Vol. 559 No. 1
107 Mr. Timmins asked the Minister for Finance if funding that he has allocated to various Departments for specific projects is not utilised, if this funding is returned to his Department; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [25668/02]
The allocations for all departmental spending on both current and capital services are set out each year in the annual Revised Estimates. If the full funding allocation given to a Department for a specific project is not used – for whatever reason – the Department concerned has some scope to reallocate that funding to other programmes within its area of expenditure. The public financial procedures allow – subject to my sanction – virement of savings on one or more sub-heads to meet excess expenditure on another sub-head or sub-heads in the same Vote.
If Departments or offices do not spend their full allocation in any year, those savings are returned to the Exchequer. The statutory authority for expenditure derives from the Central Fund (Permanent Provisions) Act, 1965, and the annual Appropriation Acts. The Central Fund (Permanent Provisions) Act, 1965, provides that any balance unspent at the end of the year must be surrendered to the Exchequer.
I have already told this House that I believe that the financial management system should provide incentives for Ministers and Departments to improve efficiency and cost effectiveness. I am, accordingly, currently putting in place arrangements to ensure that where savings are generated during the course of the year as a result of specific policy measures taken by a Minister to curtail or eliminate a scheme-programme, or on foot of specific efficiency measures in relation to such a scheme-programme, those savings should generally be available for other high priority programmes within the same Department.
