To ask the Minister of Finance how many Economic Appraisals his Department has reviewed in each of the past five financial years broken down by (i) Departments; (ii) arms-length bodies; and (iii) other public bodies.

Economic appraisals (also referred to as business cases) are submitted by departments to DoF’s Supply Division by way of seeking DoF approval for expenditure decision which are outside the department’s delegated authority. Economic appraisals for expenditure decisions below departments’ delegated limits are not submitted to DoF.

Irrespective of whether the case originates from an Arms Length Body or the core department; it is submitted to DoF by the department, as the Departmental Accounting Officer must be satisfied with the case before it is submitted to DoF.

The breakdown of the number of economic appraisals which DoF have been submitted to DoF to be reviewed in each of the past five years is set out in the table below, based on the information provided by departments at the time they were submitted: