To ask the Minister for the Economy (i) whether a report into governance in her Department with regards to energy has been commissioned; (ii) if so, when this was commissioned; and (iii) when it will be published.

My department grant-funded academics in the University of Exeter to carry out a research think piece on ‘Energy Governance for the NI energy transition’. The purpose of this work is to complement the existing evidence base in place and inform the new Energy Strategy.

We agreed to fund this particular think piece on 30 March 2020. For external grant-funded research think pieces such as this, we anticipate that the independent academics will seek to publish these reports through their own routes. In doing so, they can contribute to the evidence base alongside all other evidence and data being considered.