§ Mr. Bellasked the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what is the value of outstanding loans to industry since 1966 from any Government agency; and if he will give the names of firms that have defaulted on these loans, and the amount of money that has been lost due to companies defaulting on these loans.
§ Dr. BoysonThe value of outstanding loans at 31 March 1986 is £73.7 million. Of this £67.9 million is in respect of loans issued since 1966 by the Industrial Development Board for Northern Ireland and the former Department of Commerce, Northern Ireland Finance Corporation and Northern Ireland Development Agency. The remaining £5.8 million relates to loans made available by the Local Enterprise Development Unit since its inception in 1971. £16.2 million of loan has been written44W off as irrecoverable by the Industrial Development Board and the former Department of Commerce, and £1.2 million by the Local Enterprise Development Unit.
The former Northern Ireland Development Agency wrote off an amount of approximately £37.5 million which comprised both share capital and loan investments made by itself and its predecessor, the Northern Ireland Finance Corporation.
A list of names of the firms in respect of which loan has been written off over this period is not readily available, and to compile it would involve disproportionate cost.