To ask the Minister for the Economy to detail (i) her plans to include micro-businesses with a turnover less than £500,000 in the micro-business support fund; (ii) what consideration she has given to using an alternative measure of a business’s eligibility for micro-business support, as opposed to turnover; and (iii) the criteria used to judge whether a business is a micro-business.

The Business and Financial Planning Grant scheme was open to Northern Ireland micro, small or medium sized businesses (large companies were not eligible) that met the following criteria:

Had a turnover of at least £500,000 in one of the three most recent financial years, prior to 31 December 2019.

Experienced a reduction in turnover in excess of 40% as a direct result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Operating in the manufacturing, construction, professional services, information and communication, or science and technology sectors. Existing Invest NI customers were also eligible to apply.

The scheme closed to new applications on 30 November 2020 and there are no plans to deliver a second phase of the scheme. There are therefore no plans to review the eligibility criteria.