§ Mr. BeggsTo ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what the average time taken to process an
1142W21 July were serving with each infantry battalion of the British Army who were battle fit or able to serve on operational tours in Northern Ireland or overseas; and what the establishment strength is of each of those battalions. [187255]
§ Mr. IngramI have been asked to reply.
The unit establishment of each infantry battalion is given as follows:
application for assistance by (a) Invest Northern Ireland and (b) Invest Northern Ireland's legacy organisations was in the most recent relevant period. [186854]
§ Mr. SpellarThe Invest NI target processing time for larger business development projects is 60 days. with a target of 30 days for less complex development cases. These times relate to 'controllable' time, ie periods when an application is being dealt with by Invest NI, and do not include periods when further information is required to be provided by the client. While target timeframes are currently being met in the majority of cases, there can be exceptions where, for example, the case is particularly complex or the negotiations prolonged.
1143WThe average processing target time operated by the legacy organisations IDE and LEDU, was 83 days. Invest NI has set target times which are shorter than those operated by these legacy bodies. It would require a disproportionate administrative effort to attempt to provide precise information on the legacy agencies' performance. However, it is clear that in the majority of cases the target timeframes were met and where this was not the case it again tended to reflect the complexity of the case concerned.