To ask the Minister for the Economy whether she will consider a version of the COVID-19 Productive Investment Capital Grant for businesses with a turnover of less than £500,000 per year.

The Productive Investment Capital Grant (PICG) scheme is managed and administered by Invest NI. PICG supports businesses to undertake productivity focused capital investments in response to the challenges arising from the COVID-19 pandemic. To ensure the best return on investment for the public funding available, the scheme is aimed at businesses with sufficient scale and resources to benefit from this support, hence the minimum turnover threshold of £500k per year and minimum investment requirement of £50k in capital, including new technology, software, automation or digital manufacturing technologies, to improve productivity.Due to the high level of interest in the PICG scheme, Invest NI is currently investigating scope for additional approvals and funding. It is possible that the scheme’s eligibility criteria may be reviewed as part of this process.