Background and Policy Objectives
3.Budget Acts are the legislative means by which Assembly approval is sought for departments and certain other public bodies to incur expenditure and use resources as detailed in the corresponding Estimates volume and summarised in the Schedules to the Acts. Furthermore, Budget Acts enable the Assembly to hold departments accountable for managing and controlling those resources within the limits authorised.
4.The Budget Act will not only authorise the use of resources but contains powers to authorise the issue of sums of cash from the Consolidated Fund of Northern Ireland to departments and other public bodies to be used for the purposes specified in the Schedules to the Act. The Budget Act also authorises the use of income for purposes specified in Schedules 1 to the Act.
5.Estimates volumes and other relevant documents are also published to correspond to the Budget Act. Separate Budget Acts will be introduced relating to the Main Estimates (voted provision for a full financial year) and subsequent Supplementary Estimates which revises that provision as a result of the Executive’s in-year process. The Budget Act relating to the Supplementary Estimates will also provide interim resources and funding for the first few months of the next financial year.