What is Invest NI hiding?
20 October 2011
TUV Leader Jim Allister MLA has expressed surprise that though Invest NI claims to have promoted 24,612 jobs in Northern Ireland in the 5 years, 2006-11, it cannot say how many of those jobs actually came into existence and of those which did, how many of them still exist.
“Surely”, said Mr Allister “it is fundamental to any audit of Invest NI’s performance to know not just how many jobs it ‘promoted’ but how many actually came into existence and survived. How else, can you evaluate the success of Invest NI?
“Some time ago I established in an Assembly Answer (AQW 1803/11-15) that over the last 5 years Invest NI claimed to have promoted 24,612 jobs, causing me to table this obvious follow-up question:-
To ask the Minister of Enterprise, Trade and Investment, pursuant to AQW 1803/11-15, how many of the 24,612 jobs which were promoted by Invest NI between 2006 and 2011 were created, broken down by constituency; and of the jobs created, how many still exist.
“I am amazed to receive an answer which indicates Invest NI does not know the answer to my question. The answer provided is as follows:-
The information requested is not readily accessible and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.
"How, then are we meant to know how successful Invest NI actually is in bringing sustainable jobs to Northern Ireland, if they keep no records. Does Invest NI not want to know this itself, or is it only interested in ‘good news’?
"At the local North Antrim level I sought to extract the same information in regard to the 680 jobs Invest NI claims to have promoted there, but again the response was pitifully inadequate:-
Question:
To ask the Minister of Enterprise, Trade and Investment, pursuant to AQW 1803/11-15, given that it was expected that 680 jobs would be created in North Antrim as a result of Invest NI's assistance for potential investors between 2006 and 2011, (i) how many jobs have been created; (ii) how many still exist; (iii) what assistance was offered to investors in the creation of the 680 jobs; (iv) how many potential projects were involved in the creation of the jobs; and (v) of those projects how many proceeded.
Answer:
The information requested is not readily accessible and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.
“Frankly, answers such as these leave me wondering if Invest NI has something to hide. On the North Antrim Question they couldn’t even say how much assistance they offered to promote the claimed 680 jobs. I find this astounding. Such information and the number of jobs which long-term resulted from the investment are vital to making a basic value for money assessment of invest NI’s worth. There must be something seriously flawed in their record-keeping if they do not keep such elementary information.
“I am, therefore, calling on Invest NI to radically reform its own systems so that it can readily tell us how many jobs they’ve promoted, how many have lasted and what was the real cost involved.”
