Stormont: Plans unveiled for £3.3bn financial deal

Under the terms of the deal the Executive can decide how the majority of those funds will be used

The UK government has given details of money being reallocated as part of the financial package which accompanied the return of Stormont.

The £3.3bn package included around £620m of central government funds which had previously been allocated for specific purposes in Northern Ireland.

Under the terms of the deal, the Executive can now decide how the majority of those funds will be used.

The largest reallocation, £203m, comes from the New Deal for Northern Ireland.

The New Deal, announced in 2020, was a £400m package largely aimed at mitigating the economic impacts of Brexit on Northern Ireland.

The other reallocations are a combination of money attached to earlier political deals and 'levelling up' funding.

They are:

• New Decade, New Approach - £64.6m

• Fresh Start/Stormont House - £150m

• Levelling Up Fund Round 3 - £30m

• A portion of the UK Shared Prosperity Fund - £22.6m

In addition, there is £153m which flows from funding streams announced in the Chancellor's 2023 autumn statement and £85m of new money.

From that total of £708m, £235m must be used for public service transformation and its release is subject to the establishment of a public service transformation board.

There was controversy last month when it emerged that the £150m reallocation of Fresh Start money would mean 10 shared or integrated education projects would lose out.

It is not yet clear if the other reallocations could have similar impacts.