I continue to work with my officials and Ministerial colleagues to ensure that we have a sufficient national and EU budget for the transitional period and beyond. It is our priority to ensure stability of income while producing outputs in areas such as environment, biodiversity and public goods.
The national funding is a matter for discussion as part of the annual budgetary process which is currently underway. EU funding is somewhat more complex - the exact budgetary details will have to be incorporated into the transitional regulations after agreement on the EU budget has been reached between the European Council and the European Parliament. Agreement on the budget is not expected until later this month.
I will continue to engage intensively in both processes in order to ensure the required outcome in terms of funding post-2020.