ rooms lined up, and they all open doors for the Northern…”

“The new fiscal framework is down to the Treasury to negotiate. There are parts of this that I am responsible for and parts that other parts of the United Kingdom Government are responsible for. I can talk a bit more about that. For us, it is relaying what we hear and what is needed, supporting the independent Fiscal Co…”

“Thank you to the whole Committee for holding this inquiry. It is really important. It is what I hear talked about by almost everyone I meet as I go around Northern Ireland. As a former member of a Select Committee, when we do reports and wonder what is going to happen to them, to have this follow-up report on the repor…”

“I am Fleur Anderson. I am an Under-Secretary of State for the Northern Ireland Office.”

“Thank you for raising that here. I will take it up. We have been talking about difficult decisions, and I do not know what the outcome will be, but I will certainly take that up. Thank you for raising it.”

“I absolutely agree with that. It has been my absolute privilege to visit some of the organisations that you are mentioning there and to talk with young people. I have made a point of asking to speak to young people at every opportunity. I used to be a youth worker and I know how difficult it is sometimes. It takes a bi…”

“As you may know, Claire, I come from the voluntary sector, so my absolute passion is seeing this. I see this as part of public service delivery, so I am glad that you are raising this. As you say, the sector is often picking up the pieces. When we talk about cliff edges of the devolved Government’s budget, it is often …”