Question to the Northern Ireland Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what his timescale is for making city and growth deals payments for Northern Ireland in the event of (a) restoration of devolution and (b) devolution not being restored in the next 12 months.

The release of financial contributions towards City and Growth deals can only be made with the sign-off of Full Business Cases. The timescale to achieve this is primarily dependent on the pace and resourcing of the relevant Councils and Deal partners. For devolved projects, a restored Executive will have to consider the question of match-funding and agreement of individual projects.