To ask the Minister of Enterprise, Trade and Investment for his assessment of the impact of a mandatory National Living Wage, from April 2016, on operating costs for small and medium sized businesses; and what support his Department can offer businesses that may seek to cut staff numbers or working hours as a result.

The National Living Wage will be introduced in April 2016 and means that people aged 25 or over will be legally entitled to at least £7.20 per hour. This will give a pay rise of over 7% to the lowest paid in society.

Of course this does have a corresponding impact on cost for businesses. My Department will be taking forward research during 2016 looking at the most recent increase and further planned increases up to 2020 to determine the potential economic impact of the National Living Wage.

This work will help to inform whether any additional support measures over and above the wide range of support already on offer by Invest NI are required.