Asked by: Andrew Selous (Conservative - South West Bedfordshire)
Question to the Northern Ireland Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, whether he has had discussions with the Secretary of State for Business and Trade on the potential impact of the restoration of the Northern Ireland Assembly on trends in the level of business investment in Northern Ireland.
Answered by Steve Baker
Since our department hosted the Northern Ireland Investment Summit in September, we have seen significant investment announcements including from IceMos technology, Ocula technology, and Vertiv. With that in mind, I think it is in everyone's interests - regardless of position on the constitutional question - for everyone to maintain a singular focus on attracting investment into Northern Ireland.
Asked by: Andrew Selous (Conservative - South West Bedfordshire)
Question to the Northern Ireland Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what recent discussions he has had with relevant stakeholders in the United States on promoting investment opportunities in Northern Ireland.
Answered by Chris Heaton-Harris
I was delighted to have the opportunity to visit the United States over the course of last week. I met the special envoy to Northern Ireland, Joe Kennedy III, where we discussed Northern Ireland’s rich potential for US investors.
I also attended a roundtable with US business leaders in New York and met businesses in Boston. I was greatly encouraged by the enthusiasm shown towards investment in Northern Ireland.
There are huge investment opportunities to deepen UK-US trading links benefiting communities on both sides of the Atlantic, and I look forward to working to strengthen these bonds.
Asked by: Andrew Selous (Conservative - South West Bedfordshire)
Question to the Northern Ireland Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, whether his Department operates a ban the box employment policy in respect of ex-offender job applicants with unspent convictions; and how many employees of his Department have unspent convictions.
Answered by Kris Hopkins
The Northern Ireland Office operates in line with Ministry of Justice recruitment policies and we are supportive of the Ban the Box initiative.
No employees in the Department currently have unspent convictions.
Asked by: Andrew Selous (Conservative - South West Bedfordshire)
Question to the Northern Ireland Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what recent discussions she has had with the Northern Ireland Executive on economic development in Northern Ireland.
Answered by Theresa Villiers
I regularly hold discussions with Executive ministers on a range of economic issues.
Last week, I chaired a meeting of the Joint Ministerial Task Force on Banking and Access to Finance which was established to help Northern Ireland businesses access finance.