To ask the Minister for Communities whether his Department has (i) completed Year 2 of the People and Place Review sectoral engagement exercise; and (ii) prepared a draft strategy suitable for public consultation.

The Review of the Executive’s People and Place strategy has progressed well with collaborative structures in place to facilitate engagement with a wide range of key stakeholders and other focus groups from across Northern Ireland.

This work aims to produce a sound evidence-based approach that could be used to identify areas experiencing deprivation and on which a future funding programme to tackle deprivation could be based.

The Development of an outline Strategic Framework, informed by the views expressed through the stakeholder and sectoral engagement exercise has broadly concluded with a successful Strategic Insight Lab event in June.

Subject to my consideration and that of my Executive colleagues, the Strategic Framework will be subject to a full public consultation exercise.

Following a public consultation exercise, the planning assumption is that the new Strategic Framework will be completed during 2025, followed by a transition phase.