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Child Support Agency
Mr. Browne: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland when the Child Support Agency's 1998-99 annual report and accounts will be published. [93787]
Mr. McFall: The Northern Ireland Child Support Agency published its 1998-99 Annual Report and Accounts on Friday 23 July. I have arranged for copies to be placed in the Library.
The Agency has met five of the six Ministerial targets and all Milestone targets. An outturn of £14.7 million was achieved for the Maintenance Collected target of £15.8 million and, although this target was not achieved, the maintenance collected is an increase of 16 per cent. on 1997-98 and a 51 per cent. increase on 1996-97.
The Agency has placed a strong emphasis on improving the quality of service to customers and it is gratifying to see that an outturn of 71 per cent. has been achieved for the processing of maintenance assessments against a 65 per cent. target Improvements in quality are also evident with an outturn of 85 per cent. for the accuracy of assessment target of 75 per cent. The Report included details of the contribution which the Northern Ireland Agency makes to the overall performance of the Great Britain Agency through its partnership contract to deliver services to the people of Eastern England.
The Agency recognises that customers have a right to good service provided by skilled staff and the foundations for continuing improvements are in place. Major changes in service delivery, including additional hours of contact with customers and more use of the telephone, will improve customer contact and the service provided. However, the Agency has a long way to go in improving the quality of its work, particularly in the accuracy of maintenance assessments which it makes.
In the longer term, the Government's recently published proposals for a thorough reform of the child support system represent the best opportunity to radically improve services to customers especially, and most importantly, by putting children first.
Mr. William Ross:
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland (1) for an employing firm situated in the council districts of (i) Londonderry, (ii) Strabane, (iii) Limavady, (iv) Coleraine and (v) Magherafelt, what geographical area the Fair Employment Commission takes into account in order to determine the percentage of
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(a) Roman Catholic, (b) Protestant and (c) other which should be employed so as to reflect the percentage balance of the area; [93633]
(3) by whom the progress of the Fair Employment Commission towards a pattern of fair employment is monitored and reviewed; what is the timescale for the achievement of fair employment by the Commission; and what was the timescale determined to achieve fair percentages of Roman Catholics and Protestants in 1994; [93634]
(4) what percentage of the economically active population aged 16 to 64 years resident in (a) that part of Londonderry council area which lies on the West side of the River Foyle and (b) the remainder of that council area are deemed by the Fair Employment Commission to be (i) Roman Catholic, (ii) Protestant and (iii) other; [93632]
(5) what geographical area the Fair Employment Commission takes into account when determining the percentage of (a) Roman Catholic and (b) Protestant staff it employs; and what is the percentage of (i) Roman Catholic, (ii) Protestant and (iii) others, economically active in that geographical area. [93636]
Mr. Ingram:
I will write to the hon. Gentleman as soon as possible.
Mr. William Ross:
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what estimate she has made of the number of (i) salmon and grilse, (ii) sea trout and (iii) brown trout taken by anglers in each river in the Foyle Fisheries Commission area in each of the last 15 years. [93635]
Mr. Paul Murphy:
The number of salmon and grilse and sea trout taken by anglers in each of the rivers in the Foyle Fisheries Commission area is shown in the table. These figures are compiled from returns made by anglers. The figures are incomplete as a varying percentage of anglers make returns each year. No figures are available for brown trout catches.
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(2) what percentage of the economically active population aged 16 to 64 years in the council districts of (i) Londonderry, (ii) Strabane, (iii) Limavady, (iv) Coleraine and (v) Magherafelt are deemed by the Fair Employment Commission to be (a) Roman Catholic, (b) Protestant and (c) other; and what percentage in each council district are (1) male, (2) female and (3) self-employed; [93631]
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Mr. William Ross:
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if she will list for each of the last 15 years the density of (i) brown trout, (ii) sea trout and (iii) salmon parr and salmon smalts per 100 square metres, or such area as is used by the Foyle Fisheries Commission, determined by electric fishing surveys in each of the rivers in the Foyle Fisheries Commission area. [93639]
Mr. Paul Murphy:
The information requested is not available.
Mr. William Ross:
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland (1) on which roads, and on how many occasions on each such road, radar traps were operated by the Royal Ulster Constabulary in the council areas of (i) Londonderry, (ii) Limavady, (iii) Strabane and (iv) Coleraine during the last three months for which such information is available; [93629]
Mr. Ingram:
I will write to the hon. Gentleman as soon as possible.
(2) how many vehicles which did not have a vehicle excise duty disc displayed were detected on (a) the East Bank and (b) the West Bank of Londonderry during the last six months for which such figures are available. [93630]
Policy Unit (US Visits)
Mr. Matthew Taylor:
To ask the Prime Minister, pursuant to his answer of 25 June 1999, Official Report, column 480, on United States visits by his Policy Unit, how many meetings each member held with members and officials of the United States Government on each visit, indicating the dates and locations of each meeting, the Policy Unit members involved and the names of the United States Ministers and officials at each meeting. [92302]
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The Prime Minister:
Details of the three occasions on which members of the Policy Unit have travelled to the United States of America on official business since 1 January 1998 when not accompanying me or other Ministers are as follows:
| Dates | Unit member |
|---|---|
| 6-9 December 1998 | Robert Hill |
| 29-31 January 1999 | David Miliband |
| 21-28 March 1999 | Sharon White |
All visits were to attend a series of meetings with US public officials. All visits were undertaken in line with the rules set out in the Ministerial Code.
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