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Green Park HSS Healthcare Trust
Mr. Peter Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland (1) how much money has been expended in connection with legal costs as a result of settled and on-going actions on the foot of orders from a fair employment or industrial tribunal since the appointment of the present chief executive of the Green Park HSS healthcare trust; [25555]
- (2) how much money has been expended in connection with legal costs incurred as a result of settlements out of court, settled and on-going actions in respect of fair employment and industrial tribunal actions since the appointment of the present chief executive of the Green Park HSS healthcare trust. [25556]
Mr. Moss: Since 1993, the trust has been provided with legal services by the legal department, Central Services Agency. The services were provided through a standard yearly agreement. In addition, the trust purchased ad hoc services from another legal source.
The costs of legal services in respect of fair employment and industrial tribunal cases do not appear as a separate element of the agreement with the Central Services Agency irrespective of how much or how little the service has been utilised. Our counsel fees can be identified. However, it is normal practice for any counsel involved on behalf of the trust, whether through the Central Services Agency or through the ad hoc
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arrangement, to bill for services at the conclusion of the case. Any information that could therefore be provided in relation to legal services would be incomplete.
Mr. Robinson:
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how much money has been expended on the foot of orders from a fair employment or industrial tribunal since the appointment of the present chief executive of the Green Park HSS healthcare trust. [25557]
Mr. Moss:
The trust was ordered to pay costs amounting to £270.25 in relation to its non-compliance with an order for discovery of documents concerning an ongoing case. The issue arose in 1994. No other moneys have been paid on foot of orders by a fair employment or industrial tribunal since the appointment of the present chief executive.
Mr. Robinson:
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how much money has been expended in connection with out-of-court settlements in respect of fair employment or industrial tribunal actions since the appointment of the present chief executive of the Green Park HSS Healthcare Trust. [25558]
Mr. Moss:
Out-of-court settlements in respect of fair employment or industrial tribunal actions since the appointment of the present chief executive of Green Park HSS healthcare trust are shown in the table.
| Number of cases | Type of case | Date lodged | Date settled | Amount of settlements £ |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2(7) | Fair employment | |||
| 2(7) | Sex discrimination | 1992 | 1994 | 40,000 |
| 1(7) | Trade union activities | |||
| 1 | Sex discrimination | 1991 | 1993 | 2,000 |
| 1 | Unfair dismissal | 1994 | 1996 | 2,000 |
| 1 | Fair employment | 1994 | 1996 | 1,500 |
(7) Lodged by same party.
Housing Benefit
Mr. Robert McCartney: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many non-housing executive and housing association recipients of housing benefit there were in each Northern Ireland constituency in 1995; and what was the amount paid in each case. [25757]
Mr. Moss: The information requested is not available and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
Mr. McCartney: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many new housing benefit claims in Belfast and North Down in the most recent week for which figures are available were processed with the name of an estate agent but without details of a beneficial landlord. [25756]
Mr. Moss: None. All cases processed carry details of the estate agent and landlord.
Industrial Development Board
Mr. Illsley: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will list the 10 new inward investment projects for Northern Ireland that the Industrial Development Board negotiated in 1994-95. [26228]
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Mr. Ancram [holding answer 22 April 1996]: The 10 new inward investment projects negotiated during 1994-95 by IDB were as follows:
Transtec Foundries Ltd.
Allen Industrial Ltd.
ABC Laboratories (Europe) Ltd.
Daehwa Metal (UK) Ltd.
Real Software (NI) Ltd.
Daewoo Electro Components UK Ltd.
Radix Telecom Ltd.
Daewoo Electronics UK Ltd.
Seagate Technology (Ireland)
Northern Bank Factors Ltd.
Mr. Ancram [holding answer 22 April 1996]: The estimated expenditure for 1996-97 is as follows:
| £000 | |
|---|---|
| Office and Computer Equipment | 127 |
| Purchase, development and landscaping of sites and construction of factories | 33,021 |
| Repair and Maintenance of factories and sites | 686 |
| Payments for service provided by Estate Agents | 29 |
Local Enterprise Development Unit
Mr. Illsley: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what measures are in place to monitor the use made of money given by the LEDU to small businesses in Northern Ireland. [26227]
Mr. Ancram [holding answer 22 April 1996]: In addition to the monitoring obligations of the Department of Finance and Personnel, the Department of Economic Development and the Northern Ireland Audit Office, LEDU operates an extensive appraisal, monitoring and evaluation system with regard to the allocation, measurement and impact assessment of its assistance to small businesses.
Formal appraisal is carried out ensuring that all forms of assistance offered by LEDU meet the objectives of the organisation in the most efficient, effective and economic manner.
An independent evaluation of LEDU's impact on its client companies is undertaken on LEDU's behalf by the Northern Ireland Economic Research Council. This takes the form of an annual survey to measure the survivability, growth in employment for all clients, and sales and export sales for a subset of clients. In addition, LEDU operates a rolling evaluation schedule whereby all major schemes are evaluated every five years.
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Mr. Illsley:
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what proportion of CAP payments in Northern Ireland go to farms of over (a) 60 and (b) 100 hectares. [26217]
Mr. Ancram
[holding answer 22 April 1996]: It is not possible to proportion CAP payments in this way, but the proportion of Northern Ireland farms in these sizes which attract CAP payments is as follows:
| Farm Size | Number | Percentage of total number of farms | Total area in hectares |
|---|---|---|---|
| 60-100 ha | 2,871 | 10.28 | 216,014 |
| 100 ± ha | 1,511 | 5.41 | 246,642 |
Mr. Illsley: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what provisions have been made to combat CAP fraud in Northern Ireland. [26192]
Mr. Ancram [holding answer 22 April 1996]: Claims for payments under CAP measures are subjected to a wide range of anti-fraud action including the inspection of books and records, on-farm inspections including unannounced visits by verification staff, inspection of stocks in stores, marking of animals, secure information recording on computer and computer cross-checks, and extensive manual desk checks. All CAP payments are now subject to the control provisions of the integrated administration and control system which in particular enable checks to be made that animals and land used for arable or livestock production are not claim or declared by more than one producer.
Village School Closures
Mr. Illsley: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many village schools have been closed in Northern Ireland since 1979. [26233]
Mr. Ancram: [holding answer 22 April 1996]: The information is not available in the form requested. However, since 1979 a total of 155 primary schools either were closed or amalgamated with other schools.
Small Businesses
Mr. Illsley: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what provisions the Department of Economic Development in Northern Ireland makes for giving small businesses access to long-term loans. [26191]
Mr. Ancram [holding answer 22 April 1996]: The Local Enterprise Development Unit has two options for providing small businesses with long-term loan finance. Both options are subject to the business owner having exhausted all other sources of promoter or private sector equity, bank and commercial sources of finance including hire purchase, leasing and the small firms loan guarantee scheme.
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