Pádraig Delargy has sought leave to present a public petition in accordance with Standing Order 22. The Member will have up to three minutes in which to speak.

I have brought my petition before the Assembly today because I identified a need in and a real desire from my constituents to extend the high street voucher scheme to 16- and 17-year-olds.

I support the voucher scheme. The premise of the scheme is that it benefits retail. There is no difference between an 18-year-old and an 80-year-old spending £100 to support our local businesses, so I do not see any reason why 16- and 17-year-olds should not have access to the voucher as well.

When the scheme was established, £21 million was set aside in case there was a shortfall and other groups needed to be added to the scheme. It would cost only £4·5 million to extend the voucher scheme to 16- and 17-year-olds. I believe that that would be money well spent. That group would support and benefit our local economy just as much as anyone else.

Let us not forget in all this that our economy is changing. I recently visited years 13 and 14 at St Cecilia's College in my constituency, and I found that over three quarters of those pupils are working in part-time employment. A huge number of young people are working in apprenticeships and in other full-time jobs. In many of those full-time jobs, they are paying National Insurance and tax just like everyone else who has benefited from the voucher scheme.

The voucher scheme marks a relaxation of COVID restrictions and a return to somewhat normal times on our high street, so it is important that we reward those who have sustained us through the pandemic. I do not think that anyone in the House will disagree with me when I say that young people have sustained us and have proved to be the backbone of our economy, particularly over the past 18 to 20 months. They have worked as carers, in supermarkets and in many other capacities.

They have missed out on so much and so many parts of their young experience, such as formals and trips away, which are essential parts of growing up. I hope that, in bringing forward my petition, other parties can get behind it, because it impacts all young people. It impacts young people in my constituency of Derry and across the North. It is not a unionist or nationalist issue. It impacts young people in Ballysillan just as much as in the Bogside. It impacts young people in Shantallow just as much as in the Shankill. I encourage all Members to back my petition and to sign it online.

Normally, I would invite the Member to bring his petition to the Table and present it here. However, in light of social distancing, I ask him to remain in his place and to make arrangements to submit the petition to the Speaker's Office electronically. I thank the Member for bringing his petition to the attention of the Assembly. Once it is received, I will forward it to the Minister for the Economy and send a copy to the Committee. I thank the Member for that.