Coronavirus: Executive agrees reallocation of Covid-19 funding

The Stormont executive has agreed how to reallocate £123m from Covid-19 funding.

It is not new money but out of an existing pot of more than £700m from the Treasury for the rest of the year.

Almost £50m is going towards safely reopening schools and further education colleges, including personal protective equipment (PPE) and free school meals.

Some £20m is going to Translink and £27m to NI Water - both of which have been crying out for further investment.

Finance Minister Conor Murphy said the schools money would "allow children and young people to return to education in a safe environment while at the same time enabling parents to return to work".

Apprenticeships have been allocated £17m, which Mr Murphy said would "ensure young people are provided with the opportunity to gain skills and employment".

A further £2.5m will go towards helping social enterprises reopen safely.

Some £1.4m is going towards part of the taxi and bus licence fees that has not been waived.

The latest round of allocations in full are:

• £35m - schools reopening

• £27m - NI Water to offset loss of income from commercial users

• £20m - Translink

• £17.2m - apprenticeships

• £7m - social enterprises

• £6.4m - schools PPE

• £5.5m - Further Education to provide a safe learning environment

• £2.5m - safely reopen the voluntary and social enterprise sectors

• £1.4m - cover statutory license fees for the bus and taxi industry

• £1m - free school meals

"These allocations will help to maintain key public services, support economic recovery and protect the vulnerable," said Mr Murphy.