Spending plans sees £400m extra for Stormont budgets
- Published
Sajid Javid has set aside an extra £400m for Stormont budgets
The chancellor has said his spending plans for the coming year will mean an extra £400m for Stormont budgets.
Sajid Javid announced £13.8bn of extra day-to-day spending for public services across the UK.
Northern Ireland's share of that pot is allocated through a mechanism known as the Barnett formula.
The Northern Ireland Office (NIO) said the extra cash equates to a real increase of about 2%.
Politicians at Stormont are supposed to decide how the extra funds are allocated.
In the absence of a Stormont government, those spending decisions have been made by civil servants and Northern Ireland budgets have been passed at Westminster.
Northern Ireland Secretary Julian Smith said the funding would bring benefits in areas like health and education.
"What we need now is for Northern Ireland politicians to come together and get Stormont back up and running, so that this money can be used as effectively as possible for the people of Northern Ireland," he said.
In recent weeks, representatives of schools, the health service and the police have all said they need extra funds from a Stormont budget.
Funding questions
Ulster University economist Esmond Birnie said the extra money was about the same as the annual increase associated with the previous two years of the DUP-Conservative confidence and supply funding.
He said there were some questions attached to the funding.
"Will such plans survive a general election? If they do, will Northern Ireland have an executive back in place to decide how to allocate this largesse?
"When are we going to have some decisions about the reform of social care in Northern Ireland?"