To ask the Minister of Finance and Personnel for his assessment of the potential for the proposed ‘business bank’ to benefit the local economy.

The detail on the design of the new business bank announced by the Business Secretary Vince Cable MP and the types of interventions it will support have yet to be finalised. This is not expected until later in the Autumn and therefore it is too early for me to come to any firm view on how beneficial it will be locally.

Clearly, any intervention that will increase the availability of finance for businesses is to be welcomed, however, I have been concerned that measures taken by the Government in this regard in the past have not been effective here in Northern Ireland. This is a point I have made repeatedly and forcibly to Treasury Ministers.

My officials are already liaising with their counterparts in Whitehall on how the new Funding for Lending Scheme will be implemented in Northern Ireland and they have now also indicated that we wish to explore how this new business bank might operate in Northern Ireland.