Question to the Northern Ireland Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government why money allocated to Fresh Start Agreement funding has been repurposed to the general Northern Ireland budget.

The UK Government is providing the Executive with a significant £3.3 billion spending settlement to stabilise its finances and protect public services. Within this package, we are increasing the spending power of the Executive by repurposing over £700 million of existing and new UK Government funds.

The Fresh Start agreement in 2015 made provision for funding for integrated and shared education over 10 years. As that funding was due to expire at the end of 2024-25, the decision to remove the ring-fence on £150m of Fresh Start Agreement funding was made by the UK Government on taking a coherent look across its existing funding in Northern Ireland. We came to a considered position in response to the challenging budgetary position faced by the Northern Ireland Executive.

The Northern Ireland Executive will be able to decide how it uses the non-ring fenced funding element of reprioritised and new UK Government funding streams which contribute to the settlement package.

In line with commitments in the Belfast Agreement, the Government will continue to invest in and support educational integration in Northern Ireland as an essential aspect of reconciliation.