T5. Mr O'Dowd asked the Minister of Finance whether there is any way that the Executive or the Department of Finance could offer further support to those businesses that, regardless of the number of premises that they have, are judged to have a single premises, given that the grants that have been provided to businesses over the past 15 months have been a lifeline, not only to the businesses but to their employees, in keeping roofs over heads and paying Bills. (AQT 1405/17-22)

We have had a number of engagements with what are known as the multiples. It has been very difficult. It has proved difficult in other jurisdictions, and different Administrations have come up with different schemes to provide support for them. It was not possible, with the time frame for rolling out the previous scheme, to include them. At the lower level of premises in particular, it is complex to differentiate them from other schemes. They do not all come under the one banner. They are not all the same business franchise; there are multiples within that. We have asked Land and Property Services (LPS) to look at the possibility of devising a scheme later in the year, once we are clear of all the schemes that LPS is running.

We will talk to representatives from the multiples in the next week or so to advise them of what we intend to do. I am hopeful that we will be able to devise a scheme that will provide some level of support for them, because they are one of the groups that, while they have had support for one business premise, have not had support for the rest due to owning a range. Therefore, they are one of the groups that have been left out in that sense, and we are determined to do something, if we can, to support them.

That news will be very welcome to those affected. The £10,000 and £25,000 grants that have been announced will hopefully be issued this month to businesses that missed out on some of the grants and will also be very welcome. However, there is another group. Despite the economic downturn, there have still been businesses that opened up in the last year. Those businesses may not have been able to avail themselves of any of those grants. Will there be support coming forward for those businesses?

The businesses currently availing themselves of the £5,000 and £10,000 top-up grants were able to open, but it was a recognition that footfall had been down, for example shops that were dependent on office workers to be in the vicinity to keep them ticking over. Those grants were specifically for businesses that did not get localised restrictions support (LRS) or the Department for the Economy's similar scheme, and the £5,000 and £10,000 top-up grants were made available to them.

Of course, the retail and hospitality sectors, and quite a lot of other sectors, will enjoy another full year of rates holiday as well. We also have the economic package that has been supported for the Department for the Economy, including the high street voucher, which will hopefully have a stimulant effect in terms of people shopping in local retail. There is a range of measures, and we recognise that all of that will not, and never could, replace lost earnings for people over the course of this pandemic. However, it is trying to target the finances we were given — limited as they were — as effectively as we can to try to keep people alive in the time ahead until they can get back to full trading and recover their businesses.