§ Mr. CranTo ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what recent initiatives he has announced designed to encourage enterprise and investment in Northern Ireland.
§ Mr. NeedhamThe Government are firmly committed to the promotion of enterprise in Northern Ireland and this commitment is reflected in the wide range of enterprise activities of the Local Enterprise Development Unit (LEDU), which is funded by the Government. The importance of the work which LEDU is doing is demonstrated by the substantial increase in resources which the Government are making available to LEDU in 1990–91. Examples of recent LEDU initiatives include stimulating and supporting innovatory technological projects with export potential and an enterprise awareness campaign.
As regards investment, one of the primary objectives of the Industrial Development Board for Northern Ireland is to seek to attract investment from Great Britain and overseas. The IDB is concentrating its efforts on those sectors which are most likely to produce mobile investment projects whose requirements can be matched by the particular strengths and expertise which Northern Ireland offers. For example the IDB is seeking to attract service sector projects from the south-east of England because of the difficulties of recruiting and retaining staff which are intensified by the falling birth rate there. These difficulties do not apply in Northern Ireland where the numbers entering the labour market with good educational qualifications will increase during the 1990s.