Oral Answers to Questions — Economy – in the Northern Ireland Assembly at 2:30 pm on 16 June 2026.
Nuala McAllister
Alliance
2:30,
16 June 2026
7. Miss McAllister asked the Minister for the Economy how the Belfast local economic partnership will ensure that investment reaches North Belfast, given that it contains five of Northern Ireland’s 10 most deprived areas. (AQO 3738/22-27)
Caoimhe Archibald
Sinn Féin
In establishing the £45 million regional balance fund, I have empowered councils, working with businesses and community partners in local economic partnerships (LEPs) to identify their own priorities and bring forward locally led projects to increase productivity. Decisions on what to deliver and where to deliver it are taken by the Belfast local economic partnership. I am pleased to report that the Belfast LEP has agreed an action plan for 2026-28. The plan includes flexibility to target support by location through, for example, enhanced business support that can be directed to specific parts of the city. Importantly, the plan is not yet fully allocated, with around £938,000 still to be committed, giving the partnership further scope to bring forward additional targeted interventions as priorities are refined. Taken together, that local decision-making, the built-in flexibility and the remaining funding will give the Belfast LEP lots of opportunities to target actions to the groups that it deems to be most appropriate.
Edwin Poots
DUP
We move on to topicals.
Ministers make up the Government and almost all are members of the House of Lords or the House of Commons. There are three main types of Minister. Departmental Ministers are in charge of Government Departments. The Government is divided into different Departments which have responsibilities for different areas. For example the Treasury is in charge of Government spending. Departmental Ministers in the Cabinet are generally called 'Secretary of State' but some have special titles such as Chancellor of the Exchequer. Ministers of State and Junior Ministers assist the ministers in charge of the department. They normally have responsibility for a particular area within the department and are sometimes given a title that reflects this - for example Minister of Transport.
