Dickson Asks Why the Economy Minister Makes High Level Promises and then Fails to Follow Through?

On the 22 April, East Antrim Alliance MLA, Stewart Dickson, posed a written question to the Minister for the Economy, requesting a timeline for the expansion of the apprenticeship scheme to all ages, as outlined in the Economic Recovery Action Plan.

Upon receiving a response, Mr Dickson expressed disappointment and frustration saying: “The Minister has made a habit of making high level promises in the public domain, and utterly failing to follow through with any meaningful detail.

“Her response to my written question, lacked any significant information on when the apprenticeship scheme is due to be expanded, merely stating that delivery will be ‘sometime’ this year.

”My frustration has been compounded by the Department’s lack of follow through in other areas, such as their inaction to review the Economic Recovery Action Plan, to maximise the benefits of NI’s dual access to both the UK, and EU Single Market.

“Similarly, on Thursday 29 April, the NUS-USI are staging what they have called a ‘Day of Action’ to highlight the Minster’s failing to implement an Assembly-backed motion to extend the £500 Covid Study Disruption Payment to students who had previously been excluded from the scheme. This would include further education, part-time and international students; as well as students from Northern Ireland who are studying elsewhere.”

The student representative body has said that the Minister has refused to meet with them on two separate occasions. They have strongly indicated that she has no intention of amending her policy position despite the Assembly having passed a motion in support of extending the payment.

Mr Dickson concluded: “It is extremely worrying that the Minister appears to be ignoring representatives of the student population, whilst completely disregarding the position of the Assembly. We are talking about support for some of the most hard-hit groups in our society, and the repeated failures of this Minister can no longer be ignored. Put simply, Ms Dodd’s needs to do better.”