To ask the Minister for the Economy to outline what action he is taking to address the challenges faced by the hospitality sector as a result of rising costs.

Mr C Murphy

I understand the importance of the hospitality sector for both the tourism industry and the high street economy, with approximately 57,000 jobs in the accommodation and food service sector. Addressing the challenges of rising costs cuts across several areas of government, including the Department for Communities and local councils. My Department is taking steps to support businesses through delivery of the Executive's path to net zero energy strategy, a key objective being to ensure that all consumers have access to essential and affordable energy. The level of VAT is also a specific issue. The Department of Finance has repeatedly raised with the Treasury the negative impacts on hospitality of high levels of VAT.

Mr C Murphy

In the context of the Budget that we have available to us, that will always be very challenging, but there are things that we can do. As I said, one of the key elements of the increasing cost of doing business is energy costs. Through the path to net zero energy strategy, there are supports for energy, being more efficient and having access to renewable energy for businesses through Invest NI. We will continue to provide that. I have no doubt that the Finance Minister will continue, as I did when I was in that position, to fight the fight on VAT with Treasury. However, I have to say that it has never appeared to be very much minded to move on those things when we have engaged with it. We will continue that work. Of course, whatever measures can be taken within the limited resources that I have, or, indeed, the Finance Department has, to support people, we will certainly take them. I am putting together a tourism implementation group to work on issues that will bring support to tourism and hospitality. The hospitality sector will be represented on that.

Mr McGuigan

Just as you were finishing your response, Minister, you mentioned the tourism partnership board. Recently, you announced your intention to set it up. How will you ensure that the hospitality sector will be represented and allowed to play a fruitful role in that organisation?

Mr C Murphy

I am a firm believer that policies and strategies must be co-designed with the people who are at the working end of them in those sectors. Clearly, when we are designing a strategy for the tourism and hospitality sector, we want people who are in that sector to be engaged in it. I think that that will lead to the best outcome. As I said, in a space where we have limited resources, we need to ensure that what we are doing with those resources is targeted in the most effective way. People who work in the industry, working with officials, will give us the best possible outcome. We will ensure that people from that sector are included.

Mr Nesbitt

Beyond rising costs, another challenge to hospitality and tourism is the electronic travel authorisation. I would be grateful if the Minister could update the House on any negotiations that he is having on that issue. Is he aware of whether it is on the agenda of the British-Irish Intergovernmental Conference (BIIC), which meets today?

Mr C Murphy

I am not. We do not have access to the agenda for the British-Irish Intergovernmental Conference. I am not sure whether that issue is on it, but I know that, if part of that is to support the arrangements from the Good Friday Agreement, both Governments need to ensure that what they are doing collectively supports the general direction that we are trying to develop to grow the economy. As I said, the sector is important. Recently, there has been consultation on a document. That has come back in. From that, we want to set up an implementation group that will try to develop a strategy, and do so at pace — this is not about kicking the can down the road — that will inform the targeting of our limited resources in the most effective way. Some of that is about targeting resource. Some of it is about clearing away barriers to tourism growth and ensuring that the agencies and facilities that we have at our disposal are working in the most effective way.

Mr Durkan

Last week, the Sooty Olive restaurant in my constituency closed its doors for the final time. When asked what the Government could have done to help, the owner said, "Anything". The Minister rightly pointed out the difficulty that the Budget presents and how that would make it difficult to do anything around rates, but will he accept that the rates that are generated by a business that has closed down amount to much less than the discounted rates that could be offered to hospitality businesses?

Mr C Murphy

Yes, I do understand that fully, and that is an ongoing challenge. The rates that we collect fund about 10% of the Executive's available resources, and that goes into health, education and all the other priorities that Members in this Chamber stand up and say we need to spend more money on. That is the balance between trying to raise money and doing so in a way that tries to ensure that businesses stay open. Clearly, if the consequences of rates being collected put businesses out, no rate is collected. There are other challenges with energy costs and other matters that equally provide significant challenges to businesses, and we have to try to find ways to support people across a range of matters so that the issue of rates does not become the key factor in their survival or not as a business.