To ask the Minister for Communities to detail any interventions being developed to address food poverty and place-based deprivation.

My Department has worked with local Councils on a co-design basis to roll out Social Supermarket models across Northern Ireland to assist those facing food poverty. The aim of Social Supermarkets is to offer a long term, sustainable, response by providing wraparound services that seek to address the underlying issues contributing to a household’s financial position alongside access to food.

The models continue to evolve and develop and in recognition of the level of need, and the challenges faced in providing a service across wide geographical areas, an increased budget of £2.75m has been allocated to support the continuation of this work in 2024/25.

My Department also leads on the People & Place strategy for Neighbourhood Renewal which aims to address place based depravation. Delivery is enabled through the Neighbourhood Renewal, Areas at Risk & Small Pockets of Deprivation Programmes with a total annual revenue budget of c£18m across the three programmes.

A strategic Review of People and Place is currently being conducted which subject to my consideration and that of my Executive colleagues, will be subject to a full public consultation exercise with the planning assumption this will be completed during 2025 with the transition phase commencing thereafter.

In the broader context, I remain committed to developing effective and, just as importantly, sustainable solutions to tackle poverty in all its forms for our communities right across Northern Ireland, through the implementation of a robust Anti-poverty Strategy.

The Anti-Poverty Strategy will aim to address poverty and the impacts of socio-economic disadvantage and set out the NI Executive’s commitment to a joined up, long term approach to addressing poverty.

While the Department for Communities is leading on the Anti-Poverty Strategy, it remains an Executive Strategy and final decisions on the content and implementation of the Anti-Poverty Strategy will be subject to Executive agreement. I have written to Ministers of the other Departments asking them to nominate senior officials to re-establish a Cross Departmental Group to identify key actions that will have a meaningful and lasting impact on socio-economic disadvantage in our society.

I am committed to working with all my Ministerial colleagues to ensure that the Anti-Poverty Strategy is taken forward in the most effective and expeditious way possible, taking account of departmental budget allocations and the need to develop a prioritised, sustainable and deliverable Strategy action plan.

I intend this work to be taken forward at pace, presenting a paper to the Executive early in 2025.