To ask the Minister of Finance whether the principles of fair funding arrangements, as agreed by the Executive in the Partnership Agreement with the Community and Voluntary Sector, launched July 2025, are required to be included by each Department of the Executive, as part of the current planning and submissions to his Department for the upcoming multi-year budget.

The fair funding principles set out in the Partnership Agreement with the Voluntary and Community Sector are intended to enable effective use of public funding and deliver greater benefits to our communities.

These principles should be considered alongside and do not override existing accountability requirements, financial and budgetary guidance, procurement policy or legislation.

It is the responsibility of each Minister to determine how best to incorporate these principles into their departmental decision-making processes when preparing bid submissions to my department as part of in year exercises or the multi-year budget information-gathering exercise.