Asked by: Marco Longhi (Conservative - Dudley North)
Question to the Northern Ireland Office:
What steps the Government is taking to help create jobs and attract investment in Northern Ireland.
Answered by Robin Walker
The UK Government is committed to creating jobs and attracting investment in Northern Ireland - a key part of our plans to level up across the UK.
The Government’s ‘Plan for Jobs’ has protected jobs and livelihoods. And we have committed £600m to City & Growth Deals to help boost the economy, enhancing skills and creating new jobs such as the 100+ announced by Tech firm Igale.
We are also working with DIT and Invest NI to attract inward investment, including by highlighting Northern Ireland's strengths at a NI showcase event in London in September.
Asked by: Marco Longhi (Conservative - Dudley North)
Question to the Northern Ireland Office:
What recent discussions he has had with Cabinet colleagues on co-ordinating a UK-wide response to the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Robin Walker
The Secretary of State and I continue to hold regular discussions with Cabinet colleagues and Ministers in the Northern Ireland Executive on this important issue.
Although each devolved administration controls its own public health policy, we have been coordinating our responses to Covid, seeking alignment in policy and approach where appropriate, to ensure we were able to tackle the pandemic.
This joined up approach resulted in the UK-wide vaccine rollout for which over 75% of Northern Ireland’s adult population have received at least one dose of the vaccine. It will be important that we maintain this collective approach as we seek to recover from the pandemic.