Invest NI spent £35m promoting city industry and jobs

The state enterprise agency also invested £9.17m in business development in the city whilst the number of jobs supported through the Enterprise Development Programme (EDP) was 570 over the same period.

Investment Minister Arlene Foster outlined the support in response to an Assembly Question.

She explained the figures refer to the number of jobs expected to be created by Invest NI clients and what investors have been offered and the number of jobs that they plan to create over the lifetime of assisted projects.

“The assistance offered has been further broken down to show the amount that relates to employment-related projects and business development projects. “Business development offers include activities such as R&D, training and trade development, and although not directly related to job creation, will underpin business competitiveness leading eventually to growth and employment opportunities,” she explained.

“However, it should be noted that Government grant support is offered at the start of a project based on a company commitment to create jobs.

“Based on these financial commitments, the company will then contract with Invest NI to create an agreed quantity of jobs, which will be delivered over an agreed period of time and some may stretch for as long as five years. If the company cannot fully deliver their commitments then all the assistance offered may not be paid.

“It should also be noted that Invest NI does not allocate budgets by geographic areas such as District Councils. The geographic location of projects is determined by those businesses which bring forward projects suitable for Invest NI assistance and are based on their specific requirements,” she stated.