Written question asked by Lord Dodds of Duncairn (Democratic Unionist Party) on Thursday, 14 October 2004, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 25 October 2004. It was answered by Barry Gardiner (Labour) on Monday, 25 October 2004 on behalf of the Northern Ireland Office.

Northern Ireland Office

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what measures are being taken to tackle the overspend in the budget of the Belfast Education and Library Board.

Answer: Mr. Dodds: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what measures are being taken to tackle the overspend in the budget of the Belfast Education and Library Board. [192376] Mr. Gardiner: The Belfast Education and Library Board significantly overspent its budget allocation for 2003-04 and, unless urgent action is taken, is likely to register a further, significant overspend in 2004-05. This is not a tenable position. I have therefore asked the Board to quantify, as a matter of urgency, the precise scale of its overspend and to bring forward a plan setting out the actions that would need to be taken to ensure that expenditure in the current financial year is contained within the budgetary limits voted by Parliament. I have also asked for work to be undertaken to tackle the systems and other weaknesses that contributed to the overspend and to its late discovery, building on the findings from the investigation carried out over the summer by independent consultants. Once I am satisfied that this work has been undertaken and that appropriate budgetary control measures have been established, I will want to discuss with the Board options for recovery of the amounts overspent.

Secondary information