Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, how much and what proportion of the funding provided to the Investment Fund for Northern Ireland has been allocated to businesses in Northern Ireland.

The £70 million Investment Fund for Northern Ireland offers loans ranging from £25,000 to £2 million and equity investments up to £5 million. The fund covers the whole of Northern Ireland, including rural, coastal and urban areas. 100% of the fund is allocated to businesses in Northern Ireland. Of the £70 million total, around £18 million has been deployed to 35 businesses to date, leveraging around £12 million of additional private capital.