The Department for the Economy (DfE) is responsible for economic policy, business regulation, energy, tourism, further and higher education, skills and employment law in Northern Ireland.
Political leadership
The department is led by minister Caoimhe Archibald (Sinn Féin).
Legislative programme
Five bills are currently attributed to DfE, spanning energy and business regulation:
- Insolvency (Amendment) Bill — passed, Royal Assent
- RHI (Closure of Non-Domestic Scheme) Bill — passed, Royal Assent
- Petroleum Exploration and Licensing (Repeal) Bill — Committee Stage
- Utility Regulator (Support for Decarbonisation Preparation) Bill — Committee Stage
- Renewable Electricity Generation Bill — First Stage
Its legislation is scrutinised by the Committee for the Economy.
Data sources
Ministerial and bill-stage data are drawn from the NI Assembly’s official records, kept up to date by the weekly Assembly sync.
See the department’s full profile, remit and official links at mlas.news/department/economy/.