To ask the Minister for the Economy why a bid for funding was not made as part of January 2022 monitoring round to provide grant support for hotels financially impacted as a result of the COVID-19 Omicron variant.

The Executive agreed the Omicron Hospitality Support scheme on 23 December.

On 13 January I met with representatives of the hotel sector to listen to their concerns that they did not qualify for the scheme. I agreed that they needed to be supported but, as it would take time to establish a new grant support scheme specifically for hotels, it was preferable to seek their inclusion in the existing Omicron Hospitality Support scheme in order to get support to them in a timely fashion.

For this reason, rather than bidding for funding as part of the January monitoring round, I instead wrote to the Finance Minister on two occasions (29 December and 22 January) urging him to extend the scheme to the hotel sector.

I am delighted that the Executive has now agreed to extend the scheme to the hotel sector thereby providing much needed support to this vital industry. This payment will be between £10,000 and £20,000 dependent on the rateable value of the property.