To ask the Minister for the Economy whether her Department intends to explore the creation of eHubs to enable office working in towns and villages.

Local provision of facilities to support economic development tends to be delivered at Council level as part of their economic development remit following the transfer under the Review of Public Administration in 2015.

It is worth noting that such accommodation is already available at a local level across all 11 District Council areas through the network of Local Enterprise Agencies.

The Enterprise Northern Ireland network operates through 28 Local Enterprise agencies with 44 various locations across all eleven Council areas. All locations have serviced office space available on a rental basis. Several Belfast-based organisations have taken small satellite offices to service regionally-based hub activity.

Many locations have co-working and/or hot-desking space available on a desk or micro-pod basis with a small fee payable (per hour or per day). This is already a popular facility with remote workers.

I understand that some of the locations have open/free of charge access meeting spaces with desks/tables and welfare facilities. Enterprise NI have confirmed that all have excellent digital connectivity and have invested in layout design, team training, PPE, sanitisation equipment and Covid-19 awareness signage to ensure safe and secure meeting and working space.

In addition to this, the Local Economic Development Company (LEDCOM) has established a presence in Ballyclare to provide co-working space, a hot desk facility and business incubation services. The opening of this facility has been delayed due to Covid-19 but it is expected to officially open in January 2021.