Question to the Northern Ireland Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, to what projects and programmes he has allocated Shared Future funding under the Fresh Start Agreement in (a) 2020-21 and (b) forthcoming financial years.
In 2015, the UK Government provided £60m over five years in support of the Executive’s delivery of confidence and relationship building measures within and between communities, contributing to the conditions that will allow the removal of peace walls and the creation of a shared future.
The UK Government has released £12m in each financial year since 2016-17, with the final £12m being provided to the Executive in 2020-21. The Northern Ireland Budget for the 2020-21 financial year confirmed £12 million of non ring-fenced resource funding for Shared Future projects. The Northern Ireland Executive is responsible for allocating this non ring-fenced spending and has not yet published its decisions for the 2020-21 period.