To ask the Minister for the Economy, given their contribution to the local economy, to outline any steps she is taking to ensure that Northern Ireland remains a welcoming and inclusive place for skilled migrant workers.

Migrants are hugely important to our economy and to our public services. My Departments Skills Barometer has highlighted that we will have an undersupply of 5,400 individuals per annum needed to fill vacancies over the next decade and inward migration will be crucially important to filling this gap.

As the member is aware, immigration is an excepted matter and is the responsibility of the British Government. However, a range of my Department’s training provision is available to migrants with the right to work in the North, including Skill Up, Assured Skills academies and Apprenticeships.