To ask the Minister for Communities whether any assessment has been made by his Department of the impact of reductions to the Local Growth Fund on the capacity of council-led Labour Market Partnerships to deliver local employment and skills support.

The eleven Labour Market Partnerships develop Action Plans annually that identify current key challenges and priorities facing their local labour markets. The impact of reductions to the Local Growth Fund, as well as wider economic and labour market conditions, will form part of the assessments that inform those action plans. However, current budget funding levels do not provide my department with the capacity to mitigate the consequences of the reductions to the Local Growth Fund.