Commentary on provisions of Act Section 6 – Use of resources (other than accruing resources) in the year ending 31 March 2019
Section 5 authorises the use of resources amounting to £8,191,344,000 in the year ending 31 March 2019 by the bodies listed in Section 6(2) for the purposes specified in column 1 of Schedule 4; the amount authorised is set out in column 2 of that Schedule. As with Section 4, this authorisation is a vote on account to allow public services to continue to be delivered into the early months of the new financial year. This is a normal process for any Supply and Appropriation Act and does not imply the setting of a Budget for the 2018-19 year. Its purpose is to provide access to cash and resources to ensure that services can continue to be delivered pending the consideration of a Budget Act for the full 2018-19 financial year which should be done by the Northern Ireland Assembly based on a Budget position agreed by the Northern Ireland Executive.