AQW 41551/11-15 Written question to the First Minister and deputy First Minister
To ask the First Minister and deputy First Minister for an update on the Social Protection Fund as outlined in the Programme for Government 2011-15.
Asked by Claire Sugden MLA on 30 January 2015
- Answered
- Written
- Tabled
- 30 January 2015
- Answer due by
- 16 February 2015
- Answered
- 12 February 201513 days after tabling
- Department
- The Executive Office
- Priority question
- No
Answer
The Social Protection Fund was designed to help individuals and families facing hardship due to the ongoing economic downturn.
During 2012 some £22 million was distributed by the Department for Social Development and the Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety as Winter Fuel Payments for benefit recipients and cancer patients. However, no funding was explicitly allocated to the Social Protection Fund over the remaining three years of the budget period.
In 2013 we decided to subsume the Social Protection Fund into one consolidated and integrated ‘Delivering Social Change Fund’ which affords us the opportunity to respond quickly, and in a flexible manner, to urgent social needs as they arise and address the specific needs of some of our most vulnerable individuals and families.