Assembly Written Question 19722/17-22

To ask the Minister for the Economy what incentives her Department is considering to encourage students. without offers from Northern Ireland universities, to consider study at a further education college, rather than travelling elsewhere.

Answer: I recognise that there has been historic under investment in the maintenance of our road network and therefore, as part of Budget 21-22, I had bid for £120million to invest in capital structural maintenance. The impact on delivery of structural maintenance in 2021-22 following recent legal challenges is currently being assessed by my officials.

I am committed to building on the success of the £12m allocation I made to a Roads Recovery Fund last financial year of which £10m was specifically directed to rural roads. Therefore, I plan to invest £17m in a Roads Recovery Fund for 2021-22 of which £15m will be specifically directed to rural roads, which is a 50% increase compared to last year. This will be invested in small-scale rural road repairs to continue this important work and help rural communities.