Question to the Northern Ireland Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, if his Department will take steps to replace EU funding to voluntary organisations in Northern Ireland which are due to lose that funding 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.