AQW 39094/22-27 Written question to the Minister for the Economy
To ask the Minister for the Economy to detail (i) any currently live (a) policies; (b) strategies; (c) programmes; or (d) action plans, within her Department that have an explicit objective of tackling poverty; and (ii) the stated aim of each policy or programme.
Asked by Sian Mulholland MLA on 26 January 2026
- Answered
- Written
- Tabled
- 26 January 2026
- Answer due by
- 10 February 2026
- Answered
- 3 February 20268 days after tabling
- Department
- Department for the Economy
- Priority question
- No
Answer
| Employment Rights Bill | To improve the quality of employment by strengthening protections for lowpaid and vulnerable workers, helping to address inwork poverty |
| Good Jobs Charter | Raise job quality by improving pay, job security and progression opportunities, contributing directly to reducing inwork poverty. |
| Community Wealth Building Pilots (North West & Larne) | To address poverty and improve social outcomes by strengthening local assets, increasing community participation, and retaining economic value within disadvantaged communities. |
| Real Living Wage NI | To encourage wider employer uptake of the Real Living Wage to support lowpaid workers and ensure fair, povertyreducing wages. |
| Skills for Life and Work Programme | Supports those furthest from the labour market, including young people at risk of poverty, to gain skills, experience and pathways to sustained employment or further training. |
| Higher Education Support Funds (Hardship Funds) | To provide financial assistance to students experiencing genuine hardship so they can continue and complete their studies, reducing financial stress and the risk of poverty. |
| Disabled Students Allowance | To remove financial barriers for disabled students by covering essential studyrelated costs, supporting equal access to higher education and helping reduce longterm poverty associated with educational disadvantage. |
| Education Maintenance Allowance | To reduce financial barriers for young people from lowincome households so they can remain in education or training, improving longterm employment prospects and helping break cycles of poverty. |
| Skills Action Plan | Ensures everyone has a pathway to enhance their skills within an inclusive skills ecosystem that supports economic transformation, enabling people—particularly those experiencing disadvantage—to progress into better employment |
| Careers Action Plan | Strengthens careers provision for those who face barriers to opportunity, including individuals with special educational needs, through targeted actions that support disadvantaged individuals into skills and employment pathways. |
| Sub-Regional Economic Plan/Local Economic Plan | To deliver regional balance by ensuring people across all communities can access quality employment, directly addressing placebased disadvantage and supporting longterm poverty reduction. |
| Energy Strategy Path to Net Zero (Action Plan 2025) | Aims to reduce poverty, particularly fuel poverty, by lowering household energy bills through improved efficiency, reducing exposure to volatile fossil fuel prices, ensuring a fair and affordable transition for vulnerable households, tackling fuel poverty through communitybased approaches, and supporting green job creation and economic resilience. |