Question Time: Finance and Personnel Tuesday 12 November 2013
Mitchel
McLaughlin was keen to press Finance Minister, Simon Hamilton, on the concern
over the outsourcing
of civil service jobs in the Pension Service at Waterside House in
Derry/Londonderry during today’s topical
questions. Mr Hamilton countered that trade union staff have been consulted
fully throughout the process and that pension reform in Westminster “is
necessitating that we streamline what we do”. He believes that he is “duty-bound
to provide the best service that I possibly can for everybody in Northern
Ireland and to do so in a value-for-money way”. Furthermore, the Pension
Service may lose staff as a result but those affected will not be made
redundant but rather moved around the system in accordance with the general
practice of the Civil Service.
Alban Maginness
then expressed his concern about Royal Bank of Scotland’s (RBS) proposed review
of Ulster Bank, speculating that these kinds of reviews typically result in
branch closures and job losses. While the Minister shared the Member’s concerns
about the potential loss of jobs and the timescale of three years given for the
sale of assets (given the current state of Northern Ireland’s property market),
he mirrored the Enterprise Minister’s delight (expressed in her previous
Question Time) that the Treasury has taken the decision
to keep Ulster Bank as a part of the RBS group and not cut it loose
(despite previous
difficulties). He concluded that we need Ulster Bank to be functioning
properly and lending money to allow our businesses to prosper in the current
climate of economic recovery.
The scheduled
oral questions were dominated by the issue of rates and specifically how
they affect our small businesses. When discussing what considerations will be
given to businesses in town centres when conducting the non-domestic rating
review, the Minister said that “businesses in town centres are treated in
exactly the same way as businesses elsewhere”. He went on to praise the successful
initiatives that have helped our businesses such as the Small
Business Rates Relief Scheme which has proven to have been “of great
assistance to businesses right across Northern Ireland” and has resulted in
over half of the businesses in the country saving at least 20% on their rates
bill. DFP has also continually frozen
the non-domestic regional rate. The Empty
Premises Relief also sees new businesses receive 50% rates relief in the
first year of business – a concerted effort to get premises back in use and
more companies back in business. The Minister did however warn that there is a
requirement that businesses are sound and viable otherwise no amount of rate
relief will be able to help them succeed in the long term.
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