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I attended last week's NSMC meeting on the Special EU Programmes Body (SEUPB) as the Minister of a sponsor Department. It was a very useful engagement with my Southern counterpart and with the SEUPB on the projects and work that it is doing, which are making real differences in communities and in people's lives,…
Again, the Economy Minister is leading on that. I will, of course, will work closely with her on any financial concerns or pressures that are placed on our businesses. I come back to this point: we are working in significantly constrained financial times. I cannot raise expectations beyond reality.
I thank the Minister for his answer. Has any initial work been done to establish which sectors will be worst impacted on in this part of the UK specifically?
I have not yet had the opportunity to have discussions with finance Ministers from the devolved institutions. I understand that the Economy Minister is taking forward discussions with the devolved institutions in relation to the impacts of tariffs.
As I said earlier during my statement on the Budget, I am not going to set my spending priorities based on the latest headline or the most dramatic headline. If I follow that course, tomorrow somebody will have an even more dramatic headline than the one today, so I cannot simply disregard a business case. The…
I hear what the Minister is saying about business cases. However, in the Programme for Government, all Executive Ministers commit to addressing the shortfall in police numbers. There was an original commitment of 7,500, but the target is now 7,000. Regardless of what the business case says, what support will he give…
I did not hear the entire interview; I heard some of it. The Member will be aware that the Justice Minister has submitted a business case to my Department. For the record, that business case is not on my desk. It is being studied by departmental officials, as is the case for any business case that comes into the…
In this financial year, around £21 million has been allocated. As the Member will know, the transformation fund has been profiled over five years. We are engaging with the Treasury around how that profiling will work and how it will match the ambitions and strategies of the transformation board and the Executive. We…
This morning, I met Fleur Anderson, the Minister of State at the NIO, to discuss the next steps in relation to the interim public-sector transformation board. I hope to be able to go out to Executive colleagues in early summer to ask for further bids in relation to the remaining funds of around £102 million. In…
I find that what is lacking is an alternative from the Opposition. You cannot simply stand up any more and criticise — well, you can criticise what the Executive are doing. You should challenge what the Executive are doing, and you should question what the Executive are doing, but, it is a year in, and it is time to…
Minister, given that just about 5% of the overall Budget deals with the priorities in the Programme for Government, which do you believe is more lacking: the overall percentage of funding available for the priorities or the ambition of the Programme for Government?
The Budget sets out what will be financed in this financial year. As the Member will be aware, it is aligned with the Programme for Government. I look forward to being able to present the Executive with a three-year resource Budget and a four-year capital Budget in the autumn, which will further allow the Executive to…
As the Member said, I literally received the report in my inbox today. I will study it closely. Obviously, we want to carry out whatever measures we can to support businesses moving forward. We already provide considerable support for businesses through our various rate relief schemes. We talked earlier about the Back…
I appreciate that the Minister is still looking at the report, but, at this stage, can he indicate what actions he may be minded to take after his consideration of the report?
I have received today a copy of the report on the cost of doing business from the Ulster University Economic Policy Centre (UUEPC), which I will consider. The study was commissioned following concerns raised in the aftermath of the British Chancellor's autumn Budget. The research has looked at the impact of labour,…
The baby loss certificate scheme is intended to recognise the grief and pain that many families feel in the event of the loss of a baby in the first 24 weeks of pregnancy. Although a certificate cannot undo that suffering, the scheme will recognise and validate their loss, which is often a very private matter, in the…
I thank the Minister. I am aware that he will be dealing with the issue in more detail later, but, for now, can he outline briefly what a baby loss certificate scheme might entail?
The Member will be aware that the baby loss certificate scheme has been taken forward as quickly as possible to give bereaved families the opportunity to have formal recognition of their loss. I want all parents and families who have suffered the devastating loss of a baby to feel that their grief is recognised. The…
I cannot give the Member a time frame at this stage. The work is at an early stage. It is important, for the very reason that the Member gave when she spoke about Tell Us Once, to assist grieving families at that most awful of times immediately after a death. I will update the Member with more information, but I agree…
I am grateful to the Minister for his answer. He has highlighted the fact that GRONI is working on the issue. He will be aware of the Tell Us Once campaign in Great Britain. It is being promoted by Marie Curie here. As chair of the all-party group (APG) on terminal illness, I am keen to see that bereaved people need…
The General Register Office has data-sharing arrangements in place with several agencies that enable death registration data to be provided to it. Those data-sharing arrangements enable the transfer of information weekly or monthly and contain only the data items permitted by data-sharing legal powers and agreed with…
The £1·3 billion investment in the four city and growth deals will support significant shifts in many of our indicators, such as improving regional balance, creating employment opportunities and increasing productivity. Across the four deals, there are 50 projects at full business case stage. Each project will specify…
Thanks very much for your answer, Minister. What benefits will those city and growth deals deliver? Will they complement the Programme for Government and the Budget that you announced earlier today?