Extractive industries in the UK: revenue allocations
Published 25 February 2019
© Crown copyright 2019
This publication is licensed under the terms of the Open Government Licence v3.0 except where otherwise stated. To view this licence, visit nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3 or write to the Information Policy Team, The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: psi@nationalarchives.gov.uk.
Where we have identified any third party copyright information you will need to obtain permission from the copyright holders concerned.
This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/extractive-industries-transparency-initiative-payments-report-2017/extractive-industries-in-the-uk-revenue-allocations
The UK government publishes full details of its income and expenditure (outturn figures, estimates and forecasts) (see for instance HM Treasury, Budget 2018). Budget forecasting is overseen by the independent Office for Budget Responsibility. Government accounts are audited by the National Audit Office (NAO) and scrutinised by the Public Accounts Committee.
With very few exceptions, central government receipts are not hypothecated to specific items or types of expenditure. The only central government extractive revenues currently earmarked for specific UK programmes or geographic regions involve the allocation of a population-based share of income from seaward petroleum licences to the Northern Ireland government, as required by section 2 of the Miscellaneous Financial Provisions Act 1968. The amount transferred in 2017/18 was £1,235,000 (£1,738,000 in 2016/17) (see Oil and Gas Authority, Annual Report and Accounts 2017-18.
In addition, the Oil and Gas Authority (OGA) Levy part-funds the operation of the Oil and Gas Authority[footnote 1]. The rates of the Levy are set by statutory instrument so have to be approved by Parliament. Any excess of income over expenditure is repaid to levy-payers which can result in net refunds for some levy-payers in a calendar year.
The OGA is a vested company with operational independence from government. However, the Secretary of State (SoS) for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy is the company’s sole shareholder and is ultimately responsible to Parliament for the OGA; the OGA Board of Directors is accountable to the SoS. The Permanent Secretary of the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) is the Principal Accounting Officer for the OGA and is responsible to Parliament for any grant funding of the OGA; the OGA’s Chief Executive is responsible to the Permanent Secretary. The OGA’s Annual Report and Accounts are approved by the Board of Directors and the SoS.