Department of Finance and Personnel

Department of Finance and Personnel
Department overview
Formed June 1921 (as Ministry of Finance)
Preceding Department
Jurisdiction Northern Ireland
Headquarters Rathgael House, Balloo Road, Bangor, Co. Down, BT19 7NA
Employees 3,586 (September 2011)[1]
Annual budget £188.6 million (current) & £18.9 million (capital) for 2011–12[2]
Minister responsible
Website www.dfpni.gov.uk
Northern Ireland
This article is part of a series on the
politics and government of
Northern Ireland

British politics portal

The Department of Finance and Personnel (DFP, Irish: An Roinn Airgeadais agus Pearsanra,[3] Ulster Scots: Männystrie o Siller an Fowk Guideship[4] or Depairtment o Finance an Personnel[5]) is a devolved Northern Ireland government department in the Northern Ireland Executive. The minister with overall responsibility for the department is the Minister for Finance and Personnel.

Aim

DFP's overall aim is to help the Northern Ireland Executive "secure the most appropriate and effective use of resources and services for the benefit of the community".[6]

The incumbent Minister is Mervyn Storey (Democratic Unionist Party).

Responsibilities

The department is responsible for the following policy areas:

Some financial matters are reserved to Westminster and are therefore not devolved: [7]

In addition, some matters are excepted and were not intended for devolution:[8]

DFP's main counterparts in the United Kingdom Government are:

In the Irish Government, the main counterparts are:

History

A Ministry of Finance was established on the formation of Northern Ireland in June 1921. A finance ministry also existed in the 1974 Northern Ireland Executive and became known as the Department of Finance and Personnel under direct rule.

Following a referendum on the Belfast Agreement on 23 May 1998 and the granting of royal assent to the Northern Ireland Act 1998 on 19 November 1998, a Northern Ireland Assembly and Northern Ireland Executive were established by the United Kingdom Government under Prime Minister Tony Blair. The process was known as devolution and was set up to return devolved legislative powers to Northern Ireland. DFP is therefore one of six direct rule Northern Ireland departments which continued in existence after devolution in December 1999 by the Northern Ireland Act 1998 and The Departments (Northern Ireland) Order 1999.

A devolved minister first took office on 2 December 1999. Devolution was suspended for four periods, during which the department came under the responsibility of direct rule ministers from the Northern Ireland Office:

Since 8 May 2007, devolution has operated without interruption.

Ministers of Finance and Personnel

MinisterImagePartyTook officeLeft office
    Mark Durkan SDLP 2 December 199911 February 2000
Office suspended
    Mark Durkan SDLP 30 May 200014 December 2001[26]
    Seán Farren SDLP 14 December 200114 October 2002
Office suspended
    Peter Robinson DUP 8 May 2007 5 June 2008
    Nigel Dodds DUP 9 June 2008 1 July 2009
    Sammy Wilson DUP 1 July 2009 29 July 2013
    Simon Hamilton DUP 29 July 2013 11 May 2015
    Arlene Foster DUP 11 May 2015 12 January 2016
    Mervyn Storey DUP 12 January 2016 Incumbent

Direct rule ministers

During the periods of suspension, the following ministers of the Northern Ireland Office were responsible for the department:

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Northern Ireland Quarterly Employment Survey Historical Data". Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment. Retrieved 28 December 2011.
  2. ↑ "Budget 2011–15" (PDF). Department of Finance and Personnel. Retrieved 28 December 2011.
  3. ↑ Department of Finance and Personnel – Irish Department of Finance and Personnel
  4. ↑ Department of Finance and Personnel – Ulster-Scots Department of Finance and Personnel
  5. ↑ North-South Ministerial Council: 2010 Annual Report in Ulster Scots
  6. ↑ Northern Ireland Budget 2011–15, page 65
  7. ↑ Northern Ireland Act 1998, Schedule 3
  8. ↑ Northern Ireland Act 1998, Schedule 2
  9. ↑ HM Treasury: About us
  10. ↑ Cabinet Office: About the Cabinet Office
  11. ↑ Ministry of Justice: About us
  12. ↑ Communities and Local Government: About us
  13. ↑ Land Registry: Framework document
  14. ↑ Department of Finance: How the Department works
  15. ↑ Department of Justice and Equality: Law Reform
  16. ↑ Department of Justice, Equality and Defence: Property Registration
  17. ↑ Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: Building Standards
  18. ↑ Article 2, Northern Ireland Act 2000 (Commencement) Order 2000
  19. ↑ Article 2, Northern Ireland Act 2000 (Restoration of Devolved Government) Order 2000
  20. ↑ Article 1, Northern Ireland Act 2000 (Suspension of Devolved Government) Order 2001
  21. ↑ Article 2, Northern Ireland Act 2000 (Restoration of Devolved Government) Order 2001
  22. ↑ Article 1, Northern Ireland Act 2000 (Suspension of Devolved Government) (No.2) Order 2001
  23. ↑ Article 2, Northern Ireland Act 2000 (Restoration of Devolved Government) (No.2) Order 2001
  24. ↑ Article 1, Northern Ireland Act 2000 (Suspension of Devolved Government) Order 2002
  25. ↑ Article 2, Northern Ireland Act 2000 (Restoration of Devolved Government) Order 2007
  26. ↑ Office suspended for 24 hours on 11 August 2001 and 22 September 2001

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Tuesday, January 12, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.