To ask the Minister of Culture, Arts and Leisure what funding has been made available since March 2015, to continue to address sports participation rates in the top 30 per cent most deprived areas.

I can advise that since March 2015, Sport NI, an arms length body of my Department, has provided Exchequer and Lottery funding of £430,776 to continue to deliver programmes to address sports participation rates in the top 30 per cent most deprived areas.

I can confirm that additional funding is being sought to extend the Promoting Equality, Tackling Poverty and Social Exclusion through Sport Programme which ceased in March 2015.

My Department leads on one of the seven headline actions from the Executive’s Together: Building a United Community Strategy, namely the development of a Cross Community Youth Sports Programme. The principal focus of the Sports Programme is to enhance good relations, though the Programme also has the potential to increase participation in sport.

A pilot project ran from January to March 2015 in the Lower Falls and Greater Village areas in Belfast, which are both within the top 30 per cent deprived areas. It is currently anticipated that up to £315,000 is to be invested in 2015/16 in the continuation of the programme in the pilot areas and to fund a minor sports equipment project to support sporting organisations with five or more volunteers.

In addition, a methodology for roll out of the Sports Programme is currently being developed. I have reprioritised £300,000 of Departmental funding to facilitate this roll out. It is my intention that in every community which hosts the TBUC Sports Programme the aim will not only be to build good relations, but also help to improve sports participation rates and target areas with significant social and economic challenges and a legacy of under-investment.