Derry City Deal nearing end of business case and should be signed by summer, says Finance Minister
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00:00 The Derry and Sturbyan District Council city deal is nearing the end of its business case process and is working towards signing the deal in
00:08 Spring or summer of this year. The deal signing obviously will mark the stage that the funding can actually be released.
00:14 Mr. Speaker, can I thank the Minister for her response.
00:19 Minister, one of the frustrations that the council have highlighted with me is the speed in which these
00:23 business cases have been approved and the frustration that heads of terms
00:27 can't be signed at an earlier opportunity to draw down funding to allow them to make the necessary progress.
00:33 Will the Minister commit to working with the Economy Minister to bring these city deal projects further ahead?
00:39 City and growth deals, as the Member will know, are long-term capital investment programmes and the process requires a detailed
00:49 business case development and approval for each constituent project to ensure the proper use of funds.
00:55 My officials and other departments have been
00:58 regularly engaging with deal partners and they continue to work through the relevant approvals process for the numerous business cases involved in the deal.
01:06 I know the views that the Member is expressing and they have been expressed to me as well.
01:12 Those concerns around the
01:15 bureaucracy of the process, I have discussed that with my officials and they've assured me that they are working at pace
01:21 to progress business cases. I will certainly be up for the conversations with the Economy Minister to ensure that the
01:27 city and growth deal for Derry and Strabane, but for the other council areas, can all proceed as quickly as possible.
01:33 Thank you Minister for her answer so far. Can she provide an update on the medical school and on personalised medicine?
01:42 I understand that work is currently underway by the Departments for Economy and the Department of Health in
01:50 conjunction with Ulster University to develop the business case for phase 2,
01:54 which will see the expansion of the medical school.
01:57 I know the Member is very supportive of that and has been working on it.
02:02 I'm sure he will also be engaging with those Ministers in relation to the expansion of the medical school.
02:07 Can I ask the Minister for an update on the implementation of
02:13 the recommendations of the Northern Ireland Audit Office report into public procurement in Northern Ireland, with particular reference to the
02:21 reforms that were made to the Procurement Board in 2020?
02:24 Can the Minister commit that she will allocate all the required funding to ensure that the City Deal project can be pursued in full
02:39 and not scaled down because of the inflationary pressures and the delay in bringing the cases forward?
02:47 The Member will be aware that I believe £210 million has been allocated
02:55 from government, £100 million of City Deals funding and £110 million from the Inclusive Future Fund,
03:02 which will be equally funded by the Executive and the British Government.
03:06 Derry-is-t-Rho-Ban District Council and project delivery partners are expected to contribute an additional £52 million investment.
03:13 It speaks to the point that we've already discussed with Mr Middleton that the business case process has to proceed as quickly as possible.
03:21 That's something that I will be very keen to work with Executive colleagues around.