UTV can reveal that the vast majority of a £230million funding pot given to Stormont two years ago to transform public services has not yet been spent.
Stormont departments have confirmed just £9m of the fund given to the Executive by the former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak as part of the package for Stormont’s return in 2024 has been used so far.
That is just under 4% of the total fund and leading to questions as to how the Executive can say it has no money.
And the oversight board examining how the money is allocated and spent, has expressed concern at how the fund is handled.
The funds are specifically earmarked for making public services more efficient.
Last March the Finance Minister John O’Dowd announced that four Stormont departments would receive a share of the first tranche of the funding – £129m.
The Department of Health was given £61m to make services more accessible in communities through Multidisciplinary Teams. It has confirmed to UTV that £7m of the funding has been used so far.
The Department of Justice was allocated £22m for two projects to speed up justice and to update electronic tagging. The department says £3.5m has been spent. It highlighted how the money was not allocated on a lump-sum basis, saying it had allocated 95% of the money released to it.
The Department for Infrastructure has a total of £18m to improve drainage and planning. It has spent £375,000.
While the Department of Education was given £27.5m for its project aimed at transforming Special Education. It has spent just £1m.
In recent weeks the Education Minister Paul Givan has told the Assembly he needs more money to transform SEN provision.
Through a freedom of information request UTV has also seen the minutes of meetings of the Transformation Board tasked with overseeing the funding. It is chaired by the Head of the Civil Service Jayne Brady.
The minutes show that over the last year members have expressed ‘considerable concern’ about the level of progress across all the projects and the ‘minimal spend’ by the departments. The board has also asked for assurances that the delay in spending the money was not putting the projects at risk.
The Transformation Board minutes detail how members have had particular concerns around the ‘size and scale’ of the Education Department’s project to transform Special Educational Needs. Officials have repeatedly expressed caution around the plans and have sought assurances that it will deliver what it intends.
The SDLP Leader of the Opposition at Stormont Matthew O’Toole has said: “Clearly it takes time to deliver large scale transformation, but you can’t on the one hand complain about lack of money and tell the public that you have no money to help them with for example the cost of living, while at the same time you are literally leaving tens if not hundreds of millions of pounds of transformation money simply unspent.”
The departments maintain they are making progress with their projects.
The Executive Office said: “Transforming public services is an Executive priority, with the Transformation Fund deliberately designed to support sustained, system‑level change. The Fund operates as a four‑year programme, recognising that meaningful reform requires phased delivery.”
During a press conference last week the first minister admitted transformation was not easy to deliver quickly.
Michelle O’Neill said: “They take time to make a difference, you don’t just decide you are going to turn off something and turn something else on and you get an immediate result, unfortunately, I wish that was the reality but it’s not.”
The Finance Minister John O’Dowd defended the roll out of the money.
“It will take time for that investment to filter through. The board’s job is monitor and scrutinise the spend and I’m content at this stage we are making progress, I as Minister will continue to monitor that situation myself,” he told UTV’s View From Stormont.
“But it has to be minded this programme only started last year, the investment is in place. It will take time for it to step up and ramp up, but I will continue to monitor the situation along with the board.”
The Executive is preparing to announce how a further £100m of transformation funding will be spent.
With departments planning to spend up until 2029, it is likely to take several more years before the impact on services is felt.
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