Gordon Lyons’ remarks come days after he announced a new £100,000 grant scheme to fund travel for bands
Communities Minister Gordon Lyons has said that he is “disappointed” that none of his Department’s £50m Non-Ring-Fenced Resource bids were met in the June monitoring round, as he warned that he may be forced to take actions that could “adversely impact” front-line services in order to remain within his budget.
The Minister made the remarks in response to a written question from his party colleague, North Belfast MLA Phillip Brett.
Gordon Lyons’ remarks come days after he announced a new £100,000 grant scheme to fund travel for accordion, brass, concert, flute, pipe, and wind bands, with bands now able to apply for grants of between £500 and £5000 to fund travel to performances.
“I am disappointed that none of my Department’s £50m Non-Ring-Fenced Resource bids have been met. I submitted an inescapable Non-Ring-Fenced Resource bid of £17.1m, which largely related to increased costs for my Department and Arm’s Length Bodies following agreement of the NICS 2024-26 Pay Award and the increases in Employers National Insurance contributions,” the Minister said.
“It is imperative that further resource funding is provided to meet these inescapable pressures, or the actions that my Department is required to take to live within budget may adversely impact essential front line services.
“With the highest economic inactivity and disability employment gap in the UK, failure to support people into work will adversely impact on young people, women, and disabled people. It is vital that my Department is sufficiently resourced in this regard and it was therefore also disappointing that my bid for employment programs was not met.”
The Minister warned that the additional £9.0m for New Build Social Homes and first call of up to £2.0m in future 2025-26 monitoring rounds for New Build Social Homes is “a long way off the target of 2,000 new starts in 2025-26” and only 15 per cent of the £62m that his Department requires in 2025-26 to meet the target.
“The Housing Supply Strategy and Programme for Government committed the Executive to these targets, and I have requested the opportunity to meet with the Minister of Finance at the earliest opportunity to discuss how these can be met,” he continued.
“While I understand that funding is limited and all Departments are operating within constrained budgets, it is disappointing that my Department’s other capital bids remain unfunded, especially my £3.8m bid for Affordable Warmth, a scheme addressing the effects of fuel poverty and energy efficiency for low-income households.
“My Department agreed to take on the responsibility of the Cladding Safety Scheme on the clear understanding that funding would be provided to cover all costs associated with the delivery of this scheme, yet no allocation was made. I will therefore have to continue to seek funding to cover the full costs of operating this scheme.”
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