AQW 19972/17-22

Mr Stewart Dickson
Alliance Party
East Antrim

Tabled Date: 07/06/2021
Answered On Date: 19/07/2021
Priority Written: Yes

Question:
To ask the Minister for the Economy (i) for her assessment of the recently launched UK Community Renewal Fund; and (ii) to detail her Department’s engagement with the UK Government regarding this scheme.

Answer:

EU replacement funding negotiations with the UK Government are led by the NI Finance Minister. There is no formal role for, or allocation of funding to the Department or NI Executive. This reduces our spending power in key priority areas. My predecessors have made several representations to the Secretary of State seeking an enhanced role that would help ensure better strategic alignment. Disappointingly, these representations and meetings at official level have had little influence.

The Community Renewal Fund announced as part of Budget 2021 is being delivered directly by the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government. The £11m allocated to Northern Ireland under this pilot Programme falls significantly short of what we would have historically spent on activities funded by EU Structural Funds. The Fund also cuts across a number of key policy areas of my Department. Where this happens, policy planning within the Department needs to be adjusted to reflect that funding now and in the future will be administered directly by MHCLG.

My predecessors have raised these issues and the need for a more meaningful role for impacted policy Departments with Westminster colleagues but to no avail.