AQW 20606/22-27


Ms Kate Nicholl
Alliance Party
South Belfast


Tabled Date: 15/01/2025
Answered On Date: 24/01/2025
Priority Written: No


Question:
To ask the Minister of Finance to detail the amount of funding received to support the work of her Department's Innovation Lab in each of the last five years.


Answer:
The Innovation Lab was mainly funded by the Department of Finance, which was supplemented by additional income generated from work for other departments.
The budget and income received for the Innovation Lab for the period 2020/21 to 2023/24 is detailed below. Please note information for 2019/20 is not available as the budget for the Innovation Lab was not separated out from other Departmental functions at this time.
Innovation Lab
2020/21
£000
2021/22
£000
2022/23
£000
2023/24
£000
Final Outturn
572
639
800
849
Income
-105
-105
-124
-94
Total Funding
467
534
676
755
Following an organisational review, the Innovation Lab merged with Business Consultancy Services (BCS) in April 2024 to form Innovation and Consultancy Services (ICS). Therefore, there is no separately identifiable 2024/25 funding allocated for the Innovation Lab.