Question Time: Finance and Personnel Monday 20 April 2015
Finance
Minister, Simon Hamilton, addressed the Civil
Service Voluntary Exit Scheme during today’s Question
Time. The scheme closed for applications on the 27 March 2015 and the
selection process has now begun. Successful applicants will receive
notification of an exit date and a quote from Civil Service pensions staff to
help decide whether they wish to accept the offer. Staff will then begin to
leave in tranches from September 2015 to March 2016. Maintaining business
continuity will be an important part of the process and measures will be put in
place to make sure vital posts will be covered. Over 7,000 applications were
received – more than covering the estimated 2,400 required. However the process
could be jeopardised by the stalling Welfare Reform legislation. As part of the
Stormont House Agreement £700m has been promised as a public-sector
transformation fund. A portion of this has been ear marked to fund the
Voluntary Exit Scheme. Failure to agree Welfare Reform could put these funds at
risk – “It is, therefore, imperative that we move forward with welfare reform
and, indeed, all aspects of the Stormont House Agreement.”
The Minister
also provided his assessment of the non-domestic rates revaluation.
73,000 business properties have been revalued using up-to-date market evidence
to help re-distribute the rating burden in a fairer way. The new values will be
used to calculate business rate bills from 1 April 2015. The Minister described
the process as “the right thing to do and has helped to rebalance the rating
system. We could not have continued to ask commercial ratepayers to pay
business rates that are shared out on the basis of 2001 rental levels given the
fundamental changes that have taken place in the way in which people live,
work, shop and go about their business “. However the redistribution means
that “there are winners and losers”. For example the revaluation may prove more
beneficial to high street stores and town centres and less well for modern
convenience stores and large edge-of-town food stores – “This reflects their
success in the real world and mirrors the relative decline of many of our
traditional shopping areas. At the end of the day, it is not LPS or DFP
that decides who should pay more or who should pay less; the property market
has already done that”.
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