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Column 187
English Partnerships£4 million for the provision of industrial and commercial sites. Plans announced :
88,000 sq ft of new factory space and the acquisition of 10 acres of land.
TECs and Employment Service
£2.2 million additional budget allocation for coalfield areas. Coalfield Areas Fund
£270,000 for regeneration projects.
East Midlands English Partnerships
£21 million provision of industrial and commercial sites. Plans announced :
173 acres acquired for development.
the provision of 176,000 sq ft of new factory space.
TEC and Employment Service
£23.7 million additional budget allocation for coalfield areas. Robin Hood Line
£6.5 million to help extend the Robin Hood Line from Newstead to Mansfield (Stage 2).
Coalfield Areas fund
£2.4 million regeneration projects in Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire.
East Midlands Development Organisation
£650,000 two years funding for the new East Midlands Development Organisation, to promote inward investment.
Annesley
Flagship Business Park.
Enterprise Zone
Enterprise Zones to be designated in the districts of Mansfield, Ashfield, North East Derbyshire and Bassetlaw.
Coal Authority
To be based in Mansfield.
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Assisted Area statusMansfield TTWA upgraded from Non-Assisted Area to Development Area Status.
Alfreton and Ashfield ; Chesterfield ; Retford ; and Worksop upgraded from Non-Assisted Area to Intermediate Area status. Regional Enterprise Grants
Regional Enterprise Grants extended to specific wards in coalfield areas.
Regional Selective Assistance
Johnson Control : 450 jobs, £1.7 million grant.
West Midlands English Partnerships
£7 million for the provision of industrial and commercial sites. Plans announced :
70,000 sq ft of new factory space at High Carr and 27,500 sq ft of factory space at Fenton, both in North Staffordshire.
Negotiations continue regarding other sites in both North and South Staffordshire.
TECs and Employment Service
£8.4 million additional budget allocation for the coalfield areas of North Staffordshire, South Staffordshire and North Warwickshire. Coalfield Areas Fund
£820,000 for regeneration projects in Stoke.
Regional Enterprise Grants
Regional Enterprise Grants extended to specific wards in the Trentham and Littleton areas.
Objective 2 status
Stoke will get Objective 2 status for the first time. Much of the southern Staffordshire coalfield will also be included.
Strategic Projects
Support for projects in Stoke :--Minton Hollins distribution centre ;
Fenton Manor Business Park--infrastructure works.
Trentham : site investigations at Trentham North and provision for access at Trentham South.
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NORTHERN IRELAND
Business Parks
Mr. John D. Taylor : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland at which locations in the city of Belfast there are business parks ; approximately how many persons are employed at each of these business parks ; at which locations new business parks are proposed ; and if he will make a statement on future public funding for business parks.
Mr. Tim Smith : The development of business parks is a private sector initiative and the Department of Economic Development does not have access to the information requested.
As far as public funding for business parks is concerned, limited assistance may be available to private developers from the Local Enterprise Development Unit under its property development scheme.
War Veterans
Mr. Mackinlay : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland (1) if he will meet representatives of Ards borough council and war veterans from that district to discuss problems in respect of their desire to link with Belgian veterans and communities celebrating the 50th anniversary of liberation this autumn ;
(2) if he will make an announcement on the visit to Belgium of war veterans living in the Ards borough council area before the parliamentary recess.
Mr. Tim Smith : My right hon. and learned Friend will be writing shortly to the hon. Member confirming that the Department of the Environment, Northern Ireland is prepared to consider favourably the granting of approval to Ards borough council to fund a visit to Belgium by ex-service men from its district as part of the Belgian liberation celebrations. In these circumstances, a meeting would not seem to be necessary.
Data Protection
Mr. Cohen : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what discussions he has held with the Data Protection Registrar, prior to the use of the national insurance number by the private sector, in relation to the Northern Ireland personal injuries claims register ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Ancram : There have been no discussions at ministerial level on this subject. There has been correspondence at official level with the Association of British Insurers which, in turn, has been in contact with the Data Protection Registrar about the use of national insurance numbers for the purposes of the association's Northern Ireland personal injuries register and this is continuing.
Enterprise Centres
Mr. John D. Taylor : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland at which locations in Belfast there are enterprise centres ; how many persons are employed at these enterprise centres ; at which locations in Belfast new enterprise centres are planned ; and if he will make a statement on proposed public funding of enterprise centres.
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Mr. Tim Smith : The information is as follows :
|Total employed
-----------------------------------------------------------
Enterprise centres
Action Resource Centre |12
103-107 York Street
Argyle Business Centre |23
39 Howard Street
Brookfield Business Centre |260
333 Crumlin Road
Farset Enterprise Park |47
638 Springfield Road
Glenwood Enterprises |90
Springbank Industrial Estate
Townsend Enterprise Park |150
28 Townsend Park
Work West |50
301 Glen Road
Westlink Enterprise |66
30-50 Distillery Road
North City Business |No tenants yet
2, Duncairn Gardens
New Enterprise Centres
East Belfast Enterprise Park
16 Castlereagh Street
Ormagh Enterprises
(location to be decided)
In terms of public funding, the Local Enterprise Development Unit's local enterprise programme setting up the new enterprise centres is almost complete. Within the LEP strategy, LEDU is working with all the centres to build upon their achievements to date.
Public Bodies
Mr. William Ross : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will list the salaries for each of the last 10 years for the chairman and chief executive of (a) the Equal Opportunities Commission, (b) the Fair Employment Commission, (c) the General Consumer Council for Northern Ireland, (d) the Health and Safety Agency for Northern Ireland, (e) the Labour Relations Agency, (f) the Arts Council for Northern Ireland, (g) the Industrial Development Board, (h) the Local Enterprise Development Unit, (i) the Social Security Agency and (j) the Northern Ireland Housing Executive.
Sir John Wheeler : The salary of the chief executive of the Social Security Agency, which was established on1 July 1991, is based on the Northern Ireland civil service grade 3 salary scale. The total gross remuneration paid to the chief executive from that date has been as follows :
Year |£ ---------------------- 1991-92 |49,866 1992-93 |53,700 1993-94 |55,878
The information requested for the other bodies can be obtained from the Cabinet Office annual publication "Public Bodies", copies of which are held in the Library.
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Small Businesses
Mr. David Shaw : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will make a statement on the achievements of (a) his policies and (b) his Department in helping small businesses over the last 12 months as against the previous 12 months ; if he will publish the performance indicators by which his Department monitors those achievements and the statistical results of such monitoring ; and if he will set out his targets to help small businesses in the next year.
Mr. Tim Smith : Assistance towards small firms in Northern Ireland is delivered for the Department of Economic Development by its agency the Local Enterprise Development Unit.
LEDU's strategy forms an integral part of the Government's approach to encourage competitiveness and growth among small business. LEDU had a successful year in 1993-94 and I am encouraged that it has continued to build upon its record-breaking performance in 1992-93. The turnover among LEDU client companies increased by 9.5 per cent. in 1993-94 and employment increased by 4.7 per cent.
Key results for the past two years and similar key targets for next year are as follows :
Performance |1992-93 |1993-94 |1994-95
indicators
|results |results |targets
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Business start training
(nos) |3,716 |3,979 |3,000
Small business
accommodation |22,000 sq m|10,501 sq m|8,200 sq m
Growth implementing contracts signed |147 |141 |152
Contracts to companies
engaged in projects to
overcome barriers to
growth |447 |795 |760
Nursery Schools
Mrs. Fyfe : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what was the total public expenditure on (a) nursery schools and classes and (b) children under five in reception classes, in each year since 1989-90 ; and what was the total public expenditure on these services as a percentage of the gross domestic product for Northern Ireland.
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Mr. Ancram : Expenditure on nursery and reception classes in primary schools is subsumed in the total for primary schools, and could only be identified at disproportionate cost.
Expenditure on nursery schools is as follows :
|£m |percentage of
|GDP
--------------------------------------------------------
1989-90 |5.1 |.001
1990-91 |5.6 |.001
1991-92 |6.9 |.001
1992-93 |7.3 |n/a
1993-94 |<1>7.8 |n/a
<1> estimated.
Fair Employment Tribunals
Mr. Trimble : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many cases have been heard since 1989 by fair employment tribunals consisting of (a) three Catholic members, (b) two Catholic members and one Protestant member, (c) one Catholic member and two Protestant members and (d) three Protestant members.
Mr. Tim Smith : A breakdown of the perceived religion of panel members for the fair employment tribunals which heard and determined cases since 1989 is shown in the table :
B
FET Panel |Number of
Constitution
|cases
------------------------------------------------------------------
Three Catholic members |1
Two Catholic and one Protestant member |52
One Catholic and two Protestant members |61
Three Protestant members |-
|-------
Total |114
Public Appointments
Mr. Trimble : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will list all the public appointments held by Mr. David Cook and Mrs. Fionnula Cook since 1980.
Sir John Wheeler : The following public appointments have been held by Mr. David Cook and Mrs. Fionnuala Cook since 1980.
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Appointment |Duration
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mr. David Cook
As a City Council Trustee-Ulster Museum |1 January 1973 to 1 June 1985
Chairman-Health and Social Services Trust
(Craigavon and Banbridge Unit of Management) |23 November 1993 to 23 November 1997
Chairman-Police Authority for Northern Ireland |29 June 1994 to 28 June 1997
Mrs. Fionnuala Cook
Member-Northern Ireland Housing Executive Board |5 November 1989 to 4 November 1995
Chairman-Southern Health and Social Services
Council |1 April 1991 to 31 May 1995
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Driving Offences
Mr. Barnes : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many motorists were (a) charged with and (b) convicted of (i) failure to accord precedence at pedestrian crossings, endorseable offences, (ii) failure to comply with traffic signs, (iii) speed limit offences, (iv) driving etc. after consuming alcohol or taking drugs and (v) reckless driving in Northern Ireland in 1991, 1992 and 1993.
Sir John Wheeler : Information on the number of persons with these offences is not held centrally and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
Readily available information is as follows :
Persons Convicted of Motoring Offences in Northern Ireland 1991-1993 Offence |1991 |1992 |1993 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Failure to accord precedence at pedestrian crossings (Zebra and Pelican) |5 |0 |4 Failure to comply with traffic signs (Art. 158 Road Traffic Order) |370 |288 |280 Speed Limit Offences |2,683 |2,535 |2,320 All Drunk-in-Charge Offences |2,675 |3,203 |3,167 Reckless Driving Causing Death |19 |10 |19 Reckless Driving Causing Grievous Bodily Harm |11 |8 |11 Reckless Driving |449 |392 |327
Rents
Mr. Barnes : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what information he holds on the levels of rent being charged in (a) the public sector, (b) the private sector and (c) by housing associations.
Mr. Tim Smith : The Department of the Environment for Northern Ireland holds information on the levels of rent being charged as follows :
(a) public sector : average weekly rent of £29.63 from 1 April 1994
(b) private sector : no information is held
(c) housing associations : average rents at 31 March 1994 are shown on the table below.
Dwelling type |Controlled<2> |De-controlled<3>
|(£) |(£)
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Bedsit |18.95 |28.46
1 Bedroom |22.51 |25.94
2 Bedrooms |26.88 |27.73
3 Bedrooms |31.63 |34.25
4 Bedrooms |33.40 |39.12
<1> Information is not held on rent levels by dwelling type.
<2> Controlled rents are for tenancies granted prior to 16
September 1992
and Departmental approval is required for rent increases.
<3> De-controlled rents are for tenancies grated from 16 September
1992
and rent increases are not subject to Departmental approval.
Nurse Education and Training
Mr. Kirkwood : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what steps he is taking to provide for the retraining and redeployment of nurse teachers who are displaced as a result of the proposed reduction in the number of nursing students.
Mr. Ancram : The health and personal social services staff redeployment unit was established in June 1993 with the remit of setting up a clearing house system to allow
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staff who are declared redundant by their current employers to have first opportunity of applying for any posts for which recruitment is taking place elsewhere in the Northern Ireland health and personal social services. The fully computerised system agreed with participating employers covers all health and social services boards, units of management, health and social services trusts, together with the Northern Ireland Central Services Agency and the National Board for Nursing, Midwifery and Health Visiting.Following the introduction of the clearing house system, the staff redeployment unit has been encouraged to extend its activities to include the provision of information to employees faced with redundancy ; the investigation of employment opportunities for redundant staff outside the statutory health and personal social services in Northern Ireland ; and measures to enhance the employment opportunities for newly qualified nurses who are unable to obtain employment on completion of training.
To date, the Northern Ireland national board has not found it necessary to make any of its nurse tutors redundant and has achieved reductions in staffing levels by means of voluntary early retirement.
Mr. Kirkwood : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will provide a breakdown of the spending on nurse education and training for the years 1990-91 to 1993-94 identifying the spending allocated to (a) pre-registration education, (b)
post-registration education and (c) nurse teacher training and support.
Mr. Ancram : It is not possible to identify separately spending on pre- and post-registration education. Otherwise the information is as follows :
|Nurse education|Nurse teacher
|and training |training
|£ million |£000's
----------------------------------------------------------------
1990-91 |10.7 |180
1991-92 |15.4 |253
1992-93 |27.4 |246
1993-94 |27.3 |119
Notes:
1. The figures for Nurse Education and Training include
National
Board revenue, the cost of the community nurse training
programme, the training element of the cost of salaries and
bursaries
for the years 1992-93 and 1993-94 and the implementation costs
of
Project 2000.
2. It is not possible to identify the training element in
salaries and
bursaries for the years 1990-91 and 1991-92.
Mr. Kirkwood : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what is the total cost of the changes in nurse education since 1989 which result from the introduction of Project 2000.
Mr. Ancram : In the period 1 April 1989 to 31 March 1994, a total of £7.96 million has been allocated to the four health and social services boards and the Northern Ireland National Board for Nursing, Midwifery and Health Visiting, to meet the additional costs of implementing Project 2000.
Road Accidents (Pedestrians)
Mr. Barnes : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many (a) children and (b) adults were (i) killed and (ii) seriously or (iii) slightly injured on or near pedestrian crossings in Northern Ireland in 1991, 1992 and 1993.
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Sir John Wheeler : The information is as follows :
Accidents and casualties on or near pedestrian crossings
Year |Accidents|Killed |Serious |Slight
|injuries |injuries
------------------------------------------------------------
(i) Children (under 15 years)
1991 |26 |0 |8 |22
1992 |29 |0 |7 |25
1993 |29 |0 |4 |29
(ii) Adults (15 years and over)
1991 |70 |1 |15 |94
1992 |59 |1 |17 |84
1993 |67 |2 |10 |97
Rate Collection Agency
Mr. Michael Brown : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what performance targets have been set for the Rate Collection Agency in 1994-95.
Mr. Tim Smith : For 1994-95 the following performance targets have been set for the agency :
1. To reduce rating debt to 1.76 per cent. of the Gross Collectable Rate excluding late assessments by 31 March 1995.
2. To achieve a reduction of 2 per cent. in the real value of the direct unit costs of collecting rates per hereditament.
3. To generate refunds to 97 per cent. of ratepayers so entitled within 14 days of credits being identified.
4. To process by 31 March 1995 80 per cent. of applications for the incoming year received from existing Housing Benefit recipients before 15 March 1995.
5. To achieve a reduction of 2 per cent. in the real value of the direct unit costs of processing Housing Benefit cases.
6. To assess 97 per cent. of Housing Benefit claims free of error.
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