To ask the First Minister and deputy First Minister to detail the budget allocation to their Department to promote and encourage civic engagement with the draft Programme for Government consultation.

In the eight weeks of public consultation, over 70 events were held and 1,375 responses received.

17 events were held for members of the public, 10 of which were online.

A total of 194 people attended in-person events in Belfast, Lisburn, Ballymena, Newry, Derry/Londonderry, Enniskillen and Cookstown. A total of 205 people attended the 10 online events.

A budget of £27,500 was allocated to this work of which £17,500 was spent on all aspects of the consultation including venue hire, facilitation, and advertising, with £5,300 of this money being spent on civic engagement in the form of venue hire and facilitation.

Despite us holding more events and driving a greater number of responses, this has been delivered at a lower cost, in real terms, to previous Programme for Government consultations, and we would like to thank all organisations who supported this work.