Commenting on the January Monitoring Round figures which show that Invest NI handed back a further £21.6 million of its budget to the Stormont Executive, Ulster Unionist economy spokesperson, Mike Nesbitt MLA, said:
“There is little point simply beating up Invest NI about this. If their clients are no longer interested in expanding as previously planned because of the trading climate, we have to accept that is the situation, and react.
It is an inconvenient truth that this trend of Invest NI handing back tens of millions is likely to continue, not least because of the way they profile their funding over a period of years. In fact, given the major percentage of any grant offers comes in the later years of a project, it is likely to get worse before it gets better.
“What we need is a three-point plan. We need to re-design the way Invest NI do business, to find imaginative ways to achieve what was intended, a funding flow from government to business. Otherwise the commitments to put the economy at the heart of all we do, and to rebalance the economy, become hollow promises.
“Secondly, we must generate economic activity among the unemployed, particularly the one in five 18 to 24 year olds without jobs, because we all know the longer they remain unemployed, the greater the chance they will never work. What an indictment of devolution that would be! This is not about re-inventing the wheel. For example, if every micro and small business took on just one extra person in an apprenticeship or paid internship, the Federation of Small Businesses predict we could create 40,000 jobs, 15,000 more than the target in the Draft Economic Strategy.
“Finally, we must agree on a programme which is the equivalent to ‘public works’. I have no doubt every government department and local council has a wish list it cannot afford to do anything about. This returned funding from Invest NI could very usefully be used to fund programmes that achieve public sector targets and give people the sense of achievement that follows a hard day’s work.”
The Strangford MLA finished by pointing out how the latest Invest refund to the Executive emphasised the wisdom of moving urgently to create a single Department of the Economy.
“This was proposed over two years ago by the Independent Review of Economic Policy, but in the context of a review of all the departments. However, if Invest NI is handing back nearly £24 million, three months after returning £17 million, we need to re-shape our economic policy levers and mechanisms today. We need to give people jobs, so they have money to spend, to stimulate our economy, and generate the missing confidence that is the core missing element in the Northern Ireland economy.”
