Mr Patsy McGlone (Mid Ulster): To ask the Minister for the Economy to detail any support available to small businesses seeking to access new markets overseas. Minister for the Economy: Small businesses seeking to access new overseas markets can draw on a comprehensive range of support delivered on a cross-sectoral basis by Invest NI, local … Continue reading AQW 48001/22-27 – Accessing new markets overseas
Mr Patsy McGlone (Mid Ulster): To ask the Minister for the Economy to detail any steps she is taking to support women working in the (i) hospitality; and (ii) night-time economy. Minister for the Economy: My Department along with Tourism NI and industry stakeholders have been developing a Tourism and Hospitality skills plan. This plan … Continue reading AQW 47759/22-27 – Women working in hospitality
Mr Patsy McGlone (Mid Ulster): To ask the Minister for the Economy (i) for an update on tourism performance; and (ii) to detail any measures she is taking to support growth in the sector. Minister for the Economy: (i) The NISRA statistics published on 21 May 2026 reveal an overall tourism expenditure from overnight visitors … Continue reading AQW 47758/22-27 – Tourism performance
Mr Patsy McGlone (Mid Ulster): To ask the Minister for the Economy to detail any support that is available to the food and drink sector to transition to low-carbon refrigeration. Minister for the Economy: Financial and technical advice is made available through the Energy and Resource Efficiency Programme, helping businesses in the North to decarbonise. … Continue reading AQW 47405/22-27 – Low-carbon refrigeration
Mr Patsy McGlone (Mid Ulster): To ask the Minister for the Economy to detail any recent discussions she has had with the UK Treasury on the benefits of a reduction in the level of VAT for the hospitality sector in the North. Minister for the Economy: Our hospitality businesses are vital not only to our … Continue reading AQW 47870/22-27 – Reduction in level of VAT for hospitality sector
Mr Patsy McGlone (Mid Ulster): To ask the Minister for the Economy to detail any economic modelling that is being factored into Artificial Intelligence governance. Minister for the Economy: My department commissioned Matrix, the NI Science Industry Panel, to assess the potential economic impact of Artificial Intelligence (AI) last year. Its report, which is available … Continue reading AQW 47508/22-27 – Artificial Intelligence governance
Mr Patsy McGlone (Mid Ulster): To ask the Minister for the Economy to detail any steps her Department is taking to ensure that the adoption of smart meters does not disadvantage domestic energy customers in rural areas that have poor mobile connectivity. Minister for the Economy: Protecting consumers is central to the Smart Meters programme … Continue reading AQW 46434/22-27 – Electricity Smart Meters programme
Mr Patsy McGlone (Mid Ulster): To ask the Minister for the Economy to detail any assessment that has been made of the effectiveness of the role of smart meters in helping businesses manage energy (i) demand; and (ii) costs. Minister for the Economy: The recently published Design Plan for the roll-out of smart electricity meters … Continue reading AQW 46433/22-27 – Roll-out of smart electricity meters
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