7. Ms McLaughlin asked the Minister for the Economy whether he has established a cross-departmental oversight group to oversee the list of asks published in the Magee taskforce interim report from September 2024. (AQO 935/22-27)

The interim report emphasises the need for a coordinated, cross-government approach to achieve the expansion of Magee. It identifies asks for various Departments, and I have written to my Executive colleagues to secure their commitment to achieving those.

Progress is being made on the asks. For example, I recently announced my intention to provide access to tuition fee loans to graduate-entry medical school students here, in collaboration with the Department of Health. Officials are finalising the membership and terms of reference for the cross-departmental group, building on ongoing engagement with Departments. The Department of Health is already a member of the task force, and Department for Infrastructure officials will be presenting to the task force this week. The task force is on course to produce the final action plan by the end of the year.

Minister, thank you for that answer. Will the oversight group publish regular progress updates, and will any barriers or blockages be brought directly to the Executive so that any issues can be overcome quickly?

The commitment to 10,000 students at Magee is now part of the draft Programme for Government, which means that it is a whole-Executive commitment. As I said, it is my intention to raise the report and the asks within it with Executive colleagues and to ask that they engage. A lot of departmental officials are already engaging, and the work has been productive so far. If issues arise that present obstacles or barriers, we will want to address those as quickly as possible, and, if need be, I will look to Executive colleagues to support us in that.

Minister, how much funding has been committed to the Magee expansion so far?

To date, £152 million has been committed to the Magee campus expansion. That includes £38 million from the Shared Island Fund for a new teaching block and investments from city deals, the Inclusive Future Fund and Ulster University's own reserves. Additionally, my Department's 2024-25 budget included £4 million in resource funding and £14·7 million in capital funding for Magee's expansion. Those funds are being used to support additional student places, enhance the physical environment, carry out communications and marketing activities, and acquire land and buildings.

That concludes the period for listed questions to the Minister for the Economy. We now move to topical questions.