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Access Funds

Mr. Worthington: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will list the number and value of access fund allocations made by education and library boards and higher education institutions since their introduction. [37211]

Mr. Ancram: The information requested is given in the table.

22 Jul 1996 : Column: 69

Access fund allocations made by Higher Education Institutions and Education and Library Boards

	1990-91		1991-92		1992-93		1993-94		1994-95
	Number	Expenditure	Number	Expenditure	Number	Expenditure	Number	Expenditure	Number	Expenditure
		£000		£000		£000		£000		£000
Institution/ Board	Academic year	Financial year(32)	Academic year	Financial year(32)	Academic year	Financial year(32)	Academic year	Financial year(32)	Academic year	Financial year(32)
Queen's University	2,230	173	2,196	191	1,964	186	1,882	228	1,807	229
University of Ulster	1,185	150	1,583	151	1,252	152	1,575	193	1,727	215
Stranmillis College	6	4	48	12	81	17	18	9	38	9
St. Mary's College	153	14	269	23	350	23	52	15	50	14
Belfast Board	79	24	154	85	135	77	160	81	161	88
North-Eastern Board	25	8	93	35	103	52	163	59	141	74
Southern Board	67	25	182	55	n/a(33)	65	35	72	153	91
South-Eastern Board	32	23	79	48	43	38	106	47	110	75
Western Board	175	28	209	59	181	62	343	68	215	83

(32) Figures for universities and colleges relate to their financial year i.e. August to July while figures for boards relate to the Government financial year.

(33) The records are not available.

22 Jul 1996 : Column: 71

Contracts

Mr. Austin Mitchell: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will publish a list showing the number, nature and value of contracts award by his Department to Coopers and Lybrand, KPMG, Price Waterhouse, Ernst and Young, Deloitte and Touche, Arthur Andersen, Grant Thornton, BDO Stoy Hayward, Pannel Kerr Forster, and Robson Rhodes and their subsidiaries and associates, during 1995 and 1996. [37322]

Sir John Wheeler: The total value of contracts awarded by the Northern Ireland Office and the Departments of Economic Development, of Education, of the Environment and of Finance and Personnel to all the companies listed and their subsidiaries and associates in 1995-96 was £1,962,095. The information is not available in the form requested in the Departments of Agriculture and of Health and Social Services. However, these Departments paid £474,326 to these companies and their subsidiaries in 1995-96. The value of contracts awarded and payments made to individual companies cannot be provided for reasons of commercial confidentiality.

The total number and nature of contracts awarded in the Northern Ireland Office and the Departments of Agriculture, of Economic Development, of Education, of the Environment, and of Finance and Personnel are as follows:

Company	Number	Nature of contracts
Coopers and Lybrand	53	Management Consultancy
		Financial Consultancy
		Information and Control systems
		Evaluation Projects
		Training
		Project Research/Review
		Investment Appraisal
		Miscellaneous
KPMG	9	Management Consultancy
		Projects
		Surveys
		Market Testing
		Marketing
Price Waterhouse	12	Management Consultancy
		Financial Consultancy
		Production Management
Ernst and Young	7	Financial Appraisal
Deloitte and Touche (including Touche Ross)	23	Management Consultancy
		Financial Consultancy
		Evaluation Projects
		Investment Appraisal
		Market Testing
		Miscellaneous
BDO Stoy Hayward	4	Management Consultancy
		Financial Consultancy
		Market Testing
Pannel Kerr Forster	1	Prior Options Study

Information on the number of contracts awarded in the Department of Health and Social Services is not available. However, the nature of contracts awarded is as follows:

22 Jul 1996 : Column: 72

Company	Nature of Contracts
Coopers and Lybrand	Management Consultancy
	Financial Consultancy
	Project Research
KPMG	Financial Consultancy
Price Waterhouse	Management Consultancy
	Financial Consultancy
	Evaluation Projects
	VFM study
Ernst and Young	Financial Consultancy
Deloitte and Touche (including Touche Ross)	Management Consultancy
	Financial Consultancy
	Evaluation Projects

Arthur Andersen, Grant Thornton and Robson Rhodes were not awarded any contracts.

Education (Expenditure)

Mr. Worthington: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what is the current annual expenditure by (a) Department of Education and (b) each other education administrative body in Northern Ireland; and what percentage this constitutes of expenditure on education. [37219]

Mr. Ancram: The administrative and other running costs are as follows:

	1996-97
	£(000)
DENI	16,047
Council for Catholic Maintained Schools	1,450
Education and Library Board:
Belfast	3,935
North-Eastern	5,239
South-Eastern	3,897
Southern	4,312
Western	3,775
NI Council for the Curriculum, Examinations and Assessment	1,751
NI Council for Integrated Education	378
Staff Commission for Education and Library Boards	194
	40,978

This represents 2.92 per cent. of overall expenditure on the relevant areas of education. The figures given are estimates for the 1996-97 financial year and those for the education and library boards exclude the costs of earmarked initiatives which formerly were included as part of headquarters administration costs and which in 1994-95 amounted to £4.1 million. The administrative costs of DENI relate not only to the services provided by the other bodies listed but to higher education, the museum service, the arts and sport.

22 Jul 1996 : Column: 73

Non-fossil Fuel Obligation Order

Mr. William Ross: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland when the next NFFO order is due to be published. [38619]

Mr. Ancram: Consideration of the composition of a second non-fossil fuel obligation order is nearing completion. An announcement is likely to follow within the next two weeks.

22 Jul 1996 : Column: 74

Student Loans

Mr. Worthington: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will list student loan take-up rates in Northern Ireland since their introduction expressed by institution, sex, and age group. [37214]

Mr. Ancram: Available information is given in the table. Information by sex and age could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.

22 Jul 1996 : Column: 73

Student loan percentage take up rates by Institution

Institution	1990-91	1991-92	1992-93	1993-94	1994-95
Belfast Institute of Further and Higher Education	19	35.5	61.25	78.3	100
East Antrim Institute of Higher and Further Education(34)	Nil	Nil	Nil	Nil	20
Fermanagh College	Nil	Nil	20	5	40
Greenmount College of Agriculture	Nil	6	14	10	24
Lisburn College	Nil	Nil	Nil	Nil	25
Loughrey College of Agriculture and Food Technology	8	12	30	30	60
Newry and Kilkeel College of Further and Higher Education	Nil	Nil	Nil	Nil	70
North-Down and Ards Institute of Further and Higher Education	6	Nil	25.0	32.5	100
North-East Institute of Further and Higher Education(35)	Nil	Nil	Nil	Nil	90
Northern Ireland Hotel and Catering College, Portrush	2	2	12.5	14.3	29.3
North-West Institute of Further and Higher Education	22	26	12	14.6	19.2
Portadown College(36)	8	16	24	30	20
Queen's University, Belfast	22.8	34	42.9	49.6	55
St. Mary's College, Belfast	7.8	24	35.7	44.6	49.9
Stranmillis College, Belfast	7.6	10.6	14.1	20.4	25.6
University of Ulster	21.3	30.6	37.1	37.8	54.8

22 Jul 1996 : Column: 73

Sex Offenders

Mr. Robert McCartney: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will list the offences in Northern Ireland law which are analogous to those covered by the proposals on address registration in the Home Office consultation paper "Sentencing and Supervision of Sex Offenders"; how many people in Northern Ireland were convicted of those offences over the last three years; of those how many received a custodial sentence; and of those so gaoled, how many were convicted of crimes which did not involve minors and an absence of consent. [36661]

Sir John Wheeler: I have placed in the Library a list of Northern Ireland sexual offences, analogous to those included at annexe A of the Home Office consultation paper "Sentencing and Supervision of Sex Offenders".

Details of persons in Northern Ireland convicted of such offences and sentenced to immediate custody are as follows:

Persons convicted of sex offences and those sentenced to immediate custody in Northern Ireland 1993 to 1995(34)

	Total convicted of sex offences	Total given immediate custody
1993	125	65
1994	147	61
1995	179	77
Total	451	203

(34) The statistics relate to convictions where the sex offence was the principal offence.

Statistics are not collated on those convicted of crimes which do not involve minors and an absence of consent and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.

22 Jul 1996 : Column: 74

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