To ask the Minister for the Economy for her assessment of the impact of the decision to abolish the £1,000 Job Retention Bonus; and whether her Department intends to take any actions to mitigate this impact.

I accept that, at this stage, the core policy intent behind the Job Retention Bonus has fallen away with the Chancellor of the Exchequer’s decision to extend the furlough scheme to the end of March 2021. I welcome that decision as one that provides much needed support across the UK as we seek to manage the impacts of Covid-19 on people, on communities and on the economy.

I note that the Chancellor has stated that he intends to redeploy a retention incentive at an appropriate time. While it is important to maintain the furlough scheme for as long as it is needed, it will be critical that the approach the Chancellor eventually takes creates the right incentives to support the rebuilding of our economy.

Of course, in parallel with UK wide approaches, there remains a huge onus on the Executive to help businesses and workers.

I am pleased the Executive has agreed further support for local business, however, I believe the best support we can give to the business community is to get infections under control and allow people and businesses to get back to work as soon as is feasible.