To ask the Minister for the Economy to detail any plans he has to develop a standalone manufacturing strategy.

The Department’s recently launched Action Plan to grow the Advanced Manufacturing, Materials and Engineering (AMME) sector outlines proposed actions that will also help grow the manufacturing sector and address challenges facing the sector.

Central to the work undertaken to develop this Action Plan has been a period of extensive collaboration with industry through engagement with the sector’s main advisory body, the Makers Alliance. Makers Alliance was formed in 2021 to be the overarching independent advisory body for manufacturing, supported by Manufacturing NI, QUB and UU and funded by Invest NI.

Since its creation, the industry-led Makers Alliance has delivered several substantive pieces of work, focused on ‘one plan, one voice, one vision’ for manufacturing in the North of Ireland. These include: a Strategic Plan for Manufacturing in the North ‘Making a Better Future’ and a Delivery Plan for Manufacturing in the North ‘Vision with Action’.

The Department’s Action Plan is in alignment with both key documents, thereby I have no plans to develop a standalone manufacturing strategy.

The proposed actions within the Department’s Action Plan support investment in skills and R&D, in emerging and sustainable technologies for future growth, in grasping the opportunities to grow and prosper.

Through the Action Plan, the Department and key delivery partners such as Invest NI, InterTradeIreland and the Makers Alliance network which includes Manufacturing NI will continue to work with the manufacturing sector to harness its potential.