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Civil Servants

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he expects the 2002 target for ethnic minority representation in the Home Civil Service Senior Civil Service Group will be met on time. [45988]

Dr. John Reid: In its 2001 Departmental Report, the Northern Ireland Office declared its continued commitment to progressing Home Civil Service (HCS) targets for increased ethnic minority representation in the Senior Civil Service. The aim is to have 5 per cent. ethnic minority representation by the end of 2002.

Currently, 4.3 per cent. of the Home Civil Service Senior Civil Service Group are from an ethnic minority background.

Crime

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if the strategy and quantified targets for tackling crime were published by March 2001. [45999]

Jane Kennedy: Quantified targets for tackling crime were set out in the Annual Policing Plan 2001–02 published by the Police Authority for Northern Ireland in April 2001. The RUC Crime Strategy published in April 2000 remained valid for the year commencing April 2001.

Mr. Burns: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many press officers there were in his Department on (a) 1 May 1997 and (b) the latest available date. [46889]

Dr. John Reid: Information is not held in the format requested.

Statistics relating to the number of Information Officers in the Northern Ireland Office is as follows:

(a) at 1 April 1997 there were 11 Information Officers; and

(b) at 27 March 2002 there were 13 Information Officers.

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Secondments

Dr. Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will list the names of staff who have been seconded to his Department from the private sector since May 1997, indicating (a) the names of the organisation from which each has come, (b) their responsibilities and Civil Service grades within his Department, (c) the organisation responsible for paying their salary and (d) the start and end dates of their secondment. [35831]

Dr. John Reid: No staff have been seconded to this Department from the private sector since May 1997.

Fraud

Mr. Menzies Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what estimate his Department has made of the cost to its budget since 1 May 1997 of fraud; and if he will make a statement. [27299]

Dr. John Reid: The cost of fraud to the Northern Ireland Office budget, since 1 May 1997, is £51,728.65, however the Department has recovered £11,187.09 of this amount.

TRANSPORT, LOCAL GOVERNMENT AND

THE REGIONS

Departmental Functions

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions if he will list the functions of his Department that have been (a) market tested and (b) outsourced in each of the last five years, specifying the (i) money saving and (ii) percentage saving in each case. [42997]

Dr. Whitehead: (a) Only those services in part (b) have been market tested in the last five years (b) Internal Press Cuttings Distributions (i) 23.5k (ii) 100 per cent. DTLR Mailing Database (i) 10.0k (ii) 75 per cent. Design Drawing and Print Services (i) 443.8k (ii) 47 per cent.

Justices of the Peace

Mr. Jenkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions how many members of staff at his Department are justices of the peace; and if he has a strategy for his Department to encourage members of staff to become justices of the peace. [44558]

Dr. Whitehead: The DTLR does not keep a centralised record of those members of staff who are justices of the peace.

My department supports members of staff who wish to become justices of the peace and provides special leave with pay in order to assist staff in their role.

Equal Opportunities

Sandra Gidley: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions what new data series separated by gender, race, disability and

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age have been commissioned by his Department since August 1997 to the Latest date for which information is available. [46494]

Dr. Whitehead [holding answer Tuesday 26 March 2002]: In DTLR, two statistical series incorporating the specified variables have been commissioned in the time period in question. These are two household surveys, the survey of English Housing and the National Travel Survey. All four variables have been collected on the Survey of English Housing since before 1997 and ethnicity was included in the National Travel Survey in 2001.

Part-time Employees

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions how many and what proportion of the staff of his Department are part-time employees. [47156]

Dr. Whitehead [holding answer Wednesday 10 April 2002]: I refer the hon. Member to the reply given by my hon. Friend, the Parliamentary Secretary for the Cabinet Office on 10 April 2002 [Ref 47193].

Railtrack

Mr. Chope: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions pursuant to his statement of 25 March, Official Report, column 586, if he will give the reasons underlying his statement that a company limited by guarantee would be a good successor body to Railtrack plc in administration; [48166]

Mr. Jamieson [holding answer Wednesday 10 April 2002]: I refer the hon. Member to the reply given by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State to my hon. Friend the Member for Preston (Mr. Hendrick) on 23October 2001, Official Report, columns 195W–197W.

Mr. Chope: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions when he expects the Railtrack Plc administrator to make available a prospectus to prospective bidders. [47989]

Mr. Jamieson [holding answer Wednesday 10 April 2002]: This is a matter for the Administrator.

Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions what estimate he has made of the likely outcome of an interim review for Railtrack. [47387]

Mr. Jamieson: I refer the hon. Member to the answer which I gave him on 6 March 2002, Official Report, column 370W.

Sony Display Screens (Swanwick)

Mr. Clifton-Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions in relation to the Health and Safety report of 15 March into the Display Screen Equipment Regulations 1992 of the equipment at NERC Swanwick, what he is doing to ensure that all the defects mentioned in the report are rectified and in what time scale; for what reason the Health and Safety Executive relied on information

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supplied by NATS in relation to the size of the characters on the Sony display screens; and if they will take their own measurements. [47654]

Mr. Jamieson: The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has asked NATS to set out in writing the action it proposes to take on each of the items raised in the report together with a proposed timetable. HSE will consider what if any further action needs to be taken once it has received those proposals and will continue to monitor the situation.

Mr. Clifton-Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions, how many safety reports have been made by planning and tactical air controllers as a result of confusion of reading alpha numeric data on the Sony screen at NERC Swanwick. [47653]

Mr. Jamieson: This is an operational matter for NATS.

Public Service Obligations (Airports)

Annabelle Ewing: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions what representations his Department has received concerning the imposition of public service obligations on regional airports with London; and what its response to these representations has been. [47955]

Mr. Jamieson [holding answer Wednesday 10 April 2002]: The Scottish Executive has requested that a Public Service Obligation should be imposed on Inverness-Gatwick air services. The government expects to announce its decision shortly.

Special Purpose Vehicles

Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions if it is his policy to raise private sector investment in the railways through special purpose vehicles. [47396]

Mr. Jamieson: Special purpose vehicles are expected to be an option for securing private sector investment in infrastructure projects. But private sector investment in the railways may also be secured by other means, and special purpose vehicles will not be suitable for all infrastructure projects.

Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions if he will make a statement on the proposed transfer of special purpose vehicles to Railtrack's successor after construction. [47394]

Mr. Jamieson: I refer the hon. Member to my answer of 4 February 2002, Official Report, column 728W.

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