Ulster Unionist Economy spokesperson, Mike Nesbitt MLA, has endorsed the call for Stormont's departments to move immediately to renew their match funding for employability schemes previously funded in association with the European Social Fund (ESF).

Mike Nesbitt MLA said:

"I have met the Community Sector Peer Group on a number of occasions. I met NOW group last week, as one of the biggest providers in the sector and I have raised this issue as often as I can. Frustratingly, it's a case of "tea and sympathy" at best and pure denial at worst.

"The worst reaction was a DUP MLA who tried to blame everything on the UK Government and the Shared Prosperity Fund. This flies in the face of the fact that the local departments provided some £13million in matched funding for ESF monies. Meanwhile, it appears that a number of Permanent Secretaries take the view that it is not their problem, while my request for the Civil Service to call a special meeting at the highest level was dismissed.

"These employability schemes must not be lost. They offer hope to some of our most vulnerable and marginalised. We are talking about the economically inactive, people whose lives we can transform and who, in turn, can help transform our economy. It's a win-win proposition and I despair that it is being ignored and those it serves so horribly disrespected."