Official Report: Minutes of Evidence

The Deputy Chairperson (Mr Flanagan): Arlene, you are very welcome. I presume that you have an opening presentation to make.

Mrs Foster (The Minister of Enterprise, Trade and Investment): I have indeed; thank you very much.

The Deputy Chairperson (Mr Flanagan): You can fire away when you are ready.

Mrs Foster: Thank you for the opportunity to update you on key priorities and issues that we will take forward over the next year in support of the Programme for Government and, of course, the economic strategy.

First, a number of recent independent surveys all show that the Northern Ireland economy continues to show encouraging signs of recovery. Economic activity, as measured by the Northern Ireland composite economic index, has increased 1·2% above the level of one year ago. Employment has increased by around 21,000 jobs over the period, and the latest unemployment figures show that the number of people claiming benefits has fallen for 21 consecutive months. I am always a bit worried when I say that, because when it stops falling, it will very much be noticed, but it has been 21 months in a row now. That is 12,800 people.

The latest Danske Bank quarterly forecasts indicate that growth will reach 2·6% this year and 2·3% next year. The Ulster Bank purchasing managers' index (PMI) indicated that local business activity and new orders continued to expand at a sharp pace in September, although the rate of expansion of new orders has eased. Results from the Northern Ireland Chamber of Commerce quarterly business survey suggest that the local economy continues to show some signs of stabilisation. So, the news is all positive from independent sources.

Of course, the Department has played a key role in supporting those trends. Invest Northern Ireland had a record year in 2013-14, with almost 11,000 new jobs promoted. Of those, 4,700 were promoted by externally owned companies, including significant recent announcements by Concentrix, Convergys and EY. In addition, 5,742 new jobs have been announced over the past seven months by externally owned companies, with 1,729 new jobs announced by locally owned companies. So, that is a total of 7,471 new jobs in the past seven months. I understand that the chief executive from Invest will present his mid-year performance review to you shortly.

We had a very positive opening in tourism this year. We had an increase of 5% in trips from all markets and an increase of 10% in what visitors spend while they are here. Holiday visits from the Republic of Ireland, which is a market that has experienced volatility in recent times, increased by 22% in the first six months of this year compared with the same period last year, with a very impressive 39% increase in spend. Major events demonstrate to the world that, as a destination and a brand, we have confidently moved on.

Whilst the improvement in the local economy is to be welcomed, much work is still to be done. It is important that we continue to deliver on Programme for Government commitments, on the economic strategy and on the need to rebuild and rebalance the economy. The Department will focus on a number of key issues in the coming months, including corporation tax, exports, the cost of doing business and, indeed, business red tape.

We have a number of strategies moving forward, as you know. We have the innovation strategy, the Horizon 2020 strategy, the strategy to tackle economic inactivity, which we have been developing with DEL, a life and health sciences strategy, and, of course, the agri-strategy, Going for Growth.

Finally, and obviously, I want to update the Committee on finance. You will have heard the draft Budget set out yesterday. We continue to manage a very difficult financial context across the whole of the Northern Ireland Executive. My Department has a number of inescapable resource pressures in this year, 2014-15, as a consequence of the success of Invest Northern Ireland principally in delivering new jobs and investment projects and because of the Tourist Board delivering a step change in events. Allocations made to the Department in October monitoring have assisted considerably in the in-year position, although I have had to make a number of reductions to meet the cuts agreed by the Executive and to manage within the overall departmental allocation this year.

For next year, 2015-16, we have been provided with an additional £37·7 million. That is to cover existing inescapable pressures in the Department mainly relating to commitments already entered into by Invest Northern Ireland. This is something that perhaps has not been talked about, but, in addition, the Budget also applies a 15·1% reduction to the Department's baseline. That is a £27·9 million cut, so we have been awarded £37·7 million to deal with inescapable pressures but are also having to deal with a £27·9 million cut. That is a difficult outcome to manage, particularly given that Invest Northern Ireland, the Tourist Board and tourism-related activities account for 78% of the departmental budget. Obviously, a significant proportion of their budgets going into next year are already committed. Invest NI is forecasting a significant drawdown of expenditure in 2015-16 and beyond, coming from the bow wave, if you like, of announcements that we made very recently, at the time when we will have major budget constraints.

So, it is important, certainly from my perspective, that I do all that I can to support jobs. The economy needs to continue to grow and to become stronger, and it is equally important that we continue to help companies to export more and to attract new foreign direct investment. That is because all those are fundamental to developing the economy and to making Northern Ireland a more prosperous and inclusive society. So, the Department and all the arm's-length bodies will be expected to find significant savings, and that will require a hard look at all areas for potential savings so that resources are concentrated on priority areas. The level of cuts proposed will inevitably mean that some activities will either be scaled back or halted, and work is now under way with the bodies to assess the implications of yesterday's draft Budget.

I hope that I summarised the key issues from my perspective in the Department and the difficult financial position that we, along with other Departments, find ourselves in. Of course, I am happy to take questions.

The Deputy Chairperson (Mr Flanagan): Thanks, Arlene, Andrew and Eugene. I believe that this is your first time appearing before the Committee, so you are both very welcome. Chris has to go to the Chamber and ask questions of John O'Dowd, who is making a statement, so we will let him get his questions out of the way first.

Mr Hazzard: Thanks, Minister, for the outline. You mentioned a few times the situation where you have had to make a number of reductions to your budget and everything else to meet the economic situation. Have such reductions in the past been subject to an equality impact assessment (EQIA), and will they in future?

Mrs Foster: I have to go to all the arm's-length bodies and, indeed, the departmental internal divisions to try to assess where, first of all, commitments of a legal nature have been made. Obviously, if commitments have been made, they have to continue to be supported. That restricts us considerably, particularly in the case of Invest Northern Ireland, in where we can find those cost savings. I will look very much at where those cost savings come from. Andrew, maybe you want to say a word about what happens after they come to me from the various divisions in the Department and the arm's-length bodies. When they bring all that information to me, I will speak to the chief executives of those organisations to see what impact it will have on front line services, which, I have to say, is my first concern, and to see how we will be able to continue to grow the economy.

Andrew, if you want to set out what happens after that, that would be helpful.

Dr Andrew McCormick (Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment): Fundamentally, it is a prioritisation process rather than a change of policy. A policy change would trigger the obligations to consider equality impact and so forth. That process can all be taken forward in a standard way, but, up until now, the existing policy has been implemented. The question now is whether the changes of budgets require us to re-examine issues so fundamentally that we get into that situation. That remains to be seen. The question, first of all, is to prioritise what we have to make sure that we have information from all the arm's-length bodies for the Minister to consider their issues and existing commitments, which are, in some cases, very high because they have had such success through the Invest job-creation programme and the attraction of events for the Tourist Board. So, there is a high level of pre-committed resources, which means that the available choices are more limited. The issue fundamentally is about prioritising those resources within the existing policy framework. There could be a question further on that might take us to your point —

Mr Hazzard: Is the answer, fundamentally, that an equality impact assessment has not been done recently?

Dr McCormick: No, because there has not been a change in policy.

Mrs Foster: No, one has not been done. There has not been change in a policy.

Mr Hazzard: If the Department can get away with not having to do an equality impact assessment —

Dr McCormick: We have to comply with the standard guidance. That is all well-established practice.

Mr Hazzard: That is disappointing to hear, considering the impact on different groups.

I know that there will be plenty of members coming in, but, finally, I have a question about the regional disparity of jobs. Of course, we welcome that a number of jobs have been created, but a number of people will argue that the heavy reliance on computer and financial service industry jobs benefits the greater Belfast area. Seventy five per cent of the jobs promoted by Invest have been in the Belfast area. Rural areas such as south Down — I know that others will talk about it — seem to suffer; they cannot grab into this. Does the Department have a policy or plan to tackle regional disparity in job promotion in the North?

Mrs Foster: Eugene wanted to make a supplementary to your first question.

Mr Eugene Rooney (Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment): The Minister outlined the engagement that will occur across the Department and the arm's-length bodies, and, in that, we will be looking at the potential impact of reductions. There will be an engagement on proposed reductions and the associated impact assessments for those reductions. So, to clarify, that exercise is part of the budget engagement that will be taking place in the Department and between the Department and its arm's-length bodies.

Mrs Foster: It might not be called a formal EQIA, but it is certainly something that we will be doing. That is because, obviously, if we are taking funding away, we will engage with the people who it fundamentally affects. That is why I said that prioritising front line delivery is very much part of what we are doing.

I know that you will have Alastair Hamilton up with you very soon. I think that we should all acknowledge the work that is being done by Invest Northern Ireland internally in Northern Ireland and right across the world to bring new jobs to Northern Ireland. As I said, it has had a record year. You are right: some of the technology firms in particular will want to be in the capital city. That has proven to be the case. They will also look at university provision, because they will want to be close to the universities. Therefore, jobs have been announced in Belfast and Londonderry because of that. However, many job announcements have been made, right across the country, particularly in sectors like agrifood, and, no doubt Alastair will go through them with you. Moy Park, for example, made an announcement of nearly 700 jobs across Ballymena, Dungannon and Craigavon. So, quite significant job announcements have been made that also take into account the rural areas. However, if you look at particular sectors, you see that they tend to be in city centre locations. We have to deal with that. A very interesting way of dealing with it has developed in my area in the south-west, where the Smart region group is approaching technology firms to assess whether it could deliver some of their services in the south-west as opposed to city centre locations, because the technology is there. Instead of having people travel to work, it can accommodate those people in Enniskillen and Omagh in a more meaningful way. So, the south-west is trying to develop a new strategy to deal with that, and we are very supportive of it.

Mr Dunne: We welcome the Minister and her staff. Andrew has come from the Department of Health. I hope that you find it a lot lighter, perhaps, but obviously —

Mrs Foster: Absolutely not.

Mr Dunne: Every bit as challenging. You and Eugene are all very welcome.

We recognise the positive news that has come out of the Department, as well as the work of the Minister and Invest NI in bringing new jobs. I think that it is very positive. It comes across very well in times of negative activity and disparity and all the difficulties that there are in getting jobs. I think that we need to record our thanks to and appreciation of everyone involved, from the Minister down through the Department and, of course, Invest NI.

In thinking about the impact in next year's budget, I believe that event tourism is something that a lot of our constituents recognise as very positive right throughout Northern Ireland. If we go on our weekend breaks and talk to various guest house and hotel owners, we find that they recognise the significance of it. Do you have a concern that event tourism could be at risk with the 15% cuts that you have to make?

Mrs Foster: First of all, I will talk about this year, because I know that a lot of concern has been raised about the sponsorship element of the events fund and the fact that we have not opened a call for that section. Of course, we do that every year. We have a call normally around October where companies can apply for up to £30,000 of sponsorship for their event. I am very aware of the fact that a lot of people look forward to us opening that competition every year. We have not been able to do that because of the budget constraints that we found ourselves in.

The international events and any event that already has a letter of offer will go ahead as planned.

Mr Dunne: Will they be honoured?

Mrs Foster: They will be honoured. If I look down the list of international events, such as the Circuit of Ireland rally —

Mr Dunne: Good.

Mrs Foster: I knew that that would please you.

The Foyle maritime festival; the Northern Ireland Open Challenge, which, of course, is the golf; the international North West 200; the August Féile; the Ulster Bank Belfast Festival at Queen's; the Ulster Grand Prix; the Dale Farm Milk Cup; and the Happy Days International Beckett Festival all have existing letters of offer that will be honoured in 2015-16 and 2016-17, because last year was just the first year of their three-year deal, as it were.

We also have commitments to the Tall Ships, which was a hugely successful event the last time that it was in Belfast, and we have commitments to golf: the Irish Open next year and 2017; and, we hope, the Open coming to Royal Portrush. Those are where the commitments currently are. I have asked the Tourist Board to have a conversation in and around events funding for smaller events to try to establish whether there is something that we can do in year and whether we can move forward into 2015-16. I think that if we are able to pull together an events scheme for the sponsorship, it will be a smaller scheme, if we are able to do it at all.

Mr Dunne: What about Invest NI? I think that we all recognise that it does a good job. Do you see it looking at its resources in-house to try to make savings? Do you see it as a significant organisation that we need to protect?

Mrs Foster: Absolutely. We want to continue to bring job opportunities to Northern Ireland and to support our local firms and the creation of jobs. We will continue to do that. However, Invest, like any other part of the apparatus, will have to look for substantial cost savings in the administration in every other way. We will work with it over the next period of time, because, as I am sure you are aware, budget bilaterals will take place with me and the Finance Minister about this Department. We will push very hard on what we do and how we help Northern Ireland to move forward. We can do that only if we can facilitate the creation of jobs.

The Deputy Chairperson (Mr Flanagan): Arlene, you stated that your Department got an extra £30 million for commitments and agreements that have been made. However, you also had to sustain a cut of 15% or nearly £28 million in your baseline. You referenced that some projects may be scaled back or halted. Is there any indication yet about what you are actually talking about? As MLAs, all that we have seen is the overall figure; we have not seen the detail from the Department. Has that been worked up in the Department yet?

Mrs Foster: We are doing that. Obviously, it is still a draft Budget. The figure that we have been asked to cut is quite significant; therefore, we will very much be drilling down with all the arm's-length bodies and, indeed, in the Department. The £30 million is essentially made up of commitments from Invest Northern Ireland, and there are also some Tourist Board commitments. Those commitments have already been made. So, whilst it looks very good that I am achieving £30 million, those were commitments that are rolling forward and are, I have to say, an indicator of the success of Invest Northern Ireland and of the events strategy that we have to move Northern Ireland confidently onwards. We will be having some very challenging conversations over the next month with all the arm's-length bodies and, indeed, with the Finance Minister.

The Deputy Chairperson (Mr Flanagan): I presume that you will keep us updated.

Mrs Foster: Yes; absolutely.

The Deputy Chairperson (Mr Flanagan): Is there a ballpark figure for the targets that you are going to set for the arm's-length bodies in the next financial year?

Mrs Foster: In terms of?

The Deputy Chairperson (Mr Flanagan): The targets for job creation and economic output through Invest NI and the Tourist Board.

Mrs Foster: Do you mean for 2015-16?

The Deputy Chairperson (Mr Flanagan): Yes.

Mrs Foster: The job creation targets were set in the Programme for Government. So, they were an Executive commitment, as opposed to a commitment directly for us. Obviously, we had to deliver on that commitment, and we will, of course, be discussing the issue at the economic subgroup of the Executive. When we set targets, we have to take into account the financial capability to deliver on them, where we are economically and what the pipeline looks like. So, we will take all that into consideration when setting the targets, but will be doing that, as a whole, in the Executive.

The Deputy Chairperson (Mr Flanagan): One Programme for Government commitment was on regional imbalance and trying to ensure that there is sustainable economic growth in all regions. Chris made the point that a huge number of jobs have been created in Belfast, and that is very welcome. However, there is huge resentment in other areas that the same proportion of jobs is not being created everywhere. We can make the point that Invest NI is having huge success in job creation in Belfast. However, a lot of emphasis seems to be put on providing services, as opposed to actually manufacturing. Can you give us an indication of what efforts Invest is making to try to encourage manufacturing companies to base themselves here?

Mrs Foster: First of all, I do not accept that there is a huge amount of resentment in Northern Ireland. I have the privilege of going across Northern Ireland on a day-to-day basis and meeting firms. They are all very much buoyed up by the fact that the Northern Ireland economy as a whole is growing. As I indicated, certain sectors will want to be based in the capital city, and I think that that is true whether you are in Belfast, Dublin or London. Those firms will want to be in the capital city. Instead of saying that we do not want those firms unless they go to a regional area of Northern Ireland, we should embrace their coming to Belfast and ask them what else we can do to encourage them to think about putting people into other regions of Northern Ireland. What are those firms looking for that we have in those regions? Is it skills? Is it quality of life? Is it education for your family? That proactive, positive way of welcoming people to Northern Ireland is a much more sensible way of dealing with the fact, rather than saying that regions of Northern Ireland are resentful of jobs going to Belfast.

We have had some very good manufacturing announcements over the previous year. I can think of Schrader in Antrim, which is doing very well — so much so that it was bought over recently. I can think of Whale pumps in Bangor, which Mr Dunne will be very familiar with, and the great success that it has had. I can also think of the agri-sector, which is a manufacturing sector in and of itself, and the way in which it continues to grow, and of Wrightbus in Ballymena and the way that it has grown. Yes, we have a difficulty with JTI Gallaher, but I think that it has been accepted that that is a very peculiar incidence with very special circumstances, not least the European directives that are forcing it to go in a particular direction. So, the manufacturing sector continues to grow. I think that the commentators in the press have universally accepted that, and we will continue to support it.

The Deputy Chairperson (Mr Flanagan): The economic outlook shows that, for 21 months in a row, we have had fewer people on the dole. That is certainly positive news. If you look at the figures produced on 15 October, you will see that unemployment numbers are down by 5,000 in the last quarter. Similarly, however, the number of people who are economically inactive has increased by 9,000 in the same quarter. Since June 2011, 20,000 more people here are economically inactive than they were three years ago. I am aware that you and Stephen Farry are producing a strategy to try to tackle economic inactivity. Has any progress been made on the development of that strategy? What are you trying to do to get these people back into work, as well as to create jobs for them?

Mrs Foster: We have made some good progress on the economic inactivity strategy. As you know, DEL has led it, but we have been working very closely with that Department. Following endorsement from the Executive's subcommittee on the economy during the summer, DEL has commenced an audit of existing service provision for the target inactive groups as identified in the framework document. I anticipate that a final strategy will be developed by the end of this calendar year. I know that that is something that members have been waiting for.

A number of Members have spoken to me about the desire to engage in pilot work across the Province, and I welcome that. I think that it is very good that some Members have been proactive in their constituencies and have been looking at ways to deal with this huge issue. It is continually a big issue for us. It is a legacy issue — we are aware of that — but it is something that we very much need to tackle, particularly in mental health. That is one of the strategic areas for us where economic inactivity is concerned. The number of people who are out of work who have mental health issues concerns us. How we can deal with those people in a positive way is a real priority for me, and I know that it is also a priority for the strategy.

Mr Agnew: Thank you, Minister, for coming along at what has been a key time for the Executive and your Department, as well as for everybody else.

When we had officials from your finance department here giving a presentation on the June monitoring round, I queried putting in inescapable bids for what were, in some cases for me, predictable as well as inescapable. I was told that that was normal practice. Is it good practice?

Mrs Foster: My budget baseline was reduced during the time when Invest Northern Ireland was having to hand back money because commitments that it believed would have to be fulfilled were not fulfilled. That was because people were reprofiling their letters of offer and were not pulling down money in the way that Invest Northern Ireland believed they would. Therefore, the baseline was pulled back, and, as a result, when the wave came by having to facilitate more commitments, I had to apply to the centre in monitoring rounds to try to get that money to deal with those issues. To be fair to the Executive, they answered that call on most occasions, and I think that it is a demonstration of them recognising in the Programme for Government that the economy is a number one priority. Something called the industrial guarantee is also there, and it says that no good job creation opportunity will go by the wayside. I call on that from time to time to bring commitment calls to the Executive.

The short answer is that it is not of my making. We have had to bid in on a number of occasions, and, indeed, in the most recent monitoring round, we have been successful again.

As you probably saw in the draft Budget yesterday, we have been allocated £7·7 million to bring our baseline back up. I welcome that, and it is something that we will continue to look at and something that I certainly want to discuss with the Finance Minister.

Mr Agnew: Specifically in this monitoring round, there was an inescapable bid from the Northern Ireland Tourist Board of £4·55 million.

Mrs Foster: Yes.

Mr Agnew: That included events like the North West 200, the Milk Cup, agus Feeya — Féile — Ulster Grand Prix —

Mrs Foster: Your Irish is not as good as mine, Steven.

Mr Agnew: No, it is not.

The Deputy Chairperson (Mr Flanagan): It is still better than Gregory Campbell's.

Mrs Foster: No comment.

Mr Agnew: Those are predictable events. It appears to me that the Department would have committed to them and would have known they were coming. Should they not have been covered in the Budget for the year, as opposed to waiting until the monitoring rounds? Essentially, those were contractual obligations. If, due to the various financial pressures, the Finance Minister had said no, where would that have left the Department, given that these were contractual commitment?

Mrs Foster: If the Department of Finance and Personnel and the Executive had rejected those bids, we would have had to look to other areas of the Department to find the money. I have explained why we have had to engage in the bid process as opposed to having it in our bottom line: it is a historical issue, and it is one that I hope has now been fixed.

Mr Agnew: We were told it was normal practice.

Mrs Foster: It has been normal practice since my baseline was cut back, to be blunt. Over the past couple of years, the practice has been for me to bid when issues of pressure have arisen. You will still see me bidding for various things that come up during the year. As long as we are able to show the Finance Minister and the wider Executive that those bids are for things that benefit of Northern Ireland, they will recognise that. Sometimes the Executive get criticised for not working together, but in economic development the Executive have, on the whole, worked well together and recognised that, where there is a need to pull together and move forward, we do so.

Dr McCormick: From a long-term perspective, dealing with budgets such as those for Invest NI and the Tourist Board has been, to a degree, unpredictable over decades. The scale of things that we have been bidding for routinely in monitoring would not be untoward in a normal cycle.

Mr Agnew: The North West 200 is predictable.

Dr McCormick: Fair enough, but the scale of the issue is not so much. The reason it is more tricky at the moment is simply because the total budgetary context is more difficult. That is what is making it more challenging. Is it normal? Is it a good way of doing things? Actually, probably, in the normal course of things , yes. It is usually perfectly acceptable to have some things that are unforeseen and even some things that are foreseen but not firm. We have a slightly more complex problem at the moment.

Mr Agnew: Minister, in relation to the events fund, you stated:

Yours is one of the few Departments that has had an increase in funding. I do not think you could have hoped for a better outcome, given the circumstances: you might have wanted a better outcome, but you could not have hoped for one. You gave some hope in your statement that, if you got a good outcome, the events fund could be saved. Can you give that commitment today?

Mrs Foster: I have indicated to you that, whilst I am put on the plus side when it comes to the draft Budget, along with the Department of Health, that is because of inescapable pressures that Invest Northern Ireland has, for very good reasons, had to bid for. The Finance Minister referenced that when he talked about positive pressures on the Budget. The £30 million that has been allocated is largely already spoken for, if I can use that phrase, whereas we still have to make the 15·1% reduction, which is £27·9 million. In a budget the size of mine, that is a very significant amount of money, particularly when 78% of the budget belongs to either tourism issues or Invest Northern Ireland.

Let us be clear: I do not want to cut the events fund, because I recognise, more than anybody around this table, the benefit to local communities of those events. I recognise the economic return. The reason why we had to do what we did was because we did not have the funding in-year to deal with the events fund for 2014-15. I am looking at this year, 2014-15, to see if I can do an events fund of a smaller nature. We will know very soon whether that is possible. Going forward into 2015-16, we will have to have a more radical look at events funding to see what we can do to try and support those local community groups. Some colleagues around the table made comments that, "Oh, you are supporting the big events. You are not supporting the community events. That is wrong." The reason we did that was because there were legal commitments already made for the bigger events, because of the three-year process — and they benefited from that process, let us be honest — whereas, for the smaller events funds, there is a bidding process every year and therefore there were no legal commitments. People cannot assume that they are going to have funding; they must apply every year and they will be in a competition.

Essentially, for this year, 2014-15, I am actively looking to see whether there is something I can do. It is later in the year for people, and that affects their planning. However, hopefully, I will be able to say something about that soon. The year 2015-16 is a more fundamental issue.

Mr Agnew: You mentioned that international events work on a three-year cycle. Is that something that could be looked at, to give sustainability to some of our more local festivals?

Mrs Foster: Well, that takes us up to 2018. Am I right about that, Andrew? No, I am sorry: 2017. So that is beyond this mandate of the Assembly, and it will be for whoever is the Minister of Enterprise, Trade and Investment is in the next mandate to deal with. That will take them up to 2017.

The Deputy Chairperson (Mr Flanagan): Would you support multi-annual funding for events?

Mrs Foster: I have done in the past. The reason why we have had to pull it back is the financial issue. As I say, we are going to look at the 2014-15 issue and see whether there is something we can do for this year try to give some help and assistance to those community events, and then we are going to have to have a more fundamental look in 2015-16.

Mr McKinney: Welcome, Minister. I, too, welcome the good news that is associated with job increases and reduction in unemployment. However, as has been said, it disguises some of the wider issues around long-term economic inactivity, etc. Colleagues talk about that in rural areas, but it is also true that Belfast is not one homogeneous unit, and that in it there are vast tracts in west, north, east and south Belfast which are not benefiting either. However, one of the things that occurs to me comes into sharp focus because of the Budget situation. For example, there are huge pressures on the health budget, but they merge with and are directly related to those very issues of long-term economic growth. Why is more not made of it? Given that some of that responsibility falls to you, and to some other Departments that might be able to deal with it, why is more not made of that at the Executive level — dealing with those issues which, in the longer term, can reduce the pressure on health, which is the biggest spending budget.

Mrs Foster: You make a very interesting point. Certainly, economic inactivity and some of the very clear underlying issues are certainly not for my Department alone. I recognise the role that we play, particularly in areas like the social economy and job creation. However, the Health Department plays a key role in trying to deal with mental health issues. We discuss those issues in terms of preventative measures, and how we encourage those with mental health problems into the workforce will be a priority in the economic inactivity strategy. So, whilst it belongs to DEL and DETI, you will see it much wider than that when it comes out. I believe that it is a good strategy but, like any other, it is only as good as the actions that it delivers. It is no good having a good strategy unless it delivers good outcomes.

Mr McKinney: Yes, but it also needs to be done in a timely way and with some urgency, if you like.

Mrs Foster: Yes, I agree.

Mr McKinney: It is now seven years since 2007, when the institutions were reintroduced. In a crisis, you can do two things. I suppose last week, with the Budget and all the rest, it was a crisis. You can batten down the hatches or you can radically change. Was there not an opportunity, even in the Budget crisis, to radically change the thought around that and do something different with the Budget?

Mrs Foster: I think that we have. We have recognised the importance of the Department of Health and of the need to protect front line services and deliver an effective health service. I point you to the work that we are doing with the Department of Health around Connected Health and health innovation. That is all new and is all designed to be innovative in the area of healthcare. I know that Andrew is very much an expert in that field. It is something that Minister Poots and I signed up to some considerable time ago. We are beginning to see the benefits of that, whether it is electronic medical records or the innovation that is happening up in the Centre for Connected Health. The fact that we are internationally connected on all of those issues is a good indicator of how you can do things differently. Andrew, do you want to say anything?

Dr McCormick: In terms of changing the way the health system is working, I have spent many years in that field seeing how looking at things differently can take us towards the kind of public health-led, preventative strategy that we have been seeking. That has to address, right up front, the issues in mental health, dealing with that as the long-term neglected area of health provision — a vital part of what we do. There is a lot more to be done, but there is a really strong direction from both Ministers. That is something that we had from several years ago to see that impetus coming through. It has to be creative and innovative, adopting new ways of doing things, as you say, both in technology and, more importantly —

Mr McKinney: But I am talking about within this Budget. I do not see the evidence in it. It was a batten-down-the-hatches Budget —

Mrs Foster: No, I do not accept that.

Mr McKinney: — as opposed to radically changing to an approach which would say, "Look, let's do something about those things that are impacting on health and do something radical."

Mrs Foster: I think you are making an assumption that it is much too early to make, Fearghal, because it is a draft Budget. There will be a lot of toing and froing between the Department of Finance and the other Departments. Details will be put on the flesh of the Budget. Indeed, I presume that I will be back talking about that in the next month or so. I think then you can challenge us about doing things differently. Do you know the problem about doing things differently sometimes, Fearghal? We get challenged when we try to do things differently, because there are consequences to doing things differently. If the MLAs and the Assembly are keen to have a step change in various areas then they have to be big enough to support the Ministers when they decide to do something radical and different. I hope that Members will do that when we bring our proposals forward.

Mr McKinney: It is not a coincidence that I am talking about enterprise and health, because I sit on the Health Committee as well. Of course, in the context of south Belfast, but not just selfishly so, the idea of investing in the cancer centre for excellence would have enormous economic benefits for here if it was embraced in a holistic way. Would that not have been one of the potential radical ideas that could have been brought to the table — to say, "We are going to invest in this to make a difference"? You will be conscious of the San Diego experience, which showed a governmental decision, so there is proof there.

Mrs Foster: Again, I am very up for this conversation. The experience of having Committee members out in San Diego was a very positive one for me and also, I think, for the members who went, so that they could see what we were doing in San Diego and what we were trying to achieve. In San Diego I had some very interesting conversations with clinicians about doing things differently around drugs and genomics, and being very specific around issues like that.

I am in danger here of going into another ministerial colleague's portfolio, but instead of just saying that we need more drugs, we are actually specifically saying, "What drug do you need?", and using innovation and technology to do that. That is a very exciting area, not only for the health service but for Almac, Randox and some of the fabulous and brilliant companies that we have, which continue to have a global presence and drive the whole area of genomics. It is hugely exciting, and it is something that I am very committed to. If you are asking me whether we can do something different, yes, let us do something different, but let us know that, when we do that, we have to pay money into that particular area and that therefore there will be consequences in another area.

Mr McKinney: What I am suggesting is that we do not become paralysed by the black hole of our debt.

Mrs Foster: Absolutely.

Mr McKinney: We need to do something —

Mrs Foster: And do you know what, Fearghal? There are a lot of companies across Northern Ireland that, when they faced into the black hole of debt in 2008 and 2009, had to take some very difficult choices that perhaps they would otherwise not have made. However, their firms are a lot better because of those decisions. They have become, if you like, of necessity, a lot more leaner in what they are doing, and I have seen that as I go around the country. So we should look at that example and try to do something likewise.

Mr Rooney: On the matter of working between DETI and DHSSPS, the Minister mentioned the life and health sciences strategy. That work is under way and is to bring together a greater cohesive approach between the academic and the health and social care sectors, Invest and the Department. It is to bring greater focus between industry, academia and government into looking at how best to deliver a much more coherent approach to health and life sciences.

Mr McKinney: I continue to emphasise it because people will lose faith in something against the backdrop of battening down the hatches, if you like, and feeling that there is no value in a discussion about investment when, in fact, this is the absolutely appropriate moment for saying, "This is why we will do something different."

Mrs Foster: Absolutely. I agree with that.

Mr McKinney: If that can be injected into the next eight weeks, I think that that will be an important addition.

Mrs Foster: If any message goes out from this Committee meeting today, I hope that that is the message that goes out.

Mr McKinney: Briefly, I add my support for the events fund. I think that it is very important that, once again, we do not lose sight of the value that the money brings back in terms of people coming here.

I want to ask about broadband, because I am hearing some sort of conflicts around the impact that this is having. Is there an assessment being done — this is a double negative, if you like — of whether businesses are not investing in rural areas because of the absence of capacity?

Mrs Foster: No, we are not doing that sort of assessment. At the moment, through the broadband fund, we are engaged in ensuring that more people and more businesses have access to broadband. We also have the mobile infrastructure project under way as well, so, rather than looking at the negative, we are trying to provide a positive answer. The connectivity of rural enterprise centres like Omagh and the Clinton Centre in Enniskillen is excellent, so we need to start telling the world about that. People talk about "the sticks", as I have heard Fermanagh referred to — it is actually true in that we have 30% of the forestry, so we are actually the sticks. I am embracing being the sticks. We actually have as good connectivity as anywhere else in Northern Ireland, so, instead of allowing that to become the narrative, we need to give the true story of what is happening in the south-west and, indeed, other parts of Northern Ireland as well.

Mr McKinney: And just finally finally —

The Deputy Chairperson (Mr Flanagan): It was "finally" three questions ago. You are turning into Trevor McDonald.

Mr McKinney: It is my upbringing. InterTradeIreland, once again, is an organisation that is about bringing money in. It is about seeing the benefits of tomorrow as opposed to just being an organisation that spends taxpayers' money. Obviously, it has good ambition around 2020 targets etc, and it speaks to the island as well because there is joint ambition there. Is it advisable in that context to cut budgets of organisations like that, even against this background?

Mrs Foster: Well, I could make that argument about every single arm's-length body that I am engaged with, Fearghal. I think that they are all performing a service, and I think that they are all doing well. I am pleased to say that InterTradeIreland has been working well with Invest Northern Ireland. It is working well with our universities as well, particularly in relation to Horizon 2020. It is providing a good service, and some of its programmes have been very successful. I see that when I look at the return on investment that it has. I think that it had become a leaner organisation even before what is happening now. It used to have a plethora of programmes, and it honed that into very specific programmes to deal with the issues that were before it. I welcome that, and Thomas Hunter McGowan is doing a very good job. However, like every other part of the Department, it has to take the issues that we have in front of us, and we will engage not only with the board of InterTradeIreland but with my counterpart in relation to the issue, Richard Bruton.

The Deputy Chairperson (Mr Flanagan): With regard to the decision that your Department has taken to cut InterTradeIreland's budget by £420,000, has there been any discussions with the Department in the South regarding the funding ratio for it and the knock-on implications of that?

Mrs Foster: Well, first of all, let me say that when the Republic's Government made particular cuts around two or three years ago, there was no discussion with me about the cuts that they were making to InterTradeIreland's budget. There is no precedent, if you like, for me to have Richard Bruton's agreement on what is going on. That having been said, of course I am going to discuss with Richard the issues that relate to InterTradeIreland. Indeed, we have corresponded with each other on the issue. It was raised at the North/South Ministerial Council as well, and we will move forward on it. We put in one third. They put in two thirds. That is the way that it normally is.

The Deputy Chairperson (Mr Flanagan): Off the top of your head, is the NSMC due to meet in trade and business sectoral format soon?

Mrs Foster: It is. It must be due to meet soon, because I have not had a meeting recently.

Ms Fearon: Thanks for your presentation so far. It leads neatly on from that point to stress the importance of the island economy. Obviously it generates a huge amount of money every year. The larger return from that is to our local economy. InterTradeIreland is important in that because the South is such as huge partner for us, not least in terms of exports. I am sure that you are aware that yesterday we had a joint Committee meeting with the Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation. There was general consensus around the table, maybe with the exception of Gordon, that it is really important to develop the border region, where there are higher levels of job losses and emigration and arguably more barriers to trade than anywhere else in the North, given its proximity to the border. The Centre for Cross Border Studies was with us, and it was actually quite critical of Invest and IDA. Given the problems that the border region faces, even a small injection or bit of energy would make such a huge difference. Do you think that Invest and IDA could work better together? What is their current relationship like?

Mrs Foster: Invest NI and the IDA have a very positive relationship. I would go as far as to say that they have never had a better relationship, actually. They work very closely together. I presume that you are referring to the report by Dr Bradley and Professor Best. Is that right? We were disappointed that they had not referenced a lot of the information that we had furnished them with in the report. We are disappointed with the report because firms in the border region of course show a stronger propensity to export into, in our case, the Republic of Ireland. Indeed, they have a stronger propensity to export than any other place in Northern Ireland. So InterTradeIreland, from a proportional point of view, works more closely with firms in the border region than they do in Coleraine and places like that — so much so that, a couple of years ago, I actually told InterTradeIreland that I felt that it needed to push beyond the border and actually deal with companies elsewhere. I know that my counterpart in the Republic did the same because he was getting criticism from areas perhaps in Cork or Kerry that were not engaging with InterTradeIreland in the way that they felt others were. Instead of just being a border agency, it was actually meant to facilitate trade between the two parts of the island.

One area that concerns me and which we want to look at is the fact that border firms have a weaker propensity for innovation. In other words, their innovation is not as strong as that of firms elsewhere. The INTERREG Va operational programme, which is now out for consultation, looks at the needs of the border region, certainly in the area of innovation. Something that we could look at is cross-border innovation and the need to be more innovative in the border region. It sounds to me as though that is a real need and certainly, from the point of view of applying to INTERREG Va, I think that it is something that we could look at.

Ms Fearon: I know that there is a huge entrepreneurial spirit along the border region as well, given the barriers that there have been and, I suppose, the historic lack of investment that people in the area feel that there has been.

I am conscious of time. I am sure that you are aware of the NICVA report that was released recently about the accuracy of economic data in the North. It basically surmised that we rely on estimates rather than cold hard facts to underpin the Executive's economic strategy. I suppose that that is not to take away from the brilliant work that is being done by the likes of Invest. I was fortunate enough to see it in action in California in June. There seems to be a hesitancy by your Department and DFP to go after that accurate economic data that we really need. Surely we can only enhance our performance by having a fuller picture, particularly in the current climate.

Mrs Foster: Sometimes the answers are not necessarily in government; they are outside government. We are working with the Northern Ireland Centre for Economic Policy. It is doing particular pieces of work for us. I think that we can use that centre more effectively than actually spending more money internally in government: we can actually ask for particular pieces of work. Neil Gibson has been in with me just recently to talk about those pieces of work. That is the way forward for us as an economic Department — to look at the independent data that is there and then to have some analysis of it. Certainly, it is doing a piece of work for us at the moment on air passenger duty. We are looking forward to that piece of work to see where we can make changes in Northern Ireland terms. It is very good to have our own centre for economic policy, as well.

Mr Humphrey: Minister, thank you very much for your presentation this morning and the positive good-news story that you brought, although you would not think so having listened to the past half hour. I think that the number of jobs that are being created in Northern Ireland in the economic climate that prevails, not just here in the UK but across the globe, in the past year in particular has been excellent. All credit must go to you and the Invest Northern Ireland team. If I am right, outside of London, the most foreign direct investment jobs in any UK region have come to Northern Ireland. All credit for that must go to the team that has gone out and sold this place in such a positive way.

All of that having been said, you have painted a picture with your comments about the budget and economy at the moment that is the realpolitik which some people clearly do not want to face up to. Last week, in the city of Belfast, I met businesspeople from across industry to traders in the city centre and tourism professionals. They were hugely complimentary about the work that is being done. I just want to pass that on to you.

Tourism is obviously hugely important. Obviously, attracting people in, the spend that they have and the figures that you have given us this morning are hugely positive and important to our economy. Is there a way in which we can soften that? I will come on to Tourism Ireland and the Tourist Board in a moment. Is there a way in which we can soften that in terms of the RPA? Does that provide an opportunity for the new councils, which will have greater economies of scale, and regional tourism partnerships to step in to assist and put more resource into promoting their regions or their particular council areas?

Mrs Foster: Thank you for your positive comments. In terms of job creation, we actually passed the city of London in the summer for foreign direct investment per capita, so we are the leading region of the UK for foreign direct investment per head of population. I think that that is something that we should be incredibly proud of, given where we have come from.

One of the issues with tourism is that it is a very good-news story and everybody wants to be part of it. Sometimes that is a great thing, but sometimes it can be a challenge because it can be quite fragmented across Northern Ireland. So we have Tourism Ireland, the Northern Ireland Tourist Board, the councils, the regional tourism partnerships and other organisations, such as hotel federations and what have you, that all want to be part of the tourism story. Certainly, what we have been trying to do over the past period is to join all of those voices and have one voice for tourism. In some of the bigger events, particularly the Giro d'Italia, that has worked really well. The councils, the Northern Ireland Tourist Board, Tourism Ireland and indeed other agencies, such as Roads Service and the Police Service, worked together in such a proactive way that it really delivered a very good message for those looking into Northern Ireland and indeed for visitors as well.

Moving forward, I hope that local councils will recognise the nine destination areas. Although there are 11 councils, there are nine destination areas for tourism in Northern Ireland. I hope that, in areas where perhaps they go across council boundaries — I think of the Mournes in particular — councils will work together and with the destination partnership that is there to promote a very positive view of their area. They must do so in the context of what it is that they are trying to achieve.

If they are trying to bring in international visitors, they must work proactively with Tourism Ireland. If they want to bring visitors up from the Republic of Ireland, they should work with the Northern Ireland Tourist Board. It is really a plea for the tourism agencies to be more joined up because, when they work together, they have a very strong message and a very good offering.

Mr Humphrey: In my experience as a former Belfast city councillor, Belfast has had a resource that other councils have perhaps not had. That is not a criticism; they have just not had the resource to do that, but an opportunity is now being provided, so you would hope that that would work better across the councils outside the city.

I appreciate that this is ongoing work, but have you met Tourism Ireland or had any indications about the implications of those budgetary pressures for Tourism Ireland and the Northern Ireland Tourist Board?

Mrs Foster: Like all the bodies, there will be pressure on Tourism Ireland. I recently met the chief executive and the chair about the October monitoring and in-year pressures. I will, of course, talk to them again about the 2015-16 picture. I said to the chief executive that the GB market, which is a critical market for tourism for Northern Ireland, still has to get attention and that we had to prioritise our market where we were getting the most bang for our buck. GB is a very strong market for us — again, it has been shown in the first six months of this year — so we want to encourage that market and try to get more visitors. I said that to Niall recently, so we will have those conversations. It is important, as it is with all those things, that Northern Ireland gets standout in the GB market from Tourism Ireland. That is very well understood by Tourism Ireland. We will move forward and try to bring more tourists here.

Mr Humphrey: Finally, Minister, we welcome the recent additions to the international air travel destinations. Are negotiations ongoing with other airlines and international destinations? I know that you are particularly keen on North America.

Mrs Foster: I welcome the fact that a new flight has been announced today to Barcelona from the City Airport. That is a new carrier in the market, so that is good news. I welcome that, and there are also a number of conversations about access, because I learned very quickly in this job that the more direct access we have into Northern Ireland, the more visitors we achieve. Indeed, it is a lot easier for business travellers to fly directly either to Belfast International Airport or Belfast City Airport. So a number of conversations are going on — the Middle East, Canada and Europe — and I hope that those will soon bring us new routes.

Mr Agnew: Mr Humphrey referred to some of us not being as positive as he is. I find it hard to cheer when we have more people in in-work poverty than we have in out-of-work poverty. Has any consideration been given to requiring companies that Invest NI supports to become living wage employers in order to receive public money?

Mrs Foster: No, there has not been. As you know, with the interventions that we have engaged in, particularly since 2008 with the jobs fund, we were trying to provide jobs, because that is where the pressure was at that time. We were losing quite a number of jobs in 2007 and 2008. The cry went up that we needed to create jobs and that it was not all about brain surgeons and highly qualified technicians, but that we needed to provide jobs at a particular level. We did that. The jobs fund has been hugely successful across Northern Ireland. I think that that was vital about the jobs fund. Whether you were creating five jobs in Ahoghill or two jobs in Enniskillen, it was able to help out.

We have not been engaged in the living wage debate, but I know that that debate will now come to the fore. As the economy begins to settle, people will look at their wages and say that they are not earning enough. I am trying to lift the productivity of Northern Ireland and bring in higher-value jobs. The strategy before the downturn was to bring in high-end jobs, lift productivity and close the gap between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK. We then had to create jobs at a certain level. I needed to do that, which was appreciated across the Chamber. However, we are now looking at productivity issues again and the need to improve. That will certainly be a discussion with the Invest board. I have no doubt about supporting higher-value jobs as opposed to lower-value jobs. I am being as frank with you as I can, Steven: the lower-value job issue did not come to the fore during 2008-09 and 2009-2010, because we were just creating jobs.

Mr Agnew: I appreciate that you are being candid. I will make a couple of points. The evidence shows that paying the living wage increases productivity. I also argue that the low-skilled jobs that you refer to should command the living wage. Nobody should be paid less.

Mrs Foster: No, and I am not going to argue against that. However, as the economy grows stronger, people will be able to pay higher wages. Certainly, from my perspective, that is where we will all want to be so that people have higher wages. That helps the economy generally because people will spend that money in retailers, and in hotels and restaurants at weekends, so I am not arguing against that.

Mr Anderson: Minister, I thank you and your officials for coming along today. At the outset, I congratulate you on the great work that has been done in the past year with Invest NI and in promoting and creating jobs. Well done, and, hopefully, that will continue, even in these difficult economic times. There is obviously more work to be done because of our economic difficulties.

Mr Humphrey touched on tourism events, and some of my questions have been answered. I welcome the fact that major events are being honoured for the next number of years. However, smaller events are the lifeline of a lot of Northern Ireland's economy through local councils and suchlike, as was touched on, and through the hospitality industry. If smaller events suffer in any way, how do you see the future for the hospitality industry and its jobs? I think that you said that we had a 5% increase in trips this year and a 22% increase in visitors from the Irish Republic. Is that right?

Mrs Foster: Yes.

Mr Anderson: Do we hope to continue at that level or improve on it?

Mrs Foster: I am a great supporter of the approach that events drive the tourism market. The Hotels Federation and other parts of the industry agree with that. If international visitors come for events at all, they tend to come for the larger ones, and those will continue to happen. Although some smaller events — community events, for example — attract international visitors, they are in the main for the domestic market. Some people from the border regions might also attend those, so it is a domestic occurrence.

We had to try to grow the events fund organically. When the events fund came to us from DCAL — I think in 2009 — it had a fixed budget. We tried to grow that budget every year through the monitoring rounds, and we talked about that facility and the way in which we had to do that over the years. When the events fund came to us, it was just £1 million, and that was the way it was. We grew that over time, because we recognised the need to have those events. It is with great regret that I had to make the announcement that we did not have the funding to deal with it. Let me say that that events fund of £1 million covered international events and every other event. It was £1 million for everything. So you can see the way in which we grew it. In 2014-15, if at all possible, I would like to do an events fund for smaller events. That will be a challenge, but it would send out a message that we greatly value the work at grass-roots level, and we want to take it forward. However, it is a competitive process; not everybody will get money out of it, but I think that it would send a signal about the value that I put on events across Northern Ireland.

Mr Anderson: Thank you for that, Minister. It is encouraging that you will attempt that for the community. I know that connections are being made that will attract —

Mrs Foster: I also have to say that I will support events companies in trying to approach the private sector for funding. I do not mean to cast aspersions on any organisation, but sometimes it is comfortable to get money every year from government. I do not say that it is easy, because hard forms have to be filled in and everything else, but you know that you can apply every year. We have to be creative about where we can access funding, and I encourage people to look at other sources of funding. I am not asking them to rely on the promise of an events fund this year because, even if it comes out, I do not think that we can accommodate all those who would have wanted to be accommodated.

Mr Anderson: Can I ask a topical question?

Mrs Foster: A topical question?

Mr Anderson: It has not been asked today. It is about corporation tax. I asked this of the Minister of Finance in the Chamber yesterday. How do you see the devolution of corporation tax powers going forward?

Mrs Foster: We await a decision from the Prime Minister. We know that we do not have to wait for it for much longer. If it comes at all, it will be in the autumn statement, which, bizarrely, will be made at the beginning of December. We will hear from the Prime Minister whether we will achieve the devolution of corporation tax. If we do, and we gain the power to lower the rate of tax, it will send out a very positive message to the rest of the world. Despite the fact that the cut in the rate of tax will not happen immediately, Invest Northern Ireland will immediately use the announcement as a way to go to some firms that have not been interested in the past to try to attract them to invest in Northern Ireland. We hope that the outcome will be positive, and we will then move forward and try to attract those firms into Northern Ireland.

Mr Anderson: With regard to financial pressures, if corporation tax is devolved to our Administration, can we look forward with confidence?

Mrs Foster: I am very confident. All the indicators are that the economy will continue to grow. Let us be clear: my job is to facilitate economic growth, but it is businesses on the ground that make it happen. We want to send out a confident message to them that we are trying to facilitate their growth, whether through financial assistance, as we have been able to achieve in the past, assistance to apply for European funding for research and development moneys or dealing with the issue of business regulation and red tape. We need to send out a message to the business community in Northern Ireland — this may be counter-intuitive — that we are the Government, and we want to help you. We want to assist companies to grow because we recognise that businesses, small and large, are the people who drive the economy in Northern Ireland.

The Deputy Chairperson (Mr Flanagan): Arlene, you commented on businesses that have not been interested previously in locating here. Has any work been done by Invest or anyone else to find out why companies that Invest NI has pitched to have decided not to base themselves here?

Mrs Foster: It is principally because of the tax regime. Invest, particularly its international team in America, has said to me that they would not even approach some companies because the first question would be about tax. Therefore, if we had a corporation tax rate cut and the power to bring it down, Invest would be able to engage with those firms. It opens up a whole new range of people whom we could have a conversation with.

The Deputy Chairperson (Mr Flanagan): I was talking more about businesses that Invest had engaged with that were thinking about opening a European base and decided to go elsewhere. Is there any empirical evidence as to why they chose not to base themselves here? During the inquiry into the cost of energy, the CBI told us that a number of projects were lost here because of the price of energy, but you and Invest NI challenged that.

Mrs Foster: I have not received any information from the CBI or other companies that says that the cost of energy was the principal reason why they did not invest here. There will be many and varied reasons why people may have us on the shortlist but decide to go elsewhere. Just as we win out on occasions against other regions, we will also lose out on other occasions.

The Deputy Chairperson (Mr Flanagan): I am trying to find out whether there is any empirical data to give you an overview of —

Mrs Foster: There will be very particular circumstances to a firm. You could not extrapolate from one firm to another. If you are asking me, as I think you are, whether energy costs are a running thread throughout that, the answer is no.

The Deputy Chairperson (Mr Flanagan): I was not focusing on energy costs; I just wanted to know what the main issues are when we miss out.

Mrs Foster: As I understand it — I presume that you could raise this with Alastair Hamilton when he is with you — there are many and different reasons. There is no particular reason as to why people do not come to Northern Ireland; there are a range of issues.

Mr Hazzard: I had to pop out for an education statement, so apologies if my question has been touched on already. Minister, given our patchy economic recovery — it is very inconsistent in places — is it time to review Invest? Does the Department have plans to look at the strengths and weaknesses of Invest and maybe benchmark it against the likes of Scottish Enterprise or Enterprise Ireland? Has that work already been put in?

Mrs Foster: First, Invest is benchmarked against all the regional and country development agencies, and it comes out very well. I am sure that Alastair will tell you about that next week. Secondly, I carried out a review of Invest Northern Ireland in 2009. As you know, I periodically review the arm's-length bodies. We have reviewed the Consumer Council, Invest Northern Ireland and the Tourist Board, and the only one that has not been looked at is the Health and Safety Executive. If I feel that there is a need to do that, I will do so. In fact, I had a discussion with the chief executive of the Health and Safety Executive just yesterday about the issues. It is not yet time to look again at Invest. The independent review of economic policy was a very fundamental review. It led to organisational change in Invest Northern Ireland. That has all now been worked through. It is wise to allow that to settle down. If you are asking me about benchmarking, I think that you will find that Alastair, coming from the private sector, has benchmarked Invest Northern Ireland against a lot of different metrics. He will able to talk to you about that when he comes to see you.

Mr Frew: Minister, your Department has to be the most agile of all Departments in this place because you are the front-facing Department to business. You have to try to be as agile as business is. I suspect that in-year monitoring rounds have been very important to you over the past number of years, particularly in the downturn. Given the restrictions and the pressure on budgets, do you see those becoming increasingly more important as your machine with job creation and promotion has cranked up over the last number of years to a point at which you have built up a head of steam? It would be a real crying shame if your Department were to lose out at this time, when we need growth and stability. How important are in-year monitoring rounds to you, and how important will they be going forward?

Mrs Foster: The monitoring rounds have certainly been hugely important. We know that there are reasons for that, particularly around the selective financial assistance (SFA) rules at the end of June. Invest had to deal with all the pressures coming up to the end of June and make sure that the announcements were made and the jobs secured. There was definitely a head of steam up until the end of June to deal with those pressures. Invest has been a victim of its own success to a certain extent. It has created and brought in a wide range of companies across Northern Ireland, and, as a result of that, there is growing pressure on its budget.

I will have to advocate on Invest Northern Ireland's behalf at Executive level as to why we should continue to support it, continue to support job creation, and, as I said, Executive colleagues have been very supportive of that thus far. Given that there are a lot of pressures across government, I may find it more and more challenging to argue that point, but I am hopeful that, if I bring a good project to the Executive table that I need funding for, they will listen very sympathetically.

Mr Frew: You will expect me to raise the Northern Ireland Open Challenge competition in Galgorm, which is a prestigious and well-run golf tournament. Phil, you will know all about it, too.

The Deputy Chairperson (Mr Flanagan): It is funny that you did not know the name of it five minutes ago.

I had to correct you, Paul.

Mr Frew: If we are trying to attract and aspire to have the Irish Open again, how important is another competition, albeit on a different site and a different golf course? How important is it that we support the Open Challenge competition in Galgorm to show the world that we are ready, able and willing to host the Irish Open?

Mrs Foster: The Northern Ireland Open Challenge is a very good competition, and, more than that, it has also become a very good tourist initiative. I had the pleasure of being there at the end of August this year, and it has grown from the previous year, in so far as there was a food village and a lot of stands. People were coming in not just for the golf but for the food experience and the whole ambience of being in the Galgorm Castle grounds. It is a very good example of how you can start something and then grow it organically every year. I think that it adds to our golf offering.

We have the Open Challenge, as you rightly say, and we have the Irish Open, which we want to bring back to Northern Ireland and have committed to doing so. That is very exciting for us, because golf tourists spend more money than any other tourist when they come to Northern Ireland. That is significant, because, as you know, not only do we have targets for the number of tourists but we have targets for spend. We want to make it a billion-pound industry by 2020, and by encouraging those high-spending tourists to come to Northern Ireland, we will achieve that goal.

Mr Frew: Some members raised the issue of regional disparity. Again, I have my own views on that. When you go to a global market to attract companies to Northern Ireland, you are not going to pick a patch of field and say that you want them over there; you are going to let such companies go wherever they want to go in Northern Ireland. The days when we could expect employment at the end of our street left with the linen industry and the mills in our villages and towns.

We know that the service industry will go to Belfast, the capital city, and we know that manufacturing and construction will go outside the capital city. What discussions have you had with your counterparts in the Executive — say, with the Regional Development Minister — on road infrastructure and park-and-ride schemes so that, when people commute to work, which is inevitable these days, they are supported as best they can be and their commute becomes less pressured and lighter so that people can fit their employment into their working day and into their life?

Mrs Foster: I think that you are referencing the fact that, while I hold the economic brief in the Executive, it goes much wider than that. The Executive subcommittee on the economy recognised that, and the Regional Development Minister sits on that subcommittee. He will make decisions that will have an implication for the economy of Northern Ireland, as, indeed, will most Ministers when they make decisions. Although I have not had any conversations with him about park-and-ride schemes and the need for them in various areas — that is a matter for him to consider in consultation with his officials — I recognise that economic development in Northern Ireland is an issue for the entire Executive, and, given that it is the number one priority in the Programme for Government, so it should be.

The Deputy Chairperson (Mr Flanagan): Arlene, that is it.

Mrs Foster: Sin é.

The Deputy Chairperson (Mr Flanagan): Send a memo to Gregory: "Irish language is available in Arlene's room".

Mrs Foster: Yes, all right. Thank you.