evidence: The Independent Fiscal Commission (of which I was a member) estimated that areas of ‘super-parity’ cost Northern Ireland around £600 to £700 million in 2020/21, or some 4 per cent of the Northern Ireland Budget. £345 million was the amount allocated to water charges as taken out of the Northern Ireland Executive budget to ‘pay’ for the fact that Northern Ireland residents do not pay water charges. Specifically, the Northern Ireland Executive has extended the power for the Department for Infrastructure to pay a subsidy to NI Water, in lieu of domestic water charging since 2007. [...] At the other end of the spectrum, we have ‘sub-parity’, where childcare stands out as an area that lags behind other parts of the UK. The Executive does receive a Barnett consequential as a result of UK Government spending on childcare provision which we receive through the block grant, but these monies are not currently being used to provide parity on these areas of policy. England offers 30 hours per week of free childcare, for 38 weeks of the year to all three- and four-year-olds to all eligible working parents’ children. By September 2025, the provision will be extended and will cover all children above the age of nine months. The same provision is not available in Northern Ireland.