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Written question asked by Lady Hermon (Ulster Unionist Party) on Tuesday, 7 February 2006, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Thursday, 9 February 2006. It was answered by Baroness Smith of Basildon (Labour) on Wednesday, 15 February 2006 on behalf of the Northern Ireland Office.

Invest Northern Ireland

Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what discussions have taken place between representatives of Invest Northern Ireland and (a) each district council in Northern Ireland and (b) Larne Enterprise Development Company in the last 12 months; and what representations Invest Northern Ireland have received from each.
Answer

In the last 12 months, Invest NI staff have represented the agency at 383 meetings of committees/partnerships that have either been council led or have included council involvement. In most cases these meetings involved more than one council. A breakdown for each individual council area is given in the following table.In addition, staff throughout the agency, and in particular its local office network, are regularly involved in discussions with local councils in relation to a broad range of Invest NI's functions and activities.In the same period, Invest NI's chief executive also met with ten local councils to update them on Invest NI's current activity in their areas and to discuss any issues of concern (these meetings are also captured in the following table). During this period each council was also invited to meet with Invest NI's chairman and chief executive to comment on Invest NI's 2005–08 draft corporate plan.Invest NI has invested considerable time and effort to build a positive working relationship with Larne Enterprise Development company (LEDCOM) and staff from the agency have attended a total of 43 formal meetings or events associated with LEDCOM during the last 12 months. In addition there have been many other informal discussions between Invest NI and LEDCOM.

Council Number of meetings involving representatives of counciland Invest NI
Antrim 39
Ards 40
Armagh C and DC 48
Ballymena 43
Ballymoney 43
Banbridge 43
Belfast CC 54
Carrickfergus 48
Castlereagh 15
Coleraine 55
Cookstown 37
Craigavon 50
Derry CC 50
Down 43
Dungannon and South Tyrone 49
Fermanagh 36
Larne 42
Limavady 33
Lisburn CC 16
Magherafelt 19
Moyle 39
Newry and Mourne 57
Newtownabbey 39
North Down 36
Omagh 47
Strabane 54

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
51050; 442 c2107-8W;442 c2107-8W
Session
2005-06
Subjects
Meetings Invest NI
Link
View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk