NI allocated £127m from UK Shared Prosperity Fund

By Q Radio news

Northern Ireland is to receive £127 million from the UK Shared Prosperity Fund.

The government claims it matches previous EU funding but with less bureaucracy and more local control.

The fund will provide £2.6 billion to all regions by 2025, and the Government says it's a central pillar of its so called levelling up agenda.

London says it could be used to regenerate rundown high streets, fight anti-social behaviour and crime, or help more people into decent jobs.

With conditional allocations available for each area of the UK, local authorities will be able to put forward investment plan submissions from June to receive the money.

However, the Scottish Government said the fund fell short of what was expected to replace EU structural funds.

The fund includes £559 million for Multiply, a UK-wide adult numeracy programme, to offer maths courses for adults with no or low maths skills, including a digital learning platform.

England will receive £1.588 billion, Wales £585 million, Scotland £212 million, Northern Ireland £127 million, with the remaining £129 million being allocated for the central system needed for Multiply.

Giving examples of how the fund could be used, the Government said it could regenerate rundown high streets, fight anti-social behaviour and crime, or help more people into decent jobs.

Communities Secretary Michael Gove said: “We have taken back control of our money from the EU and we are empowering those who know their communities best to deliver on their priorities.

“The UK Shared Prosperity Fund will help to unleash the creativity and talent of communities that have for too long been overlooked and undervalued.

“By targeting this funding at areas of the country that need it the most, we will help spread opportunity and level up in every part of the United Kingdom.”

The Government said the funding has been allocated using a formula which takes into account population data and a “broadly based measure of need” such as unemployment and income levels.

The Government said the allocations are conditional, and lead local authorities will need to submit an investment plan setting out how they intend to use it, which will then have to be agreed with the Government to unlock the funds.

For England’s 38 local enterprise partnership areas, as well as for Scotland and Wales, the Government said the fund will match EU funding in real terms and then within each area an index of need will be used to allocate funds to each local authority. Northern Ireland will receive a single allocation and will draw up a single investment plan for all of the country.

The fund will reach £1.5 billion a year by 2025, which the Government said delivers on its commitment to match the previous EU funding from the European Social Fund and European Regional Development Fund.

Areas will continue to receive EU funding until the end of 2024, the Government said.

“Bureaucracy will be slashed, and there will be far more discretion over what money is spent on,” the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities said.

“EU requirements for match funding, which impacted on poorer places, will be abolished. Instead of regional agencies, funding decisions will be made by elected leaders in local government, with input from local Members of Parliament and local businesses and voluntary groups.”

Responding to the announcement, Scottish Business Minister Ivan McKee said the Shared Prosperity Fund undermined devolution.

He said: “The UK Government’s Shared Prosperity Fund fails to deliver replacement funding which was promised to Scotland, meaning communities across the country will miss out on around £150 million of investment in 2022-23.

“This demonstrates exactly why Levelling Up means losing out as Scotland will receive considerably less funding than before Brexit.”

He continued: “Since 2016 the Scottish Government has tried to engage constructively with the UK Government to ensure this fund was delivered in a meaningful way, consistent with the devolution settlement and aligned with our national economic aims and ambitions.

“However, the UK Government has undermined devolution by failing to give the Scottish Government a decision-making role – which ultimately fails to meet the needs of Scotland’s communities.”

The Liberal Democrat’s Treasury spokeswoman Christine Jardine said the announcement was “yet another attempt at smoke and mirrors from a government in chaos”.

“There’s no new money for local communities and it does nothing to support the millions of families who are struggling with soaring energy bills right now, she said.