§ 7.7 p.m.
§ THE MINISTER OF STATE FOR NORTHERN IRELAND (LORD WINDLESIIAM) rose to move, That the Appropriation (Northern Ireland) Order 1972, be approved. The noble Lord said: My Lords, I beg to move the first of the three Orders standing in my name on the Order Paper. This Order arises from financial business in the Northern Ireland Parliament before it was prorogued. Since it is a measure concerning the issue of monies out of the Consolidated Fund of Northern Ireland and their appropriation for specified services in the Province, I shall give only a brief explanation. I think that this would be in accordance with your Lordships usual practice when financial measures of this kind are presented.
§ The Consolidated Fund Act (Northern Ireland) 1972, which was an Act of the Northern Ireland Parliament, authorised the issue from the Northern Ireland Consolidated Fund of sums which had been voted for an Excess Vote in respect of 1970–71; for Spring Supplementaries in respect of 1971–72; and for a Vote on Account in respect of 1972–73. In the ordinary course of events this Act would have been followed later in the Session by an Appropriation Act which appropriated these sums to individual services and authorised appropriations in aid for certain Votes. It is normal practice, at Westminster as well as in the Northern Ireland Parliament, that supply should be appropriate in the same Session in which it was granted. On this occasion, however, the Session of the Northern Ireland Parliament was brought to an end by prorogation. This had the result of throwing doubt on the authority for issues which had already taken place under the 627 Consolidated Fund Act, and of further issues from April 1 without which it would have been impossible for Northern Ireland departments to function. The problem was discussed with the Northern Ireland Comptroller and Auditor General who agreed, on receiving an assurance that early action would be taken to appropriate the sums granted in the Consolidated Fund Act, that he would continue to authorise issues up to the limits laid down in that Act. Consequently, this Order was made under the procedure provided in the Northern Ireland (Temporary Provisions) Act which allows urgent Orders to come into force immediately. Such Orders require the approval of both Houses of Parliament within 40 days. I beg to move.
§ Moved, That the Appropriation (Northern Ireland) Order 1972, be approved.—(Lord Windlesham.)
§ 7.9 p.m.
§ LORD BESWICKMy Lords, we are grateful to the noble Lord, Lord Windlesham, for his explanation of this Order. We recognise the special circumstances that surround this whole situation, and of course we accept the consequences of what we voted on in the Northern Ireland (Temporary Provisions) Act. However, may I ask the noble Lord whether what we are voting for now enables the Government to raise the money for the Corporation about which the noble Lord will be speaking shortly on a subsequent Order? Is the £50 million for the Finance Corporation being approved by this Order? And how does the noble Lord visualise in the immediate future the control of the expenditure of this money being exercised? What sort of progress is being made in the consideration of this problem, which I recognise to be a very difficult one? Will the noble Lord be able to say whether anything will be reported to either of the Houses of Parliament at Westminster, as to the allocation and the spending of the money which it is proposed to authorise in this way?
§ LORD WINDLESHAMMy Lords, as I understand it, this Order concerns only the appropriation of money which has been already granted by Parliament. The grant was made under the Consolidated Fund Act which was passed by the Northern Ireland Parliament in the normal way. That Parliament was then 628 prorogued before there was an opportunity for the grant to be appropriated to specified services. This Order covers the second part of that process.
§ LORD BESWICKYes, my Lords—may I just interrupt at that point? The same is said of the Order that we are shortly coming to, the Order establishing the Northern Ireland Finance Corporation. This had also been virtually approved by the Northern Ireland Parliament prior to its being prorogued. Therefore my question remains.
§ LORD WINDLESHAMMy Lords, I do not think the analogy is quite exact. Perhaps I should continue my reply—we must not let this become a Committee stage discussion. The Finance Corporation which we shall be discussing later this evening was the subject of a Bill which was still before the Stormont Parliament. It had reached its penultimate stage and had not reached the Statute Book. Here we have an Act which is on the Statute Book. It was already law, and what is now being done is to appropriate sums to specific services. That is the purpose of this Order.
As to the control of expenditure, the Comptroller and Auditor-General will be reporting in the usual way and I shall have something to say on this point when we discuss the third Order. His Reports will be available to Members of your Lordships' House and to Members of another place. In order to provide more information about the complex financial arrangements in Northern Ireland, your Lordships may be aware that the Secretary of State, together with the Chief Secretary of the Treasury, published a White Paper earlier this month, Cmnd. 4998, titled Northern Ireland Financial Arrangements and Legislation. This is a United Kingdom White Paper and it provides a good deal of information which will be of interest to Members of your Lordships' House and also for Members of another place.
§ LORD BESWICKMy Lords, I am sorry, but I must ask the noble Lord just to clear my mind a little more, if possible. The noble Lord said that the Comptroller and Auditor-General will be reporting. Does he mean the Comptroller and Auditor-General of Northern Ireland? And, if so, are we now to understand that this gentleman is reporting directly to the 629 United Kingdom Parliament in Westminster from now on?
§ LORD WINDLESHAMMy Lords, the position is that the Comptroller and Auditor-General for Northern Ireland reports annually and his Reports normally would be made available to the House of Commons at Stormont. That Parliament at Stormont has been prorogued. But the Reports referred to are published Reports, and the Secretary of Slate is anxious that Members of another place and of your Lordships' House should have this information. He has therefore arranged for the Reports by the Comptroller and Auditor-General for Northern Ireland to be made available in the Libraries of both Houses at Westminster. They will not be debated automatically, but if in the course of debates on Northern Ireland Members wish to refer to them, they will have an opportunity of doing so.