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Central Investment Fund for Charities
Mr. Gerrard: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if she will list those organisations which belong to the Northern Ireland Central Investment Fund for Charities, the proportion of their investment in the fund and the current value of the fund's securities. [17303]
Mr. Worthington:
The Department as trustee of the Northern Ireland Central Investment Fund for Charities considers that it has a duty of confidentiality not to reveal
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the identity of investors in the fund. The fund is valued monthly and at 31 October 1997 its capital value was £15.6 million.
Mr. McGrady:
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what affirmative action measures she plans to adopt to increase the representation of Catholics and women in the (a) industrial craft and (b) higher non-industrial grades in the Northern Ireland Civil Service. [17705]
Mr. Paul Murphy:
The Northern Ireland Civil Service (NICS) aims to create a position where men and women, Protestants and Roman Catholics, are fairly represented at all levels in the organisation. It will continue to seek to identify lawful affirmative action measures which are effective in addressing the under-representation of women and Roman Catholics in the industrial craft and higher non-industrial grades.
NICS policy is that employment and advancement is based on ability, qualification and aptitude for the work. Subject to that overriding principle, the Service has initiated a range of measures in the context of its Action Plan for Women, designed to help improve female representation at senior levels. These include the use of flexible working, women only training, equal opportunity awareness programmes for senior staff, training for women returning to work, and the examination of organisational barriers to the promotion of women to the senior levels including specialist areas.
The Service also regularly reviews its promotion and recruitment practices and has taken a number of measures to promote a more balanced work force at all levels of the organisation. These include the use of positive action advertising in appropriate circumstances and the removal of various internal barriers to promotion to encourage a better flow of staff from lower to higher grades within and between Departments.
Mr. McGrady:
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what progress has been made towards the decentralisation of Civil Service jobs. [17707]
Mr. Paul Murphy:
Some 280 posts were transferred from Belfast and Bangor to Londonderry in 1989. Subsequent options for dispersing jobs have been considered, but rejected for reasons of cost and feasibility. In view of this, a research study was commissioned to assess more accurately the costs and the social and economic benefits of dispersing Civil Service jobs from Belfast and North Down, to develop a methodology to measure costs and benefits and to inform decisions on future policy. The report of this study is under consideration.
Mr. McGrady:
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what assessment she has made of the Sixth Report compiled by the Department of Finance and Personnel into Equal Opportunities in the Civil Service. [17706]
Mr. Paul Murphy:
I was pleased to note the strong evidence contained in the Sixth Report of compositional change in the NICS work force and the fact that, at the macro level, Protestants and Roman Catholics are now fairly represented at most grade levels up to around Staff Officer and equivalent level. Service-wide female
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representation has risen to 45.1 per cent. and Roman Catholic to 40.7 per cent. Overall in the Non-Industrial grades Female and Roman Catholic representation has increased in every grade level between Executive Officer level and the senior grades. However, I was naturally disappointed that the Service did not reach some of the goals and timetables previously set and, in particular, the progress made in terms of the composition of the most senior grades and the continuing under-representation of women in the Professional and Technical, and Industrial Grades. The Service has put in place a range of measures within the law to try to accelerate the rate of change whilst adhering strictly to the merit principle in both its recruitment and internal promotion practices. It will also continue to consult with the statutory agencies to examine and implement further practical affirmative action measures.
Mr. Plaskitt:
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what impact the application of 'R' plates for probationary drivers in Northern Ireland has had on injury and fatality levels among and relating to newly qualified drivers. [17634]
Mr. Paul Murphy:
Specific information on the direct impact of the Registered Driver Scheme on road casualties is not available. Research in 1993-94 into the overall effectiveness of the scheme was unable to demonstrate conclusively a direct correlation between it and a reduction in the level of road accidents.
Mr. Ancram:
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, pursuant to his answer of 17 November 1997, Official Report, column 76, on the basis of what information she was able to indicate to the Minister of State at the Scottish Office the importance of the transfer of Jason Campbell to the wider peace process. [17460]
Mr. Ingram
[holding answer 24 November 1997]: I received representations from political parties and others regarding the importance of the transfer of loyalist prisoners. Throughout the current political process the Government has accepted the importance of prison issues of the participants.
Mr. Don Foster:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment how many days during term time were lost through stress-related illness amongst (a) classroom teachers, (b) deputy heads and (c) heads in primary schools in each local education authority during the (i) 1995-96 and (ii) 1996-97 school years. [18550]
Mr. Byers:
The information is not collected centrally.
Mr. Don Foster:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment how many (a) primary schools and (b) secondary schools were connected to the Internet at the start of the current school year. [18551]
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Dr. Howells:
Estimates indicate that some 6,000 schools in the UK (primary and secondary) were connected to the Internet at the beginning of the 1997-98 academic year. A further statistical survey of ICT in schools will be undertaken in 1998.
Mr. Dawson:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what action he intends to take in respect of Astra pensioners. [18537]
Dr. Howells:
Renewed investigations into the problems faced by former members of the Department over their pensions entitlements from the former Astra Training Services Ltd. following that organisation's collapse in 1993 have been going on in the Department for some time. The vast majority of Departmental staff who transferred to Astra had their previously accrued Civil Service pensions values and benefits preserved in the Principal Civil Service Pensions Scheme. Pensions values due for their time with Astra are primarily for the liquidators of the former Company to resolve. We will be pressing the liquidators and the pension fund trustees to resolve this long-outstanding issue.
Mr. Dawson:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if he will make a statement on the entitlement to interviews of ex-Astra staff. [18538]
Dr. Howells:
Renewed investigations into the problems faced by former members of the Department who transferred to Astra Training Services Ltd. but were made redundant by the collapse of that organisation in 1993 have been going on in the Department for some time. Work continues to find ways of assisting former staff, and those currently seeking employment will be guaranteed interviews for any suitable vacancies which may arise in the Department.
Mr. Willetts:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if his Department will take steps to secure a derogation from EU law so that students from England can be charged a higher fee for a fourth year university course in Scotland than students from elsewhere in the EU. [18514]
Dr. Howells:
No, we see no need for such a derogation. From autumn 1998, the maximum support for fees that we are proposing to make available for full-time undergraduate students will be £1,000: this maximum will apply to students from England, Scotland, and the rest of the UK and the European Union, depending on the level of their parents', spouses' or own income. We have made it clear that top-up fees play no part in our proposals for home and EU full-time undergraduates.
Full-time students resident in Scotland and studying in Scottish institutions on honours degree courses that are a year longer than equivalent courses elsewhere in the UK will, however, be eligible, irrespective of income, for the maximum support for fees in the final year of the course from the Scottish Student Awards Agency. The EC Treaty requires Member States not to discriminate on grounds of nationality against nationals of other Member States, on matters within the scope of the Treaty. However, EC law
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does not intervene in internal matters and require each Member State to treat all its own nationals in exactly the same way.
Mr. Willetts:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what is his estimate of the costs for local authorities of administering the means-testing of university tuition fees. [18515]
Dr. Howells:
Data on local authorities' costs of administering mandatory awards are not collected centrally. Local authorities already carry out means testing of student and parental income for awards purposes. In 1998-99, the results of this means test will be applied first to the university tuition fee and any balance to maintenance grants.
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