Question to the Northern Ireland Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what allocations have been made from New Deal for Northern Ireland funding to date.

The Government is firmly committed to strengthening the Union, Northern Ireland’s place within it and driving forward economic growth and prosperity into the future.

The £400m New Deal package of funding announced in December 2020, will boost economic growth as well as increasing Northern Ireland’s competitiveness and investment in infrastructure. This builds on the commitment articulated in the Government’s 10 May 2020 Command Paper, The UK’s approach to the Northern Ireland Protocol.

The New Deal funding is additional to Northern Ireland’s Barnett share, demonstrating the Government’s firm commitment to Northern Ireland’s economy, and recognising the unique position of Northern Ireland following the UK’s exit from the European Union and the implementation of the Protocol on the ground in Northern Ireland.

The Secretary of State for Northern Ireland announced on 8 March 2020 that nearly half of the £400m New Deal funding had now been allocated. This includes £23m having been made available to the Northern Ireland Department for the Economy to invest £15m over three years in skills, and £8m over two years to promote trade and investment in Northern Ireland from overseas markets.

The other allocations made so far will develop systems that will support the movement of agrifood products between Great Britain and Northern Ireland, to be delivered by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs; and to build resilience in medicine supply chains, with the Department of Health and Social Care in the lead to deliver on this priority work.

We will continue to work closely with the Northern Ireland Executive to maximise opportunities this funding offers and further decisions will be made in due course on how the remainder of this fund will be allocated.