HC Deb 28 February 1996 vol 272 cc555-6W
Mr. William Ross

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland (1) how many visits have been made to each council area by(a) investors seeking a site for manufacturing industry and (b) investors seeking a site for service or retail facilities, in which his Department or the Industrial Development Board were involved; and in what order the council areas were visited in each case for each of the last three years; [15769]

(2) what was the number of visits made to each parliamentary constituency in Belfast by investors seeking a site for (a) manufacturing industry and (b) service or retailing facilities, in which his Department or the IDB were involved; and in what order the constituencies were visited in each of the last three years. [15768]

Mr. Ancram

The information requested is not available and could be provided only at a disproportionate costs. However, visits made to Northern Ireland district council areas by potential investors in the last three years are detailed in the table.

Visits to Northern Ireland by potential investors
District council 1993 1994 1995
Antrim 26 31 17
Ards 4 2 3
Armagh 0 0 1
Ballymena 3 8 5
Ballymoney 0 1 2
Banbridge 0 1 3
Belfast 102 106 155
Carrlok 7 9 8
Castlereagh 6 1 3
Coleraine 8 1 5
Cookstown 2 1 10
Craigavon 6 4 13
Derry 18 14 151
Down 1 5 8
Dungannon 11 7 7
Fermanagh 5 1 4
Lame 4 4 2
Limavady 2 4 1
Lisburn 7 15 22
Magherafelt 1 3 2
Visits to Northern Ireland by potential investors
District council 1993 1994 1995
Moyle 2 1 0
Newry and Mourne 8 5 28
Newtownabbey 25 18 19
North Down 6 6 8
Omagh 1 2 1
Strabane 0 2 3
Total 255 252 343
1 Includes four visits managed by Londonderry Development Office (DOE).