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19 Mar 2003 : Column 805W—continued
Giant's Causeway
Lady Hermon: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what progress is being made in establishing a world class visitor centre at the Giant's Causeway in County Antrim. [103349]
Mr. Pearson: I have met with the key players involved in establishing a world class visitors centre at the Giants Causeway and a further round of follow-up meetings with officials in my Department has also been concluded.
Efforts are now being made to exploit the common ground that has emerged from these discussions. While both myself and my colleague the Minister for Culture, Arts and Leisure are finalising our thoughts on a way forward, it should be stressed that progress will be achieved only if the relevant parties work together and with Government to ensure that a world class solution is achieved.
IT Contracts
Mr. Sayeed: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will list IT contracts in his Department above £50 million in each of the last 10 years; what the inception date for each system was; when it became fully functional; when it became fully debugged; and what the cost of over-runs has been. [99002]
Mr. Paul Murphy: The Northern Ireland Office, during the last 10 years have not awarded any IT contracts above £50 million.
The Northern Ireland Administration, during the last 10 years, have not awarded any IT contracts above £50 million.
Job Sharing
Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will make a statement on the extent of job sharing in his Department. [90863]
Mr. Paul Murphy: In the Northern Ireland Office 34 out of 1,596 full-time equivalent staff job share.
Job sharing is only one of a number of alternative and flexible working patterns that employees are welcome to take up. There are also, for example, 142 who work part-time.
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In the Northern Ireland Administration 276 out of the 26,300 permanent staff employed job share.
Job sharing is only one of a number of work-life balance options available to employees. Over 2,500 work part-time hours. Flexible working hours and alternative working patterns also operate.
As a major employer, the Northern Ireland Civil Service has for many years recognised the benefits that both individuals and the organisation can realise by enabling employees to have a flexible approach to their working day.
Ministerial Travel
Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what the cost of (a) ministerial cars and drivers and (b) taxis for his Department was in 2002. [101543]
Jane Kennedy: The cost of (a) ministerial cars and drivers, and (b) taxis for the Northern Ireland Office for the 2001–02 financial year was:
- (a) Ministerial cars and drivers: £361,083.83
(b) Taxis for the Department: £18,007.60
Mr. Paul Murphy: The information for 2002–03 will be published as soon as possible after the end of the financial year.
Peace II
Mr. McGrady: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how much funding is available to each Northern Ireland Department in respect of Peace II; how much has been (a) distributed and (b) committed; for how much applications have been received but funding has not yet been committed; how much remains for which the process has not yet begun; and how much the Department will be unable to process before the deadline. [102564]
Mr. Pearson: Northern Ireland Departments are Implementing Bodies for some £152 million of the Peace II Programme. The information requested for this expenditure is set out in the following table. All Departments have indicated that the full amounts will be committed before the 31 December 2004 deadline.
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| (A) Funding available | (B) Distributed (spent) | (C) Committed | (D) Pending | (E) Amount remaining(A-(C+D)) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| DARD | 37.889 | 0.289 | 6.048 | 7.131 | 24.709 |
| DE | 1.720 | 0 | 0 | 1.028 | 0.692 |
| DEL | 9.348 | 0.377 | 4.825 | — | 4.523 |
| DETI | 62.164 | 5.342 | 37.592 | 17.429 | 7.143 |
| DCAL | 4.800 | 0 | 0 | 2.750 | 2.050 |
| DSD | 16.900 | 0 | 2.000 | 2.600 | 12.300 |
| OFMDFM | 6.517 | 0.084 | 4.062 | 13.375 | 0 |
| DRD | 7.091 | 1.726 | 5.902 | 0 | 1.189 |
Police Service
Mr. McNamara: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many and what percentage of each category of (a) officers and (b) staff left the Police Service in each of the past three years, broken down by perceived community origin and sex. [101064]
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Jane Kennedy: The number of police officers who have left the Police Service in the past three years, broken down into perceived community origin and gender, are shown in the following table. Data are also included in respect of civilian staff directly recruited into the police service but are only available for the past two years. Data for civilian staff do not include details of those staff currently or previously attached to the police service on secondment from the Northern Ireland Civil Service.
| Year | CB1 | Percentage CB1 | CB2 | Percentage CB2 | CB3 | Percentage CB3 | Male | Percentage male | Female | Percentage female | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| (a) Police officers | |||||||||||
| 2000 | 414 | 91 | 27 | 6 | 14 | 3 | 395 | 87 | 60 | 13 | 455 |
| 2001 | 1,418 | 88 | 144 | 9 | 41 | 3 | 1,502 | 94 | 101 | 6 | 1,603 |
| 2002 | 832 | 88 | 81 | 8 | 37 | 4 | 863 | 91 | 87 | 9 | 950 |
| (b) Civilian staff | |||||||||||
| 2001 | 87 | 66 | 22 | 17 | 22 | 17 | 57 | 44 | 74 | 56 | 131 |
| 2002 | 109 | 72 | 28 | 19 | 13 | 9 | 61 | 41 | 89 | 59 | 150 |
CB1—Perceived Protestant
CB2—Perceived Roman Catholic
CB3—Not determined
Lady Hermon: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many (a) women and (b) members of the ethnic minorities have been recruited by the Police Service of Northern Ireland since the coming into operation of the Police (Northern Ireland) Act 2000. [93668]
Mr. Browne: Since 4 November 2001, 196 women have been appointed to the Police Service, a figure which represents 32 per cent. of the total number of 613 recruits.
Only one member of an ethnic minority has been appointed since that time.
Rev. Martin Smyth: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many people claiming links to (a) the UUP, (b) the SDLP, (c) the DUP, (d) Sinn Fein, (e) the Alliance Party, (f) the Northern Ireland Women's Coalition, (g) the PUP, (h) the UKUP and (i) other political groupings or independent political candidates (i) applied to sit on a District Police Partnership (DPP), (ii) were judged appointable to a DPP and (iii) were appointed to a DPP. [103343]
Jane Kennedy: All candidates for appointment as independent members of District Policing Partnerships were asked a political activity monitoring question, in line with the guide to public appointments. The information was not made available to the council or Policing Board panels. The Board panels considered anonymised lists of appointable candidates. The information requested is set out in the following table.
| Party | Applicants | Appointable candidates | Appointments |
|---|---|---|---|
| UUP | 113 | 64 | 4 |
| SDLP | 44 | 30 | 15 |
| DUP | 38 | 18 | 3 |
| Sinn Fein | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Alliance | 24 | 17 | 7 |
| NIWC | 14 | 10 | 6 |
| PUP | 16 | 10 | 1 |
| UKUP | 7 | 5 | 0 |
| Other: British Labour | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Other: Conservative | 4 | 0 | 0 |
| Other: Democratic Left | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Other: Independent | 19 | 15 | 2 |
| Other: Independent Unionist | 3 | 2 | 0 |
| Other: Labour Coalition | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Other: Labour NI | 3 | 1 | 0 |
| Other: New Labour | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Other: National Labour | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Other: Unionist, not specified | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| Other: OUP | 2 | 1 | 0 |
| Other: Socialist Party | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Other: UDP | 4 | 2 | 2 |
| Other: Ulster Independent Voice | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Other: Ulster Unionist Assembly Party | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Other: Ulster Unionist Council | 2 | 2 | 0 |
| Other: Workers Party | 4 | 3 | 2 |
| Other: Yes Campaign | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Other: Ratepayers Association | 2 | 2 | 2 |
19 Mar 2003 : Column 809W
Pre-School Provision
Mrs. Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many PEAGS places have been allocated to each nursery and playschool in the South Eastern Education and Library Board in each of the past five years. [102022]
19 Mar 2003 : Column 810W
Jane Kennedy: The South Eastern Education and Library Board's Pre-School Education Advisory Group (PEAG) has allocated places to providers in the voluntary and private sectors since the start of the Pre-School Education Expansion Programme as follows:
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