Assembly Written Question 15384/17-22

Question: To ask the Minister for the Economy to detail the level of funding currently agreed by the Executive to fund her recently published Economic Recovery Action Plan.

Answer: The Economic Recovery Action Plan (“the Plan”) is my blueprint to rebuild a stronger economy for Northern Ireland. The document sets out a range of decisive actions to kick-start economic recovery.

As you will be aware, the process to set the 2021-22 budget is ongoing, with consultation on the draft budget only recently closing. Within this context, the Plan will inform the Executive’s ongoing budgetary discussions.

With over £500m of Covid funding available to allocate now, I will be strongly advocating that Covid allocations are made at the earliest opportunity. This will allow my Department, and others, to mobilise our interventions as soon as possible and drive forward recovery.

Notwithstanding this, some of the activity set out in the Plan will be funded from existing departmental baseline budget. The £290m represents the additional monies required to deliver on the Plan in full.