Question to the Northern Ireland Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, whether his Department is taking steps to help minimise the number of staff in voluntary organisations who have been given a protective notice due to the ceasing of funding from EU programmes at the end of the 2022-23 financial year.

The UK Government, led by the Department of Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, has worked extensively with stakeholders in Northern Ireland to develop a UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF) Investment Plan for Northern Ireland. The UKSPF is not a like-for-like replacement for EU structural funding. It will allow us to invest in social programmes that target people and places most in need.

Over the next two years, the UKSPF will invest £127m in Northern Ireland, allowing voluntary and community organisations to deliver for their communities. A project competition is running until 27 January, and the Government aims to release funding for successful bidders from 1 April 2023.