Debate contribution: Back in Business Rate Support Scheme: Beneficiaries
Debate contribution by Dr Caoimhe Archibald on .
- MLA
- Dr Caoimhe Archibald
- Party at the time
- Sinn Féin
- Date
- 14 October 2024
- Type
- Debate contribution (made as a minister)
- Business
- Oral Answers to Questions
- Heading
- Back in Business Rate Support Scheme: Beneficiaries
- Assembly identifier
- Official Report component 4589918
Read the official Assembly record
Text
All of us want to see our town centres and shopping areas thriving. The back in business scheme aims to bring vibrancy, footfall and investment back to our high streets, while providing businesses with a boost at the start of their business journey, helping to support jobs and bringing long-term vacant units back into use. The scheme offers businesses a 50% rates discount for up to two years if they move into premises that were previously used for retail purposes and have been unoccupied for 12 months or more. Since the launch of the back in business scheme in May 2024, 18 businesses have benefited from the 50% rates discount, which has provided almost £41,000 in rate support. I was pleased to visit Coleraine recently, in the Member's constituency, and meet two businesses that have received support from the scheme. One of those businesses occupied a building in the heart of the town that had been vacant for 10 years prior to its use under the scheme. It was encouraging to hear how the scheme is supporting new businesses, while giving premises, which had been vacant for a long time, a new lease of life. I urge anyone who is planning to start a business or expand their existing business to consider setting up in an empty unit and availing themselves of the rates support on offer through the back in business scheme.
233 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.
Assessment
Jev’s structured answers met the documented threshold for “not flagged”.
- Overall probability that the activity is being used to promote, exploit or escalate an identity-based controversy: 0.02 (flagging needs at least 0.70; at or below 0.30 is not flagged).
- None of the five culture-war criteria was met (each was below 0.60).
- No identity-based framing was identified (1.00).
- The overall probability was at or below the not-flagging threshold.
This is an AI-generated assessment of the text, made against published criteria. It is not a finding of fact about the MLA or their intentions. The Assembly record itself is the fact.
Jev’s structured answers
| Question | Probability | Met? |
|---|---|---|
| Identity framing | 0.02 | No |
| Sectarian or communal antagonism | 0.01 | No |
| Cultural grievance politics | 0.01 | No |
| Dog-whistle messaging | 0.01 | No |
| Controversy escalation | 0.02 | No |
| Legitimate policy scrutiny | 0.52 | No |
| Overall judgement | 0.02 | At or below not-flagging threshold |
| Option | Probability |
|---|---|
| No identity-based framing (chosen) | 1.00 |
| Reports or questions it | 0.00 |
| Criticises or condemns it | 0.00 |
| Adopts it | 0.00 |
| Subject | Probability |
|---|---|
| No identity-related subject | 1.00 |
| Flags, emblems, symbols, names and memorials | 0.00 |
| Parades, bonfires and commemorations | 0.00 |
| Irish language, Ulster-Scots and language policy | 0.00 |
| Sport (including the GAA), the arts and cultural bodies | 0.00 |
Assessed 21 October 2026 at 11:17 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.
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