Question to the Northern Ireland Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what consideration he has given to ring-fencing any element of the Local Growth Fund allocation for Northern Ireland for community and voluntary sector services.

The Northern Ireland Office; Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, and the Northern Ireland Executive have worked to provide community and voluntary sector organisations with the certainty they need to plan for this year.

The RDEL element of the Local Growth Fund in 2026/27 will be split between economic inactivity provision delivery partners and Go Succeed, in the same proportion to funding received in 2025/26 under the UK Shared Prosperity Fund. This was agreed between the UK Government and the Northern Ireland Executive.

The record £19.3bn settlement for the Spending Review period - as well as the £370m announced at the Budget - provides the Northern Ireland Executive with the means to provide additional funding to support the voluntary and community sector, should they wish to do so.