Asked by: Stephen Farry (Alliance - North Down)
Question to the Northern Ireland Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what criteria the Government is using to ensure that New Deal funding will be used to support growth and prosperity in Northern Ireland.
Answered by Steve Baker
The objectives of New Deal for Northern Ireland funding are helping to boost economic growth, increasing Northern Ireland’s competitiveness overseas, and investing in infrastructure. Fostering economic growth is key to building a stable and prosperous future for Northern Ireland, and the £400m New Deal funding is enabling Northern Irish businesses and its people to innovate and invest.
Specific objectives include promoting Northern Ireland’s potential as a leader in innovative technology and to invest in the skills of the people of Northern Ireland in key growth areas such as cybersecurity and green technology.
Further New Deal funded projects in development will also be directly targeted at supporting growth and prosperity. Additionally, any projects will have to pass a robust approvals process with HM Treasury, to ensure they offer value for money and are focused on the core objectives of the New Deal for Northern Ireland.
Asked by: Stephen Farry (Alliance - North Down)
Question to the Northern Ireland Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, whether Northern Ireland Executive approval is required for the Department for Communities to establish the building safety fund to remove dangerous cladding from high-rise buildings in Northern Ireland.
Answered by Steve Baker
In the absence of Northern Ireland Executive ministers, the Northern Ireland (Executive Formation etc.) Act 2022 provides Northern Ireland civil servants with the clarity they require to take the limited but necessary decisions to maintain delivery of public services and operate in the public interest. Specifically in clause 3, subsections (1) and (3) remove the need for Ministers or an Executive Committee to be in place to enable the exercise of departmental functions by senior officers in Northern Ireland departments if they deem it in the public interest.
The accompanying guidance to the Act, published on 19 December 2022, helps NI departments determine whether exercising a function is in the public interest and lists the principles that they should take into account when making such a determination. The Government cannot and should not anticipate the decisions that civil servants will need to take under this Act. Consequently, the Government does not intend to comment on which decisions require Executive approval.
Asked by: Stephen Farry (Alliance - North Down)
Question to the Northern Ireland Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what plans he has to use funding guaranteed through the New Deal for Northern Ireland financial package to support skills and employability measures.
Answered by Steve Baker
The Government recognises the importance of supporting skills and employability measures in Northern Ireland and the need to ensure that there is a pipeline of skilled people in order to boost growth and attract investment to help Northern Ireland to succeed now and in the future.
This is why £15 million has been allocated from the New Deal for Northern Ireland to deliver Skill Up in partnership with the Northern Ireland Department for the Economy. Skill Up is supporting skills provision in Northern Ireland by delivering 20,000 free training places in key growth areas for the economy, such as cyber and advanced manufacturing, giving people in Northern Ireland the skills they need to gain well-paid jobs and employers the pipeline of skilled workers they need for their businesses to grow.
Asked by: Stephen Farry (Alliance - North Down)
Question to the Northern Ireland Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what expenditure has been incurred through New Deal for Northern Ireland funding as of 1 January 2023.
Answered by Steve Baker
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 for Northern Ireland package of funding is helping to boost economic growth and increase Northern Ireland’s competitiveness.
Nearly half of the £400 million New Deal for Northern Ireland funding has now been allocated, including £23 million being made available to the Northern Ireland Department for the Economy. Out of the £23 million, £15 million has been provided over three years for Skill Up, which is delivering 20,000 fully funded places, in key growth areas in Northern Ireland’s Further Education colleges and universities. The remaining £8 million has been provided to Invest NI to promote trade and investment in Northern Ireland and support businesses to access global markets. The other allocations made so far will develop systems that will support the movement of agri-food products between Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
Northern Ireland Office officials are working with a number of stakeholders, including Northern Ireland Executive and UK Government Departments to identify interventions that will support growth and prosperity in Northern Ireland and the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland will make further decisions in due course on how the remainder of the New Deal for Northern Ireland funding will be used.
Asked by: Stephen Farry (Alliance - North Down)
Question to the Northern Ireland Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of allocating the £250m that the Executive is permitted to borrow over the short-term for cash-management purposes to manage in year pressures within the Northern Ireland Budget for 2022-23.
Answered by Chris Heaton-Harris
I have worked closely with the Chief Secretary to the Treasury to explore the available funding options in setting the Northern Ireland Budget for 2022-23, including Executive borrowing.
The budget set in my statement on 24 November is an appropriate settlement that reflects the key pressures in Northern Ireland but it does not remove the pressing need to have locally accountable political leaders in place to take the fundamental decisions which will secure a more sustainable future for the people of Northern Ireland.
Asked by: Stephen Farry (Alliance - North Down)
Question to the Northern Ireland Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of moving the date of the 2023 Local Government elections in Northern Ireland due to the date set for the Coronation.
Answered by Steve Baker
The Secretary of State for Northern Ireland is currently considering the options available to ensure people in Northern Ireland can celebrate the Coronation of King Charles III while ensuring the smooth running of the democratic process.