To ask the Minister of the Environment why the Road Safety Council is not receiving any government funding.

Following a third highly critical independent review of the Road Safety Council (RSC) in 2008, the then DOE Minister took the decision to withdraw core funding from the Road Safety Council and to channel funding direct to the front line road safety activities of local committees; this decision was implemented in 2009. The Department was also tasked with carrying out a fundamental policy review of how it should engage with the wider voluntary and community sector.

In April 2010, following a review of road safety funding to the voluntary & community sector, the decision was taken by the DOE Minister at that time, to appoint an Intermediary Funding Body (IFB) and open up funding to the wider voluntary and community sector rather than all available funding going to the Road Safety Council.

Subsequently, the Department engaged with Central Procurement Directorate (CPD) to initiate an open tender competition to appoint an IFB to design and manage a road safety funding programme on its behalf.

The funding programme was designed to direct funding to frontline road safety activities and enable the Department to engage effectively with local communities and the wider voluntary & community sector in addressing local road safety concerns.

The principal aims of the funding programme are to:

fund projects which support the achievement of the objectives of the Northern Ireland Road Safety Strategy;

direct funding to frontline road safety activities which provide direct benefits to the community; and

enable the Department to engage effectively with the wider local voluntary and community sector in the promotion of road safety.

The Community Transport Association (CTA) currently holds the contract to administer the Road Safety Grant Funding Programme on behalf of the Department.

The Road Safety Grant Funding Programme is open to the voluntary and community sector, including the Road Safety Council and local Road Safety Committees. To date no application for funding has been received from the Road Safety Council but a number of local Road Safety Committees have applied for funding with some success.