Industry: Northern Ireland

(asked on 15th December 2025) - View Source

Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what financial assistance has been given to Northern Ireland industry in each of the last 5 years under (a) the Industrial Development Act 1982 and (b) the Export and Investment Guarantee Act 1991.


Answered by
Chris Bryant Portrait
Chris Bryant
Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
This question was answered on 18th December 2025

Spend under the Industrial Development Act 1982 across the UK is reported in its annual reports (Industrial Development Act 1982: annual report - GOV.UK) and includes some support to Northern Ireland businesses, such as the Energy Intensive Industry, Music Export Growth and the Start Up Loan Schemes. Most NI industrial support is provided under the Industrial Development (Northern Ireland) Order 1982, for which the Northern Ireland Department for the Economy holds the spending details.

Over the last five years, UK Export finance (UKEF) has provided hundreds of millions of pounds of support to businesses in Northern Ireland, including a loan guarantee for Wrightbus, based in North Antrim, enabling it to sell its zero-emission buses to markets in Europe and north America.

Full details of the support provided by UKEF can be found online at: UK Export Finance: business supported - GOV.UK.

UKEF does not publish a breakdown of support provided by UK nations or regions.

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