Ulster Unionist Party leader, Steve Aiken OBE MLA, has called on the Minister for the Economy to urgently submit a bid to the Finance Minister to assist ‘excluded’ businesses in Northern Ireland following a Written Answer from Conor Murphy making clear that he is yet to receive any bid.
Mr Aiken said:
“For months, businesses who were excluded from previous Covid financial support schemes have been crying out for help. I am appalled that just a week after an Ulster Unionist Party motion was passed unanimously in the Assembly, calling for the establishment of a fit for purpose hardship fund targeted at those businesses that have so far been excluded from existing support packages, I have received a Written Answer from the Finance Minister making clear that he has not a received a bid from the Minister for the Economy for sole traders and sectors that had benefitted little from other schemes.
“This is totally unacceptable and small businesses are being badly let down again by the Minister for the Economy on this issue. It`s just not good enough. After the Ulster Unionist Party motion was passed in the Assembly, we stated that the Economy Minister should actively pursue the Finance Minister to provide the support that businesses so urgently require. The question for Diane Dodds is, what is she doing about it and why has the Finance Minister yet to receive a bid from her department to support those excluded businesses? I would ask the Minister to urgently clarify the reason for the delay and tell us when her department will submit a bid. The time for tea and sympathy is over. It`s action that`s needed.”
ENDS
Notes to Editors:
AQW 6729/17-22
Steve Aiken has asked:
To ask the Minister of Finance whether there are plans to review and expand COVID-19 financial support schemes and grant schemes to include sole traders and businesses which have been excluded from previous schemes.
ANSWER
DfE provided an options paper on 19 June 2020 for Executive consideration and discussion at the subsequent Executive meeting. The paper set out options for utilising the projected underspend from their three support schemes to support the economy. It included potential schemes for sole traders and sectors that had benefited little from existing support measures.
To date my Department has received two bids relevant to this issue, both of which were met in full. A £7m bid from the Department for Communities was allocated to Social Enterprises, and a £1.4m bid from the Department for Infrastructure was provided to waive licence fees for the bus and taxi industries. I would welcome further bids targeted at sole traders and sectors that benefitted little from other schemes.