To ask the Minister for the Economy to detail how her Department intends to support businesses in managing wage pressures associated with the increase in the national living wage and employers' National Insurance contributions.

I am aware the local business community has expressed serious concerns about the impact of the British Government’s Autumn Statement. While the Statement brought welcome benefits for workers with increases in the National Living Wage and National Minimum Wage; rather than offsetting this increase in pay with a decrease in taxes, the Budget also increased employer National Insurance contributions.

When Minister of Finance, I engaged with businesses on the budget and made continued representations to the Treasury on the subject. I also commissioned research to better understand the cost of doing business including disparities in VAT, and the changes to employer’s national insurance contributions and national minimum wage. The research is due to be completed later this month. It will help build the evidence base for making the case for the Treasury to act on the cost of doing business here.

My colleague, the Minister of Finance, highlighted the adverse impacts of the taxation system with the Chief Secretary to the Treasury at the Finance Interministerial Standing Committee on 27 February. I will work to support him and advocate alongside him where possible. We will continue to engage with the sector to help us in making persuasive representations to Treasury.

Recent calls have been made for the Executive to use our rating system to compensate for some of the budget challenges. This is not practical, nor is it the right solution. The Executive does not have the financial capacity to compensate for decisions made on reserved taxation matters.

Delivering for the economy is a priority for the Executive. We want to help create more good jobs, boost productivity, support local innovation and deliver a more sustainable economy.

My Department and Invest NI provide a broad range of support to businesses to help them be more competitive through energy efficiency, innovation, skills, and exploring new markets. Invest NI also has a portfolio of grants, loans and investment funds, many of which are specifically targeted at early stage and small businesses.

In addition, my Department’s Regional Economic Plan is focussed on identifying key economic opportunities and priority actions for each part of the North, supported by a £45m Regional Development Fund.

Over the last five years Invest NI has made financial offers of support totalling £474m to businesses in the North. 93% of these offers were to locally owned businesses.

The Energy Efficiency Capital Grant (EECG) helps businesses in the North reduce energy costs and build resilience through green efficiency. Grant support is offered to eligible businesses to buy and install energy efficiency equipment that reduces energy and carbon emissions. The grant is part of a suite of support, delivered through Invest NI, that helps businesses to make efficiencies in their use of energy and resources.

In addition to the Energy Efficiency Capital Grant, Invest NI also delivers a suite of Energy and Resource Efficiency support, including specialist advice and investment capital, to enable businesses in the North to become more efficient and resilient through green competencies, progressing them on their path to Net Zero. This support includes sustainability reports, a Resource Matching Service, the Resource Efficiency Capital Grant, and Technical Consultancy.

Tourism NI provides a suite of advisory supports to help tourism & hospitality businesses reduce costs, improve productivity and be more sustainable. These include programmes such as Leaner and Greener focusing on reducing resource costs, Innovate Tourism, focusing on harnessing innovation in businesses, and the Destination Sustainability Programme, providing a more in-depth approach to embedding sustainability.