AQW 46128/22-27

Ms Kate Nicholl
Alliance Party
South Belfast

Tabled Date: 13/05/2026
Answered On Date: 28/05/2026
Priority Written: No

Question:
To ask the Minister of Finance to detail how Artificial Intelligence is being used by, and within (i) his Department; and (ii) the arm's length bodies sponsored by his Department.

Answer:

I refer the Member to AQW 34712/22-27.

Since then, further use by the Department of Finance is:

Staff operate Co-pilot licenses, which have been used to maximise efficiency with administrative tasks.

The use has been used in a controlled manner to check independently researched legal advice; improve clarity; quality assure written text; provide summaries and analysis of consultation responses.

In addition, Co-pilot has been used to assist with drafting and refining documents, streamlining communications, summarising lengthy content into key points, supporting financial analysis and interpretation, providing technical support in excel and as a checking tool.

NISRA teams are increasingly using modern programming languages and tools to process and present statistical data. Staff have leveraged AI to assist in translating code from legacy systems into languages such as R, SQL, HTML, and JavaScript in line with the NISRA Reproducible Analytical Pipelines (RAP) Strategy. Beyond migration, AI has supported the development of new functionality, improvements to existing processes, and the creation of interactive, user-focused outputs that are accessible and mobile-friendly.