5Act to take effect as if it were a Budget Act of the Assembly etc
1
The authorisations and appropriations in this Act, and the limits set by it, are to take effect as if they were authorisations and appropriations in, and limits set by, an Act of the Assembly; and accordingly any reference in any statutory provision to a Budget Act of the Assembly is to be regarded as including a reference to this Act.
2
The 2001 Act applies in respect of the year ending 31 March 2018 with the following modifications—
a
section 6(4) has effect as if for “if an estimate is approved by the Assembly for that body or person in respect of each financial year” there were substituted “if an estimate is laid before Parliament for that body or person in respect of the year ending 31 March 2018”;
b
section 9(1) has effect as if for “for which an estimate is approved by the Assembly in respect of a financial year” there were substituted “for which an estimate is laid before Parliament in respect of the year ending 31 March 2018”;
c
section 13(1) has effect as if for “where an estimate is approved by the Assembly for any body or person in respect of any financial year” there were substituted “where an estimate is laid before Parliament for any body or person in respect of the year ending 31 March 2018”.
3
For the purposes of preparing accounts for the year ending 31 March 2018 for—
a
the Northern Ireland Audit Office (as required by Article 6(3) of the Audit (Northern Ireland) Order 1987), or
b
the office of the Northern Ireland Public Services Ombudsman (as required by paragraph 19 of Schedule 1 to the Public Services Ombudsman Act (Northern Ireland) 2016),
any estimate of the use of resources for that year that is laid before Parliament is to be treated as if it had been laid before the Assembly under Article 6(2) of that Order or (as the case may be) under paragraph 18 of Schedule 1 to that Act.