Under Public Financial Procedures, at the end of each financial year unspent Voted monies must normally be surrendered to the Department of Finance. However, under the Multi-Annual Capital Envelope Framework, up to 10% of unspent Capital allocations in any year may be carried over to the following year. Table 1 below sets out the Exchequer provision for my Department for each of the years 2007, 2008 and 2009, along with the unspent surplus, the amount of un-used Capital allocations carried over to the subsequent year, and the net amount surrendered to the Department of Finance. Table 2 sets out the main areas where savings were realised in each of the years in question.
Table 1: Details of Departmental budget and surpluses, 2007-2009
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|
2007
|
2008
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2009
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|
|
€,000
|
€,000
|
€,000
|
(a)
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Departmental Budget1
|
1,407,633
|
1,516,345
|
1,495,714
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|
|
|
|
(b)
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Surplus for year
|
67,396
|
59,037
|
18,909
|
(c)
|
of which, unspent Capital allocations carried over to the subsequent year
|
23,428
|
18,326
|
6,440
|
(d)
|
Surplus surrendered to the Dept. of Finance (b-c)
|
43,968
|
40,711
|
12,469
|
1In addition, the Department had an allocation from the National Training Fund (NTF) of €395,666 million for 2007, €409,907 million for 2008 and €381,483 million for 2009. Any surplus in NTF expenditure at the end of each year is retained by the Fund and is not returned to the Department of Finance. From 1 May 2010, responsibility for the NTF transferred to the Minister for Education and Skills.
Table 2: Areas where main savings were realised
Year
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Explanation for main savings
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2007
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Appropriations-in-Aid were almost €20 million higher than forecast, reducing the requirement to draw-down Exchequer funds.
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IDA’s Own Resource Income from grant refunds was higher than expected, resulting in a lower requirement for Exchequer funding.
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The Department and its agencies carried a high number of vacancies throughout the year, with a consequent impact on the start-up of a number of new activities.
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Planning and related issues led to delays in Enterprise Ireland infrastructural projects.
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Reduction in applications under some demand-led grant schemes also contributed to the underspend.
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2008
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As a result of a Government decision in July 2008 to reduce public expenditure, savings were realised in a number of areas, including:
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FAS
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Science & Technology Programmes
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Science & Technology Programmes
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National Consumer Agency
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Administrative Budget expenditure
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Forfas
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Workplace Innovation Fund
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Enterprise Ireland
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DA Ireland
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The savings were due to a combination of administrative efficiencies and a lower-take up of grants in some demand-led schemes.
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2009
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There was a lower take-up than expected on some FAS programmes which were introduced in 2009.
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FAS also achieved administrative efficiencies.
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Savings were made by the National Consumer Agency due to staff vacancies and related non-pay savings.
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Smaller savings were made on other programmes.
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