UNDER pressure education and health budgets are to benefit from a multi-million pound re-allocation of money.
The Department of Finance yesterday confirmed that key public services would receive £73.6 million while £40.9m is being made available for building projects.
Some of this money is being drawn from the DUP's confidence-and-supply deal with the Conservative Party.
Health will receive £53.9m while education and infrastructure will get £26m each.
Some of the cash came from other Stormont departments while some is being taken from the autumn budget.
A total of £20m of the £50m funding available to support in year pressures in health and education in the confidence and supply agreement is being drawn down now from the Treasury. Of this, £15m will be provided to health and £5m to education.
Health and education received separate funding boosts in October of £40m and £10m to address "inescapable" cost pressures and tackle waiting lists.
The overall education budget, announced in July, was £24m less than the closing 2016/17 budget.
This new £26m will help meet funding pressures facing schools "in such areas as school budgets, special education needs and essential health and safety related maintenance".
Health's extra money will address pay pressures and invest waiting list as well as meeting ICT, medical equipment and cyber security costs.
The Department of Education said it was acutely aware of the financial strain on schools and other services.
"This £26m will be used to address pressures in school budgets which we know are emerging this year because of the financial constraints under which the education sector is operating, as well as for special educational needs and essential health and safety related maintenance," a spokeswoman said.
"The department is liaising with the Education Authority to assess how this funding can be best targeted to the key areas of need across the sector so that it can work towards operating within its 2017/18 budget."
A Department of Finance spokesman said the allocations were being made now so that services could benefit prior to the end of the financial year.
"In particular, some further £66m will now be available for health and education resource pressures in year. Of this, some £7m will be made available for winter pressures in primary and secondary care and some £7m will be invested in additional treatments for patients who are currently on waiting lists."
Shadow Secretary of State Owen Smith however said the fact the money had been allocated without parliamentary approval, and was part of the Tory-DUP pact, was a cause for concern.
“No one is going to oppose more money being spent on health and education, but allocating this money before approval has been sought and granted in Parliament will only increase concerns about the lack of transparency and accountability that surrounds the DUP-Tory Confidence and Supply arrangement," he said.
"The Secretary of State was very clear when he presented his budget for Northern Ireland... that this money was not included within that budget precisely because authorisation would be required from Parliament before the allocation was made. Now it appears Parliament will get to vote on the issue, but only after the fact.
"It’s a bit like applying for planning approval after you’ve built the bungalow and it is unlikely to help build trust in the openness and accountability of decision making in Northern Ireland, now or in the future.”
