I welcome the opportunity to speak on the Budget (No. 2) Bill. The Committee is focused on working with the AERA Minister and his Department to achieve the best outcomes within the Department's budget allocation.

It is worth highlighting how the lack of a Programme for Government makes it more difficult to scrutinise and support the Minister's spending decisions. Scrutiny has also been hampered by having had no sight yet of the Department's business plan for 2024-25. I imagine that that business plan may now need a substantial revision after the meagre June monitoring round allocation of £5·5 million, given that the Department's bid was for £28·8 million, including £11 million for bovine TB programme delivery; £7·8 million for farm support and development programme delivery; £3·9 million for an environmental improvement plan, which included the Lough Neagh delivery scheme; and £3·8 million for green growth and to tackle climate change.

It was of concern at the time to hear that the Minister was relying on June monitoring and subsequent monitoring rounds to meet statutory and contractual elements. We were right to be worried. The £5·5 million that has been allocated would cover only half of the £11 million for bovine TB compensation. That is only half of one bid.

Actions to tackle climate change actions and to support agriculture have not been viewed as areas of focus in the June monitoring round, or, indeed, in the main Budget, by the Department of Finance. The Committee will need to see where that leaves the Department, particularly in meeting the statutory obligations that are not covered and the unfunded contractual pressures. There is also still no funding to reverse the decisions that were taken in 2023-24 to help DAERA live within last year's budget.

I will now move on to the Department's budget itself. I will quickly remind Members of the allocations for DAERA and then move on to some specifics that the Committee discussed with officials at its meeting on 6 June.

The total net resource budget of around £624 million for 2024-25 is significantly lower than the total provision for 2023-24, which was around £764 million. The total net capital budget of £95 million for 2024-25 compares with £97·5 million for 2023-24. Those allocations do not, however, come close to what was bid for by DAERA, so, although any additional resource is welcome, it is very hard to be hugely positive about the £5·5 million that was announced for DAERA in the June monitoring round, as it will not even touch the sides of what is needed. The bids for capital funding, including the earmarked bids, were for £155 million, of which only 61·2% were marked as being inescapable and pre-committed. The total allocation is well below the £95 million required.

At its meeting on 6 June, the Committee heard from officials that there are huge challenges for DAERA. The Department bid for £95·8 million of resource DEL, which was against the opening 2023-24 position, and for £155·2 million of capital DEL from a zero base. It received only an additional £15·2 million of resource DEL and £95 million of capital DEL, however. There is also the £332·5 million of Treasury earmarked resource, which is almost 58% of the total resource DEL allocation. That means that only 42% of the Department's resource allocation is funded by the Executive.

The Committee heard that a number of resource DEL issues had an impact this year. For example, the significant in-year funding in 2023-24 for the public sector did not roll forward into this year. We heard about contractual pressures, such as pay and pensions, and unfunded statutory obligations in the Department, such as bovine TB compensation and the Office for Environmental Protection.

On a somewhat positive note — I looked for one — officials advised us that, although less than 16% of its resource DEL bids were funded by the Executive, the allocation of almost £244 million would still allow the Department to take forward a significant amount of business-as-usual work.

However, difficult decisions have been made by the Minister around staffing and operating efficiently to target funding towards its top two priorities of tackling climate change and protecting our natural environment.

Members considered a range of areas in the Budget allocation, and I will mention a few of those now. TB compensation is a statutory obligation, yet DAERA is relying on in-year funding. When it pressed on this matter, the Committee was advised that if the £11 million bid were not met in June, there would be another two bites of the cherry in October and January. The officials highlighted that if bids continued not to be met, TB is a volatile disease and the rates can fluctuate. This does not appear to be good planning to meet a statutory obligation.

The Committee raised concerns about the lack of indication of the costs for potential remediation options for Mobuoy. Officials advised that the business case has not yet been finalised and signed off by economists and that consultation on proposed options has yet to be done. We believed that the financial aspect should also be factored into that business case, which does not seem to have been done.

Members questioned officials on the £5·7 million for tackling rural poverty and social isolation and the rural business community investment programme. We were looking for indication of the likely projects and anticipated outcomes. We also queried the budget for actions around Lough Neagh, including the Northern Ireland Environment Agency additional enforcement team to focus on hotspots in the Lough Neagh catchment, increasing inspections under the nutrients action programme and delivering enhanced water framework directive monitoring. We heard of an additional 14 posts in the environment, marine and fisheries group, partly to undertake strategic policy development in support of longer-term recommendations to tackle blue-green algae. Members also queried the review by the estate transformation division, looking at the 860 buildings owned by DAERA across 240 sites with a view to any potential savings that could be made.

The Committee looks forward to engaging with the Department on addressing its priorities throughout the year. As a general point, although many climate change actions are being led by DAERA, there is a need for all Members to be mindful of the relevant cross-cutting expenditure and its effectiveness in delivering the outcomes needed for a just transition for the whole of Northern Ireland.