AQW 14411/17-22

Ms Claire Sugden
Independent
East Londonderry

Tabled Date: 10/02/2021
Answered On Date: 18/02/2021
Priority Written: No

Question:
To ask the Minister for the Economy, further to the statement from the Chief Medical Officer that lockdown restrictions could last into next year, to detail the potential impacts on the remit of her Department of (i) a full lockdown; or (ii) more minimal restrictions over this period.

Answer:

There is tremendous uncertainty over the environment in which my Department will be operating in the next 12 months due to the ongoing pandemic. My Departmental operating model will need to be flexible enough to respond to developments in relation to the relaxing of social distancing and restrictions on the NICS office working environment as the Covid-19 recovery programme is rolled out.

However, during 2020 my Department published ‘Rebuilding a Stronger Economy’, a framework to deliver higher-paying jobs, a highly skilled workforce and a more regionally balanced economy, and which broadly sets out where our focus must be applied to respond to these events.

The next steps are be to build upon the themes set out in this paper and prepare a ‘vision’ for the NI economy for the future that will guide our economic policy response to the simultaneous occurrence of once in a generation events, and set out NI’s distinctive offering as a place to work, live, visit and invest.

A draft Economic Recovery Action Plan is being prepared and the Department will be undertaking a series of engagements with key stakeholders to inform and shape this economic vision. The work undertaken on the economic vision will, in turn, inform a future Economic Strategy which it is anticipated will developed by the end of 2021.

As events unfold over the course of the coming months, my Department will continue to analyse and adapt so that we can continue to protect jobs, support businesses and promote economic recovery.