Latest news with #DepartmentfortheEconomy
BBC News
10-08-2025
- Business
- BBC News
Some mineral prospecting paused as licences are relinquished
Five of seven mineral prospecting licences (MPLs) granted in Northern Ireland earlier this year have been relinquished, meaning prospecting under those licences will be paused for at least three MPL grants the holder permission to carry out activities like surveys and test drilling in a specific covers minerals like copper and zinc, but not gold and silver as these belong to the Crown seven licences were granted to four companies, including Dalradian Gold, in May. The four companies cover areas in at least three counties – Fermanagh, Tyrone and Armagh. The announcement from the Department for the Economy (DfE) comes as a deadline to lodge papers for any legal challenge is set to expire.A statement from the Department added that it had been instructed by Minister Caoimhe Archibald to write to the court to confirm it would not oppose the granting of leave for a judicial review if papers were she has also instructed "to advise the objectors and the court that it will write in support of any application to quash the remaining two licences".The applications may be resubmitted, followed by a 12-week consultation the seven licences were granted in May, a public notice of the intention to grant them was not published in the Belfast Gazette, as required by Belfast Gazette is an official journal of record where statutory notices are published, as well as the King's honours previously said the notices were passed to the Gazette but were not four companies – Dalradian Gold, Conroy Gold, Karelian Diamond Resources, and Flintridge Resources – were then asked to relinquish the licences, which they agreed to is awaiting confirmation from the holder for the remaining two licences would allow holders to prospect for minerals, excluding gold and could lead to full-time mining operations at a later date.
Belfast Telegraph
15-07-2025
- Business
- Belfast Telegraph
Why major corrective action is needed to deliver on skills strategy to boost NI economy
In her introduction to the Department for the Economy's Business Plan 2025-26 (DfE), Economy Minister Caoimhe Archibald MLA proclaimed that 'we will invest in the right skills in the right places'.
Belfast Telegraph
01-07-2025
- Belfast Telegraph
Cost of attacks on 5G masts in NI hits £3.4m as mobile firms turn heat on Stormont
'Wanton destruction' fuelled by conspiracies must end, says MP Mobile phone companies have turned up the pressure on the Department for the Economy (DfE) to begin making progress on Northern Ireland's Mobile Action Plan, first announced in June 2022, following a weekend of further 'senseless' arson attacks on 5G masts around the city. Attacks over the weekend brought the total to 17 in the last two years, after an incident at the Doagh Road in Whiteabbey on Sunday night followed another attack at Stewartstown Road in west Belfast on Saturday when the same mast was targeted twice in the space of a few hours.
Belfast Telegraph
10-06-2025
- Business
- Belfast Telegraph
‘Significant' increase in weekly hours worked in Northern Ireland: government report
Data from the labour force survey said there had been 30.4 million hours worked per week between February and April – an increase of 4.3% over the year. The Department for the Economy, which released data on the labour market on Tuesday, said the number of hours worked was 1.2% above the pre-Covid-19 position. It described the annual increase as a 'statistically significant' change, which brought the number of hours worked to the highest level recorded in recent times. But the labour force survey, from the NI Statistics & Research Agency (Nisra), also showed a rise in the economic inactivity rate to 26.9%, following an increase of 1.2 percentage points over the year. The economic inactivity rate, measuring the proportion of people aged 16 to 64 not working and not seeking or available to work, had also increased by 0.3 percentage points (pps) over the quarter. Tuesday's data also includes updates from HRMC, which said there had been 809,700 people in NI receiving pay through PAYE in May, a fall of 0.1% over the month but an increase of 0.8% over the year. HMRC PAYE data also said employees in Northern Ireland had a median monthly pay of of £2,385 in May 2025, a decrease of £21 (0.9%) over the month and an increase of £152 (6.8%) over the year. According to the labour force survey, the unemployment rate for February to April was 1.8%, which was up 0.2 percentage points (pps) over the quarter and down 0.3pps over the year. And the survey said the employment rate had dropped by 0.5pps over the quarter and by 1.0pps over the year to 71.7%. In May, the seasonally adjusted number of people on the claimant count was 38,200, or 3.9% of the workforce, a decrease of 1.5% from the previous month's revised figure. The May 2025 claimant count remains 28% higher than the pre-pandemic count in March 2020. And Nisra said it had received confirmation that 560 redundancies occurred last month. Over the year June 2024 to May 2025, 2,170 redundancies were confirmed, which was approximately 90% of the figure for the previous year (2,470). News Catch Up - Tuesday 10th June There were 780 proposed redundancies in May 2025, taking the annual total to 3,200, which was around 80% of the figure for the previous year (4,040). And in the quarterly employment survey, businesses reported that employee jobs increased over the quarter (1.0%) and increased over the year (2.1%) to 840,750 jobs in March 2025. There were quarterly increases in employee jobs within the manufacturing, construction and services sectors while there was a quarterly decrease in the sector of 'other industry'.
Belfast Telegraph
10-06-2025
- Business
- Belfast Telegraph
Avoiding scrutiny is not a good look for a government department
While on the Department for the Economy's website, I stumbled across its 2024/25 Business Plan End of Year Progress Report. I was pleased to note this timely, if limited, nod to openness and transparency. But let's be frank, had I not been searching for a piece of unrelated information, I would have been no wiser about performance. And judging from the lack of associated PR activity and, as a consequence, the absence of any public commentary, no one else would have been either.
