Question to the Northern Ireland Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, how many meetings he has had with (a) officials and (b) trade union representatives at Bombardier, Northern Ireland in 2020; and on what dates those meetings took place.

The Northern Ireland Office closely follows developments at Bombardier, as a key player and employer in the local economy. The Secretary of State for Northern Ireland spoke with the Chief Operating Officer at Bombardier, Michael Ryan, on Friday 12 June 2020 to discuss the impact of the restructuring that was announced at the company last week. Prior to this, the Secretary of State spoke with Bombardier’s Director, Nick Laird on 16 April 2020 to discuss future projects for the aerospace sector. NIO officials and those at the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) have engaged with the company on a number of occasions.

Whilst we have not engaged with the trade union representatives at Bombardier, I am aware that there has been engagement with the Northern Ireland Executive, who are responsible for business support in Northern Ireland.

The UK Government wants to see Northern Ireland not only recover but also prosper. In addition to the unprecedented package of measures to protect businesses and employees through this period of disruption, we must ensure that we attract inward investment, protect the local skilled manufacturing workforce and work with the Executive to ensure our economic plans for Northern Ireland align.