Ulster Unionist Party Leader Mike Nesbitt has highlighted the gross failure of the Office of the First and deputy First Minister to effectively administer the Social Investment Fund (SIF) following a draft paper, which was originally included in the OFMdFM committee packs before being withdrawn, indicating that £27 million of funds which were supposed to be spent on tackling unemployment, deprivation and dereliction have been surrendered.

Mr Nesbitt, the Chair of the OFMdFM Committee said:

‘The Committee has today (Wednesday) received a briefing from officials within the Department of the Office of the First and deputy First Minister on the October Monitoring Round which looks into Departments’ internal adjustments of resource allocations. During the course of this briefing it became apparent that, based on the original papers contained in our committee packs, that the First and deputy First Minister are currently considering surrendering as much as £27 million which was supposed to be administered to communities through the SIF. This means that at present no funding at all has been provided to groups despite its inclusion within the final budget of March 2011.’

‘This is a totally unacceptable situation given that this is a Fund which is meant to, according to OFMdFM, ‘reduce poverty, unemployment and physical deterioration through area based interventions of significant scale’. With unemployment now above the UK average and over 63,000 people claiming unemployment related benefits allied to the obvious deprivation within some communities in Northern Ireland, it is unforgivable that such a substantial amount of money which should be utilised to address these issues continues to go unspent.’

‘I was also extremely concerned that officials don’t know where the blockage is, don’t know how much of the £80 million has been spent so far and don’t even know how many spaces on ‘zonal advisory panels’ still remain to be filled. Indeed I understand that the South Belfast zonal advisory panel has not been established because only three people applied for four positions. Today

‘Today we were told by the officials that political considerations had contributed to the delay as well as Ministers wanting to discuss and agree the appropriate mix on advisory groups. Again I would reiterate that this is totally unacceptable.’

‘I am calling on the First and deputy First Ministers to make an urgent statement to the Assembly on this failure and to assure those people in the investment zones which have been identified that this money will remain ring-fenced for its original use. This is an example of the poor governance which the people of Northern Ireland should not become accustomed to. I would also repeat the call I made at my Party Conference that we move away from an obsession with process, and towards delivery on the ground.’