To ask the Minister for the Economy whether she is considering increasing the Education Maintenance Allowance and linking it to inflation.

The Education Maintenance Allowance scheme is a joint policy for which responsibility is shared between my Department and the Department of Education (DE) and any plans to increase the Education Maintenance Allowance would be agreed between both Departments. There are currently no plans in place to increase the Education Maintenance Allowance and link it with inflation. I do, however, recognise the valuable support that the Education Maintenance Allowance provides to enable young people to remain in education or training and my officials will continue to work with DE officials on these cross-cutting issues.