AQW 30015/17-22

Mr Andrew Muir
Alliance Party
North Down

Tabled Date: 18/02/2022
Answered On Date: 02/03/2022
Priority Written: No

Question:
To ask the Minister for Communities, in the absence of an agreed budget for the next financial year, what action she will take to mitigate the impact on Local Government.

Answer:

The De-Rating Grant (DRG) and Transferred Functions Grant (TFG), due to be paid to district councils by my Department in the next financial year, are statutory and not discretionary and therefore will be paid out of any budget made available to my Department for 2022/23.

However, as a Budget cannot be set in the absence of an Executive my Department has no budget allocated for 2022/23. Therefore I am considering the options I have to provide certainty in relation to the other grants that are normally provided to Local Government.