Question to the Northern Ireland Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what assessment he has made of the level of take up of the spend local voucher scheme in Northern Ireland in each month since that scheme has been active; and if he will make a statement.

The Spend Local Voucher Scheme was designed and introduced by the Northern Ireland Executive and was made possible through the £5 billion additional Covid funding that the Government provided to the Executive since the start of the pandemic.

Assessment of the take up and impact of the Spend Local Voucher Scheme is a matter for the Northern Ireland Department for the Economy, however, I look forward to discussing the matter with the Executive in due course as part of our regular engagement.