Department for the Economy Board minutes 2026 - 25 February 2026

No new interests or conflicts in relation to items for discussion on the agenda were declared.

It was noted that this was Fiona Keenan’s last Board meeting and she was thanked for her work. It was also noted that this was Louise Watson’s first Board meeting as member.

(name redacted) presented.

• A paper was provided regarding the development of the Department’s first multi-year Corporate Plan (2026-30), aligned with the upcoming multi-year budget.
• An Aspirational Outcome Position, including Outcome Statements for each Vision Priority and a revised performance metrics framework, has been finalised with Minister. This has been communicated to staff and Partner Organisations.
• There is a new hub on the intranet which will have a dashboard with metrics for staff.
• The Baseline Spending Assessment exercise is well underway with a final report likely late March.
• A steer is needed on what we want the Corporate Plan to look like. There has been a meeting of the Corporate Plan Working Group who have made proposals. Structural proposals are for a high level 4-year strategic plan which annual Business Plans capturing detailed commitments will collapse out of. This will mean producing a 26/27 Business Plan alongside the Corporate Plan in the coming weeks. 
• The Board agreed to this proposal and also agreed the starting point for the 26/27 Actions should be those workstreams which carry over from the 25/26 Business Plan, as outlined in Annex C of the paper. 
• Alan confirmed that decisions around the communications of the Plan, launch date, etc. would all be taken at a later stage but that drafting work would now begin on the documents.
• Suggestions from the Board included the grouping of related workstreams and ensuring actions/commitments were sufficiently focussed to allow for meaningful progress reporting. 
• Ian also suggested the Outcome Statements and Performance Metrics Framework be shared with the Committee.

Budget

• Permanent Secretary and Sharon will be meeting all Partner Organisations regarding budgets. This process has started and so far the response has been mature with all open to cutting costs and all forward thinking. This will require doing things differently. Some painful decisions will be needed and the department and Partner Organisations will need to be more efficient.
• Work has been done on historic spending patterns at high level.

Legislative Programme

• Insolvency Bill to further consideration stage.
• RHI Closure Bill through Committee stage
• Good Jobs Bill with Executive.
• Renewable Electricity Price Guarantee Bill with Executive.
• Utility Regulator Decarbonisation Bill proceeding.

Business Plan

• On track to meet 75% of targets by end of year, the rest within the next 6 months.

Economic Indicators

• Most recent set of economic indicators re growth and unemployment positive.

Sharon Hetherington presented

• A paper was provided in advance of the meeting detailing the 2025/26 position, spending review and 2024/25 Group Annual Report and Accounts. Most of this has been covered in the previous agenda item and the latter part of the paper covered in ARAC meeting.
• If addressing a funding challenge, you should look where the biggest spend is. Can’t keep expecting to provide the same with less resource. Strong leadership and reorientation are needed. It will be difficult in all areas. Need to lead and work cohesively together. There are opportunities for collaboration on common things.
• The clarity of NIAO position on the Department’s accounts last Thursday was welcomed. There are issues remaining with strong evidence of progress. 
• It is anticipated DfE will come in on budget this year. It was asked that everyone lead from the front regarding accruals and take decisions early to allow accruals to be more accurately reflected.

City & Growth Deals

• Good progress generally across different councils.
• NIAO interest in salary costs to the Department but they are only 2.6% of the programme expenditure.
• There are a few areas where further work is being done.
• The team has reduced but have the right resources for where we are in the programme.
• A decision is needed on how much CPD assurance is necessary.
• We need to articulate outside the Department what the programme can deliver

Invest NI Review

• Overall progress is good.
• There is currently slippage in Review of Invest NI’s Middle Tier Structure and Transfer of Tourism Support Functions to Tourism NI.
• There is some overlap between SEG and Invest NI to be worked out for efficiency and the next phase of work is now part of the Skills Action Plan.
• There is continuing work on the Benefits Realisation Framework.

Contract Register

• This was discussed at ARAC.
• Commercial capability is still a challenge. There are difficulties with extensions and modifications.
• 396 people have been trained which is a significant improvement. People are given a level of training appropriate to their requirements.
• It was felt that a level of proportionality may be best for smaller contracts.

Major Projects

• There are 4 live programmes, 3 of which don’t have an SRO.
• There are 24 live major projects

January 26 Delivery Committee Minutes

• Matters discussed included the Performance Metrics Dashboard, Business Blan 2025/26 update and Corporate Plan 2026/30 update.

November 25 ARAC Minutes

• Matters discussed included NRC, RHI, External Audit and robustness of mid-year assurances.

DfE Partnership Organisations Governance Issues and Performance Update

• Discussed at ARAC. Nothing else to raise.

2024-26 People and Organisational Development Plan

• This is the final update before complete transition to reporting against annual people priorities and culture action plan.
• Workforce management is a focus. We are trying to inject more fluidity to more areas of greatest need.
• This is the last part of the formal wind up of the ODT programme.

Risk Register

• This was discussed at ARAC. Some of the challenges have passed.
• Meetings are scheduled with Grade 3s to review their risks.
• Escalated risks relating to Student Loans Budgeting and NRC