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Labour Statistics

Mr. William Ross: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what has been the number of (a) full-time and (b) part-time employees in Northern Ireland in (i) manufacturing industry, (ii) the service industry and (iii) retailing in each of the last five years; and what his projections are for the next two years. [3457]

Mr. Ancram: The information available is as follows:

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	Manufacturing		Services		Retail distribution
	Full-time	Part-time	Full-time	Part-time	Full-time	Part-time
March 1995	96,990	5,940	271,090	144,410	30,730	29,610
September 1994	97,430	5,920	270,430	139,050	31,040	28,380
September 1993	95,780	6,060	267,740	132,510	30,060	26,560
September 1991	99,390	5,450	266,590	119,320	30,390	23,680

No official projections of employment are made. Figures for September 1995 are not yet available. No figures are available for 1990. Notes: 1. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10. 2. The full-time/part-time breakdown of employees in employment is available for each of the last three years from the Quarterly Employment Survey and prior to this on a biennial basis from the Census of Employment.

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Housing

Mr. Robert McCartney: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will amend the Northern Ireland Housing Executive's selection criteria in non-priority cases to enable people who have recently moved from other parts of the United Kingdom to be eligible for housing earlier than in accordance with present residence requirement. [3537]

Mr. Moss: In June 1995 a working group was established comprising representatives from the Northern Ireland Department of the Environment and the Northern Ireland Housing Executive to review the Housing Executive's housing selection scheme and to make recommendations. It is planned to issue the group's findings and any proposed changes, for consultation, by the summer of 1996. It would be inappropriate to make changes to the present criteria pending the outcome of that review.

Mr. McCartney: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Irleand what returns the Housing Executive has made to the Inland Revenue over the last three financial years; and if he will list payments of housing benefit made to private landlords indicating how many different landlords were involved and how much benefit in total was specified. [3541]

Mr. Moss: The Northern Ireland Housing Executive has annually provided the Inland Revenue with details of all landlords in receipt of direct payments of housing benefit.

The exact number of landlords to whom direct payments have been made is not readily available and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost. The estimated number of landlords and the actual amount of benefit paid in each of the last three years is as follows:

Year	Estimated number of landlords	Total payments made to landlords
1992-93	5,000	29,086,050.88
1993-94	5,500	36,234,396.67
1994-95	6,000	43,783,407.12

Claimant Travel Regulations

Mr. Robert McCartney: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will list the rules and declarations applying to those on unemployment benefit and/or income support who wish to travel within Northern Ireland or visit (a) Great Britain, (b) the Republic of Ireland and (c) another EU country; what assessments he has made of (a) the degree of compliance with and (b) the adequacy of the rules; and what proposals he has to change them. [3539]

Mr. Moss: Unemployed people claiming unemployment benefit and/or income support and travelling within Northern Ireland and Great Britain must remain available for work with an employer and take reasonable steps each week to find such work.

Generally, unemployment benefit and income support are not payable outside the United Kingdom and this applies to people visiting the Republic of Ireland as for other European Union countries. The only exception for

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unemployment benefit is that, under European Community law, benefit can continue to be paid for up to three months to unemployed nationals of a member state going to another member state specifically to seek work.

Certain people on income support who are not in the employment field may go outside the United Kingdom and retain their entitlement for up to four weeks.

All claimants are required to declare any relevant change of circumstances, including absence from their usual address.

There is no indication that the current rules are not being complied with or are inadequate. The same rules apply throughout the United Kingdom and there are no plans at present to change them.

Punishment Beatings

Mr. Worthington: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many punishment beatings have occurred (a) in total and (b) in each month since the twin ceasefires; and how many have been committed by each side. [3533]

Sir John Wheeler: The total number of so-called punishment beatings carried out in the 14 months since 1 September 1994 is 223. The Royal Ulster Constabulary has attributed these to Republican and Loyalist groups as follows:

Month	Loyalist	Republican	Total
September 1994	1	8	9
October 1994
1-13	1	2	3
14-31	3	3	6
November 1994	5	7	12
December 1994	6	6	12
January 1995	6	10	16
February 1995	8	11	19
March 1995	3	7	10
April 1995	2	4	6
May 1995	12	14	26
June 1995	4	13	17
July 1995	11	18	29
August 1995	5	12	17
September 1995	4	12	16
October 1995	4	21	25
Total	75	148	223

Drainage Culverting

Mr. Robert McCartney: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will list the last 10 drainage culverting operations of his Department, indicating the criteria used for choosing those particular sites, the cost per metre and the results of the value for money assessment that was made. [3540]

Mr. Ancram: The last 10 drainage culverting operations of the Department of Agriculture are listed, together with the reason for the works and cost per metre. Culverting works are only undertaken on watercourses which have been designated by the Drainage Council for Northern Ireland and if they are necessary (a) for flood

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alleviation purposes, (b) to provide drainage infrastructure for new development, or (c) there are structural defects or hydraulic inefficiencies in existing culverts.

All projects are subject to environmental impact assessment and economic appraisal and are only undertaken if the assessed benefits to society exceed the cost of the works.

Watercourse name	Reason for works	Cost per metre £
1. Killyliss Drain, Dungannon	Structural defect in culvert	110
2. Berry Stream, Kilkeel	Infrastructure for new development	430
3. Urney Road Extension, Strabane	Infrastructure for new development	160
4. Bell's Hill Drain, Castledawson	Infrastructure for new development	500
5. Skeoge, Londonderry, Phase III scheme	Structural defect in culvert and infrastructure for new development	2,700
6. Jubilee Terrace, Coleraine	Infrastructure for new development	280
7. Blaney Millrace, Enniskillen	Flood alleviation	220
8. Doogary Drain, Omagh	Infrastructure for industrial development	200
9. Park Road, Strabane	Infrastructure for new development	250
10. Strangford Road, Downpatrick	Infrastructure for new development	820

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Private Finance Initiative

Mr. Betts: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will list for each scheme so far agreed under the private finance initiative (a) capital and (b) revenue costs to public funds (i) under the PFI and (ii) estimated to have been incurred had the scheme been funded wholly within the public sector. [3812]

Sir John Wheeler: No schemes under the private finance initiative, announced by the Chancellor of the Exchequer in November 1992, have been approved in Northern Ireland to date.

Mr. Betts: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how much capital expenditure is forecast to be included in the private finance initiative for the current financial year and the next five financial years. [3830]

Sir John Wheeler: It is estimated that the following amounts, rounded to the nearest £10 million, will be levered in from the private sector:

	£ million
1995-96	60
1996-97	50
1997-98	80
1998-99	80
1999-00	n/a
2000-01	n/a

The information for 1996-97 onwards is also published in the Financial Statement and Budget Report 1996-97.

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