Speeches by Anderson.

“We need to look at every way in which we can improve outcomes for people. If anyone is on that long waiting list, however we can solve it, that is what we should work as politicians to achieve. Those examples of all-island health strategies should absolutely be built on. We recently had the British–Irish Intergovernmen…”

“I absolutely agree that trust is an essential part of this. This goes two ways. The UK Government working with the Executive, and the Prime Minister leading from the front and having a conversation with the First Minister and Deputy First Minister in his first couple of days of office, not only started off the way we w…”

“It is a really good point. It is certainly something I have done in the different roles that I have had. It is important to do that. It is much harder in politics than it has been in previous roles that I have had in life, for sure, but it is really important. We need to have some honest discussions. The helpful way of…”

“It is a really helpful amount and I hope that it will be helpful not only for the money that is provided, but also for the conversation that is going to be had when the full board is set up. I hope that that will be by the end of this financial year. The full board of experts will be talking about public sector transfo…”

“On the £47 million a year, you can also ask the Minister of Finance about this, but I think that there have been conversations about actually not having that, but dividing the total pot by five and allocating it by year. We need to frontload some of that money, so I hope that we will see that. More of it needs to be sp…”

“Digital transformation is really fundamental to changing the model and that whole part of transformation. This is actually linked to the transformation board, because one aspect of the transformation board is the digital landscape review, by which we mean looking at how we can use digital to transform the different are…”

“It is a great question. I also come from a project management background and I want to see outcomes. We all do as well, do we not? We want to see the outcomes that are best for people in Northern Ireland, so absolutely driving that transformation forward. That is some of the thinking behind two aspects of this. One is …”

“It is, yes. I have spoken directly with Northern Ireland Ministers about this for different areas of work, and it is under active consideration. We want to be able to unlock the finance to provide for better outcomes in public services. I cannot guarantee that there will be a great outcome in all of them, but it is und…”

“In short, they have the powers they need. These are decisions that they need to make. There is devolution of the full fiscal framework, so it is up to them to make those decisions. A negotiation of that would be to change the means of devolution. The devolved settlement is there, giving them all the powers and levers. …”

“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.”