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Official Ministerial Visits
Mr. Donohoe: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will list for each of the Ministers in his Department how many official ministerial visits they have undertaken since 1 January ; and how many of these have been abroad. [9384]
Sir John Wheeler: Ministers have spent the following numbers of days out of the office, each of which may have involved more than one visit:
| Ministerial visits (days) | Visits abroad (days) | |
|---|---|---|
| Sir P. Mayhew | 45 | 5 |
| Mr. M. Ancram | 50 | 9 |
| Sir J. Wheeler | 55 | 9 |
| Baroness Denton | 156 | 43 |
| Mr. M. Moss | 101 | 4 |
Prednisolone
Mr. Flynn: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many people have (a) become crippled and (b) died from taking the steroid Prednisolone in Northern Ireland in each of the last five years; and if he will make a statement. [9603]
Mr. Moss [holding answer 17 December 1996]: (a) The information requested is not available; (b) There have been no deaths recorded in Northern Ireland from the use of the steroid Prednisolone during the last five years 1991 to 1995.
18 Dec 1996 : Column: 691
Staff
Mr. Donohoe: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will list for his Department (a) how many people in total are employed, (b) how many of the total number of staff are (i) male and (ii) female and (c) how many (I) men and (II) women are employed on a (1) full-time and (2) part-time basis. [9510]
Sir John Wheeler: The information requested is as follows:
| Number | |
|---|---|
| (a) Total number of staff | 27,264 |
| (b)(i) Total number of male staff | 14,816 |
| (b)(ii) Total number of female staff | 12,448 |
| (c)(I)(1) Full-time male staff | 14,744 |
| (c)(I)(2) Part-time male staff | 72 |
| (c)(II)(1) Full-time female staff | 10,414 |
| (c)(II)(2) Part-time female staff | 2,034 |
Notes
1. These figures show the position as at 29 October 1996.
2. Part-time and job-sharing staff count as full units.
3. Figures include information on the Northern Ireland Office, the six Departments of the Northern Ireland Civil Service (NICS) and staff in the Police Authority for Northern Ireland (PANI) who are civil servants on secondment from the NICS.
4. Casual staff are not included.
5. Except for NICS staff seconded to PANI, staff currently on secondment outside the NICS are not included. The numbers involved, however, are small.
Mr. Hain: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many (a) permanent and (b) non-permanent staff there have been in (i) his Department and (ii) executive agencies of his Department in each year since 1992. [9622]
Sir John Wheeler: The information requested is to be found in the following table:
| NI Departments and NIO | Executive agencies | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Permanent | Non-permanent (casuals) | Permanent | Non-permanent (casuals) | |
| 1996 | 26,084 | 2,068 | 15,656 | 1,513 |
| 1995 | 26,504 | 1,531 | 8,646 | 890 |
| 1994 | 27,605 | 1,056 | 8,437 | 1,089 |
| 1993 | 28,926 | 968 | 8,785 | 461 |
| 1992 | 28,802 | 1,144 | 7,736 | |
1. The figures show the position at 1 October in each year.
2. The figures in (i) include the figures in (ii).
3. In (i), part-timers and job sharers count as half units. In (ii), part-timers and job sharers are counted as either half units or whole units, depending upon the source. Figures will differ depending upon the method of calculation.
4. Disaggregated figures for staff in executive agencies in 1992 are not available.
5. The figures include staff in the Northern Ireland Office and the six departments of the Northern Ireland civil service. Also included are staff on secondment from NICS to the Police Authority for Northern Ireland.
6. Except for NICS staff seconded to PANI, staff on secondment outside the NICS are not included. The numbers, however, are small.
Royal Ulster Constabulary (Suicides)
Mr. Robert McCartney: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many (a) RUC personnel and (b) RUC reservists have committed suicide in the last 25 years; and how many used legally held weapons. [9578]
18 Dec 1996 : Column: 692
Sir John Wheeler: During the period 1970 to 1996, 39 regular RUC officers and 16 full-time reserves committed suicide. A personal protection firearm was used as a means of committing suicide in 47 cases.
Civil Disturbances (Housing Vacated)
Mr. Robert McCartney: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many houses have been vacated as a result of civil disturbances this year; how many Housing Executive dwellings so vacated are still empty; and if he will make a statement. [9579]
Mr. Moss: This is a matter for the Northern Ireland Housing Executive and its chief executive has advised me that information on vacant houses is not desegregated down to the level of reasons for vacancies. The number vacated due to civil disturbances is, therefore, not available. The chief executive has also advised me that approximately 100 Housing Executive dwellings are still vacant, as a result of civil disturbances.
Information Technology (Euro)
Mrs. Anne Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what tenders his Department as put out to convert its information technology systems to be euro-compliant; what are the cost and person hours required to convert the systems to handle the euro; and when he expects his Department's systems to be fully economic and monetary union compliant. [9457]
Sir John Wheeler: My Department and agencies will need to assess the impact which a single currency, assumed to be starting on 1 January 1999, would have on their information systems whether or not the United Kingdom decides to participate in the third stage of economic and monetary union.
Death Certificates
Mr. Robert McCartney: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will make it his policy (i) to revise death certificate forms to include a space for national insurance number and (ii) for dates of death to be entered on birth certificates. [9615]
Sir John Wheeler: There are no plans to revise death and birth certificates in the manner described. Provision currently exists for information on deaths to be provided by the general register office to the Department of Social Security for the purpose of recording national insurance numbers. The inclusion of date of death on a birth certificate would be inconsistent with the statutory position of a birth certificate as an official extract of an original entry in the register book.
ATTORNEY-GENERAL
The House Party (Board Game)
Mr. Brazier: To ask the Attorney-General what assessment his Department has made of the new board game The House Party; and what consideration it has given to prosecuting the manufacturers, distributors and financiers for incitement to experiment with illegal drugs and of minors to participate in homosexual acts. [9868]
18 Dec 1996 : Column: 693
The Attorney-General: I understand that the hon. Member is asking the Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis to investigate whether the distribution of the board game to which he refers discloses any criminal offence. It will be open to the police to request legal advice from the Crown Prosecution Service during the course of their inquiries. The question of prosecution cannot be considered until there has been a criminal investigation.
EDUCATION AND EMPLOYMENT
Relaunch Strategy
Mr. Bryan Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what is the planned expenditure on the relaunch strategy in each of the next three years; and how many partnership projects run by local consortiums this will support. [8842]
Mr. Paice: The relaunch strategy will concentrate all relevant funding on tackling disaffection among young people. That includes mainstream education and training budgets, which have been increased over future years: the Government have allocated an extra £128 million over the next three years for work-based training for young people delivered by training and enterprise councils and further education funding has been increased by £40 million next year.
Partnership projects will make an important contribution to the formulation of the relaunch strategy and the Government are setting aside £10 million over the next three years to support them. Bids will be invited from local consortiums in spring 1997.
The number and pattern of projects to be funded will depend on the nature of the bids received but the aim is to support at least one in each of the 10 Government regions.
Mrs. Anne Campbell:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what representations she has received about the impact of the Budget on job levels in the construction industry. [9441]
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