To ask the Minister for Communities to detail the Fair Funding Principles adopted by his Department to ensure Voluntary and Community Sector organisations are provided with grant funding in a timely manner that does not require recipients to take out a bank loan, or use reserves outside their published Reserve Policy.

The Fair Funding Principles are intended to provide high-level guidance to support and build good practice across a range of funding relationships.

Approaches to funding will necessarily vary according to the specific requirements of individual programmes, including expenditure levels, the scale and complexity of service delivery, and related risk and assurance requirements. The fair funding principles are adopted within the bounds of Managing Public Money NI and funding arrangements must operate within an appropriate financial management framework. Funded organisations remain responsible for their own financial governance and long-term sustainability.