RHI-22 Response Accepted

Proactive DoF Monitoring

Recommendation

Particularly where a policy initiative is demand-led, novel, complex and/or likely to be lengthy, consideration should be given to increasing Department of Finance involvement from an early stage and on an ongoing basis, including a more proactive role in monitoring the financial progress of the relevant initiative, rather than merely reactively dealing with periodic requests for additional expenditure or approval.

Published Evidence Summary
The following publicly available evidence relates to this recommendation:
- In October 2021, the NI Executive accepted this recommendation in full, stating that the Department of Finance now applies non-standard conditions of approval for complex projects with tailored monitoring (NI Executive Response to RHI Inquiry, Department of Finance, October 2021).
- The NIAO Second Progress Report (October 2024) assessed this recommendation as Implemented, stating that proactive Department of Finance monitoring provisions for demand-led, novel, or complex initiatives were in place (NIAO Second Progress Report, October 2024).
Sources
How was this evidence gathered?
Evidence searched by Claude (Anthropic) on 10 Apr 2026
Checked data held on this site (government responses, progress updates, independent evidence)
Jurisdiction
Northern Ireland
Response
Accepted
Accepted Department of Finance
07 Oct 2021

[Note: The NI Executive responded to recommendations 19-23, 29-33 together as a group under the 'Governance and Financial Controls' theme.] Accepted in full. DoF now applies non-standard conditions of approval for complex projects with tailored monitoring approach demonstrating increased proactivity.

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Progress Timeline
Official Report
15 Oct 2024

NIAO Second Progress Report (October 2024): Implemented. Proactive DoF monitoring provisions for demand-led, novel or complex initiatives are in place.

Source
Source
Inquiry RHI Inquiry
Report The Report of the Independent Public Inquiry into the Non-Domestic Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) Scheme 13 Mar 2020
View Source
Responsible Bodies
Department of Finance Primary
Themes & Tags
Public project assurance methodology Departmental capacity for grant design Governance Financial Monitoring Demand-Led Schemes
Recommendation age 6.2 yrs
Last formal update 593 days ago