I welcome the Budget (No. 2) Bill's progression to Second Stage. We should acknowledge the £25 billion that the Treasury has allocated to public services in Northern Ireland, including an annual subvention of around £10 billion. At the same time, we continue to press for an increased allocation and a final fiscal framework that recognises the level of need in Northern Ireland as a smaller region of the United Kingdom.

Yesterday, the Finance Minister announced additional allocations from the June monitoring round of over a quarter of a billion pounds, as agreed by the Executive. Once again, the Department of Health received over half of the available additional resource. Whilst those additional allocations have been welcomed, we note that the resource bids across all Departments were for six times as much as was allocated, and capital bids were for nine times as much.

Notwithstanding those needs, we welcome the confirmation yesterday of funding for the Education Minister to take forward his childcare strategy, for the pay and grading review of educational support staff, for special educational needs provision and for other general educational needs. As a member of the Committee for Communities, I welcome the additional allocation for the Supporting People programme, which supports a range of vulnerable people, including the homeless. There is also additional funding for discretionary support, the cladding safety scheme, the arts sector and £20 million for new social housing, which will enable provision of around 200 additional new social homes. As a member of the Committee for the Executive Office, I welcome the funding for the Communities in Transition programme and for good relations work.

Finance is essential for the delivery of all Executive, ministerial and departmental strategies and programmes. Securing that finance requires effective engagement at Westminster. Therefore, it is essential that the people of Northern Ireland return a strong team of MPs to represent them, speak up for them and vote for them in the House of Commons, and I urge the electorate to do so this week.