Health is big winner in Farren's draft budget

The Minister of Finance and Personnel today published the executive's draft budget spending plans for 2003-2006, and the largest single benefactor is the Health, Social Services and Public Safety.

The health department's expenditure will rise by 13.6% to over £3 billion in 2003-04. This includes allocations from the Executive Programme Funds and the Reinvestment and Reform Initiative.

Dr Farren said: “In our discussions in the executive there was clear recognition of the very significant demands on the health service at this time. The reality is that it needs increases of around 10% to maintain standards of care, because of the cost structure of the service.

“This represents a significant percentage of our budget, and illustrates the priority we have given to the health service."

In announcing substantial increases for other top priorities, Mr Farren described his budget as "radical" and "reform driven".

The Minister said: “This is firstly a reform driven budget… it is radical in that it represents a departure from previous spending plans in order to meet the priorities established by the assembly."

The budget is the first time the Executive has agreed three-year spending plans and, alongside the next round of allocations to infrastructure projects, which will come later in the autumn, the minister said this means that "we will have a much better basis for the planning of public services – to the benefit of the people we serve".

Elsewhere in other departments budget allocations include:

• The allocation proposed for the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development represents an increase of 13% for 2003-04 over 2002-03
• The Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure would receive £96.6 million in 2003-04, an increase of 9.9%
• The Department of Education would see expenditure rise to over £1.5 billion in 2003-04 – an increase of 6.6% in comparison to 2002-03
• The Department of the Environment will see an increase of 10% in 2003-04 above the 2002-03 allocation
• However, the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment was granted a flexible budget, the elasticity of which would allow DETI and Invest NI "to pursue and secure all possible worthwhile investment projects". For 2003-04, the high end of the range for DETI would be similar to the budget for 2002-03, with the maximum reflective of the economic climate
• The Department of Finance and Personnel will see funding of £165 million for 2003-04, rising to £184.6 million for 2005-06
The Department for Employment and Learning’s allocation of £669.8 million for 2003-04, represents an increase of 6.2% in comparison to 2002-03
• The £591.2 million pounds spending plans for the Department for Regional Development, would provide an increase of 4.3% compared to the 2002-03 allocation
• The provision of £569.5 million for the Department for Social Development in 2003-04, amounts to a rise of 4.2%, rising to £616.3 million by 2005-06
• For the Office of the First Minister and the Deputy First Minister the draft budget proposes departmental expenditure totalling £38.6 million in 2003-04, rising to £43.3 million in 2005-06.

Maurice Dunlop, Chairman of the BMA's NI Council, said the budget was "encouraging", but added that funding must be targeted within the context of a coherent strategic plan. "All too often money disappears into the vast caverns of the NHS and is lost," he said.

(GMcG)