To ask the Minister of Finance for an update on discussions with the UK Treasury on the Local Growth Fund.

Mr O'Dowd

With your permission, Mr Speaker, I will answer questions 7 and 13 together. I may need some extra time, if that is possible. I have serious concerns about the approach that the British Government are taking to local growth funding here. My officials have been advised that the £46 million announced in the spending review is mostly capital funding. The Secretary of State had previously assured me that there would be flexibility with the local growth fund, and I am deeply disappointed that that is not the case. If the British Government proceed with their approach, it will have serious implications for our community and voluntary sector. I have been pressing British Government Ministers for clarity on the local growth fund for many months. The issue was raised when the deputy First Minister and I met the Chancellor in August. I raised my concerns and frustrations with the Secretary of State when I met him earlier this month. I was due to meet the Secretary of State and the then local growth Minister, Alex Norris MP, at the start of September. Owing to a Cabinet reshuffle, that meeting was postponed. On 16 September, I wrote to the new local growth Minister seeking an urgent meeting alongside the Secretary of State. Yesterday morning, I reiterated my request for an urgent meeting. My officials continue to press for urgent clarity on local growth and have urged Whitehall officials to consider contingency plans for organisations currently delivering Shared Prosperity Fund projects here. That the latest information is being drip-fed does not instil me with much confidence. I have serious concerns for the sector, for people’s jobs and for all the vulnerable people in our society who rely on the services daily. The Government must step up and make this right. There can be no more delay. They need to enter into meaningful engagement with the community and voluntary sector and the Executive to design a scheme that meets the needs of communities here. I will continue to push for that.

Ms Murphy

I thank the Minister for his substantive answer. Minister, you have, no doubt, acknowledged the important part that the community and voluntary sector plays in our rural communities. Can you update us on any engagement that you have had with the sector?

Mr O'Dowd

I had a positive meeting with leaders of the sector hosted by CO3 on 17 September, in which I provided an update to 41 representatives of the sector and listened to their many concerns. I hope to meet representatives of the sector tomorrow for further engagement on the matter. Engagement between the community and voluntary sector and me is not the problem; lack of engagement from the British Government is the problem. There is no point in it having the title of "local growth fund", when, from what I can see of it thus far, it is designed for the needs of constituencies in England and Wales. I do not know the needs of constituencies in England and Wales, but, collectively — around the Executive table, in this Chamber and elsewhere — we know the needs of constituencies here. The British Government need to start listening to us and to the community and voluntary sector here, rather than imposing on us a scheme that has no relevance to the needs of people here.

Mr O'Dowd

At this stage, it does not appear that there will be. It appears to be the view of Whitehall that the social protection fund is coming to an end; that this is a completely new scheme; that everybody should be aware of that; and that they have made their position clear. I disagree completely. It has been handled in a shambolic fashion, which has been disrespectful to the sector and to the Executive. The Executive submitted proposals and a framework to Whitehall several months ago. I have sought meetings with Ministers since then, and I have received one lame excuse after another. It is time for them to listen to locally elected representatives here and to work with us to deliver a scheme that meets the needs of people here.

Mr Kingston

As the Minister is aware, among the projects currently receiving Shared Prosperity Fund funding are community-based employability projects, which formerly had European social fund funding. They face an uncertain future, yet we hear employability support being lauded as a key theme at the Labour Party conference. Has the Minister raised with the Westminster Government the needs of those projects and the uncertainty of their future funding?

Mr O'Dowd

Yes, I have, and I will continue to do so. The Member gives the example of a good scheme that is working well with people who need support in employment or in getting back into employment. That scheme is about bringing people back into the workplace, which is right and proper and beneficial not only to the individual but to the economy. I suspect that some of that support will be stripped away as a result of proposals designed for elsewhere being imposed here. It would be wrong of our Executive, including me, to design schemes for Birmingham, for instance, but it appears that schemes that are designed for Birmingham will be imposed on us, which is completely wrong.