I can advise the House that officials from the Department for the Economy, alongside the Minister, have provided written and oral evidence to the Committee on the 2024-25 Budget. Officials have also provided us with follow-up answers, allowing the Committee to track the changes in spending from 2023-24 to the present financial year, and we are grateful to the officials and the Minister for their willingness to engage on that.

The Committee was relieved to note that the opening positions in the Budget for the arm's-length bodies are similar to those of the previous year. Members of the Committee were also pleased to note that funding for apprenticeships and skills has been maintained by the Department. There was £11·8 million of unallocated funds in the Economy budget, but the Minister has today provided an outline of how he intends to allocate that funding in this financial year. Again, I particularly welcome the restoration of the SKILL UP initiative, which my colleagues previously introduced. I also welcome, as I did earlier, the 50 additional places that the Minister said that he will fund at Queen's University for under-represented communities. Report after report has shown that, at Queen's University, those most under-represented are those from working-class Protestant communities, particularly North Belfast, the constituency that I represent. I look forward to working with Queen's to ensure that those who get those places are deserving of them.

(Mr Deputy Speaker [Mr Blair] in the Chair)

The Committee has also taken evidence on the need for long-term clarity on the Shared Prosperity Fund, which is being used to support labour market partnership interventions, which continue to successfully challenge the unusually high level of economic inactivity across parts of our economy. The Committee hopes that funding clarification from His Majesty's Government following the general election will ensure that those interventions will continue in the next financial year.

The House has seen some very welcome public-sector pay settlements, not least for further education lecturers. Although those were long overdue and well deserved, public-sector salary pressures may well present a significant challenge to the Department for the Economy. Perhaps the Minister, in her remarks at the end of the debate, will outline how she believes that those pressures will be met as we move forward.

On improved public-sector efficiency, the Committee looks forward to the new model for the delivery of further education contributing successfully to the 10X Economy and 10X skills strategy. Recently, the Committee was informed of the Economy Department's submissions regarding public-sector transformation. We welcome them, particularly those that relate to public-sector apprenticeships. The Department was unable to submit one proposal this time round but hopes that it will be able to make its way to the Department of Finance and the public-sector transformation board at the next stage. The Committee felt that those measures would help to tackle economic inactivity and provide other stimuli for the economy.

The Committee has continued to seek clarity on AME, the revised RHI tariffs and, indeed, the future of the RHI scheme. The Executive's recent statement on their legislative priorities referred to an RHI Bill in the current year. In my capacity as a member of the Finance Committee, it seems to me that continued correspondence between the Department for the Economy and the Department of Finance on the business case is increasing at pace. Perhaps the Minister, when summing up, can say whether the Department of Finance is now satisfied that the Department for the Economy has provided all the information that is required.

That brings to an end my remarks on behalf of the Committee. My party will support the Bill.