§ Mr. AingerTo ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how much money has been written off by the IDB and its predecessors in bad debt since 1974.
§ Mr. AtkinsFrom 1982–83, when IDB was set up, to 1991–92 a total of £518.1 million has been written off in accordance with government accounting procedures. A substantial portion of this sum, including £414.9 million in respect of Harland and Wolff plc, relates to the voluntary waiver of claims as opposed to bad debts. It is not possible to provide precise, disaggregated figures for these two elements. In addition, in 1989–90, before responsibility for the company was transferred to IDB, the Department of Economic Development wrote off a waiver of £390 million in connection with the privatisation of Short Brothers plc. For the period prior to 1982–83 information in respect of IDB's predecessors is either not available in the form requested or cannot be sufficiently disaggregated to provide comparable figures.