AQW 6586/16-21
Mrs Naomi Long
Alliance Party
East Belfast
Tabled Date: 07/11/2016
Answered On Date: 17/11/2016
Priority Written: No
Question:
To ask the Minister of Finance in light of his announcement of the establishment of a £5million Community Regeneration Fund, (i) whether this policy has been, or will be, subjected to equality screening in line with the commitment under paragraph 4.5 of the Department’s statutory equality scheme; and (ii) whether the fund will be allocated on the basis of objective need, with the funding for external organisations undertaken through an open application process on the basis of published criteria.
Answer:
In bringing projects to the Executive for funding through the in-year monitoring process, departments must ensure proposals have been subject to equality screening. In that respect I would expect proposals for funding under the Community Regeneration Fund to be no different from other proposals brought forward in the January Monitoring round. The Community Regeneration Fund will seek to target infrastructure projects in our most deprived and marginalised communities, and seek to maintain momentum on peace building and enhance our diverse heritages. Funding must be allocated in the January Monitoring round and spent in this year. To this end I will be engaging with Ministerial Colleagues over the coming weeks to identify suitable capital projects. The Executive will then agree allocations from the £5 million available after considering the projects identified by departments.
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