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Further Education

Mr. Beggs: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland when investigations as part of the Review of Further Education Strategy on the economic contribution of the sector 'Widening social access and student satisfaction' will be completed. [103331]

Jane Kennedy: The investigations on the economic contribution of the sector will be completed in April 2003. The exercises on widening access and student satisfaction will be completed in early May.

Higher Education

Lady Hermon: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will make a statement on the

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number of 18-year-olds from Northern Ireland going on to higher education (a) in Northern Ireland and (b) in Great Britain since 1 April 1998. [103629]

Jane Kennedy: The following table provides details of the number of NI domiciled 18-year-olds enrolled on higher education courses in the UK by location of study and academic year.

Academic year	NI institutions	GB institutions
1997–98	4,908	2,176
1998–99	5,052	2,069
1999–2000	5,439	1,847
2000–01	5,704	1,688
2001–02	5,929	1,684

Hillsborough Talks

Stephen Hesford: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will make a statement on talks in the week beginning on 3 March in Hillsborough Castle. [102632]

Mr. Paul Murphy: I refer my hon. Friend to the answer I gave to my hon. Friend the Member for Orkney and Shetland (Mr. Carmichael) on 12 March 2003, Official Report, column 277.

Hospitality

Mr. Gray: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what his Department's hospitality budget (a) is in 2002–03 and (b) was in each of the last three years; and how much was left unspent at the end of each financial year. [99499]

Mr. Paul Murphy: The Northern Ireland Office budget for hospitality in 2002–03 and in previous three years inclusive of amounts overspent/unspent is listed as follows:

2002–03: £362,000


2001–02: £339,000 (£97,240 not spent)


2000–01: £273,000 (overspent by £13,442)


1999–2000: £419,000 (£75,211 not spent).

The figures for the NIO are inclusive of its agencies, but excluding NDPBs.

Within the Northern Ireland Administration Departments are not required to establish a separate budget for hospitality. Payments for approved hospitality are generally made from a budget allocated to general administrative expenditure, and in line with the principles and guidelines set out in Government Accounting Northern Ireland (GANI). The information requested is not held in the required format, therefore the information can be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Industrial Action/Illness

Andrew George: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many working days have been lost in his Department owing to (a) illness and (b) industrial action in each year since 1997–98. [94283]

Mr. Paul Murphy: Sick absence statistics for the Northern Ireland Civil Servants and the Home Civil Servants in the Northern Ireland Office are recorded

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separately. Figures for Home Civil Servants within the NIO are not available in the required format. The information available is as follows:

	Days sick absence per staff year
1998	6.5
1999	8.0
2000	9.3
2001	10.0

Sick absence statistics for NICS staff in the Northern Ireland Office are analysed by financial year as opposed to calendar year.

The number of working days lost by NICS staff in the Northern Ireland Office due to illness was 16,394 during 2000–01. Comparable figures are not available for earlier years. The figure for 2001–02 will be available shortly.

The sick absence statistics for 2001–02 for HCS and NICS staff are to be available in the near future.

The Northern Ireland Office is committed to managing sickness absence effectively and a range of corporate and departmental initiatives have been and are being taken forward to reduce the current levels of sickness absence.

No days have been lost in the Northern Ireland Office due to industrial action.

In the Northern Ireland Administration Departments sick absence statistics are analysed by financial year. The information sought is only readily available for the period 1999–2000 to 2001–02. Published statistics for Northern Ireland Departments for the financial years 2000–01 and 2001–02 are accessible on the Department's website at www.dfpni.gov.uk/publications.

The number of working days lost by NI Administration Departments due to illness was as follows:

Financial year	Total number of working days lost
1999–2000	315,105
2000–01	319,790
2001–02	335,720

Due to the reorganisation of Departments following devolution, the 1999–2000 absence details were analysed according to the Department in which staff were employed at the end of the 1999–2000 financial year. As such the year on year comparisons are not entirely comparable.

The number of working days lost by Northern Ireland Administration Departments due to industrial action was as follows:

Financial year	Total number of working days lost
1997–1998	1,151½
1998–1999	441
1999–2000	0
2000–01	0
2001–02	634½

Note:

The figures are not available for one NI Department (Health, Social Services and Public Safety) as it cannot be disaggregated from other forms of unpaid leave.

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Insurance Premium Increases

Mr. Beggs: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what assessment he has made of the impact of increased insurance premiums on Northern Ireland's small and medium businesses. [99320]

Mr. Pearson : I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to question 99321. Given the extensive survey already conducted by the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment into this issue and a recent survey published by the Federation of Small Businesses in Northern Ireland, which shows similar results, a further review is not proposed at this time.

Link Funding

Mr. Roy Beggs: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how much funding has been allocated in each of the last three years to each of the schools and colleges in the Western Education and Library Board for the provision of link courses; why such funding has been withdrawn; and if he will postpone the scrapping of link funding until the common formula for funding schools has been introduced. [103333]

Jane Kennedy: The Department of Education (DE) provides no separate funding to schools for the provision of link courses. Pupils on such provision are counted for each school's funding under the Local Management of Schools (LMS) arrangements.

Schools in the WELB area have been receiving all of their link course provision free while schools in all other ELB areas have paid a fee. The amount paid is a matter for agreement between colleges and schools. The inconsistency has arisen because a separate earmarked fund, resulting from a pre-FE Incorporation WELB initiative for link provision, was provided to colleges in the WELB.

In addition to this funding the Department for Employment and Learning (DEL) provides funding through the further education funding formula to assist all colleges to provide and develop suitable link courses. The DEL funding is not provided as a substitute or replacement for any element of DE funding and schools should, therefore, meet the appropriate costs of colleges running link courses for their pupils.

Making separate earmarked funding available to assist schools and colleges in one area of Northern Ireland is inconsistent with the key principle of equity. Consequently, in the interests of commonality and equity, I have decided to make the arrangements for link course provision the same across Northern Ireland and the separate funding for WELB colleges will be withdrawn from September 2003.

Midwives

Harry Cohen: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many individuals are (a) eligible to register, (b) registered and (c) practising as midwives. [104041]

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Mr. Browne: We do not have statistical information about the number of people in Northern Ireland who have midwifery qualifications but are not currently registered with the Nursing and Midwifery Council. At present there are 1,437 midwives registered with the NMC. As at 30 September 2002 there were 1,249 practising midwives.

Soccer

Mr. McGrady: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what funding was provided by the Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure to the task force which was established for soccer in Northern Ireland. [103174]

Angela Smith: The Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure (DCAL) provided no funding to the task force which was established as part of the Soccer Strategy initiative. However, between October 2000 and February 2003, DCAL incurred direct costs amounting to £133,600 on the Soccer Strategy process as a whole. This figure includes support services provided by the Department to the task force.

Mr. McGrady: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what time was invested by the Department of Culture Arts and Leisure in the soccer strategy. [103173]

Angela Smith: It is not possible to quantify the amount of time invested by the Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure (DCAL) on the soccer strategy process. However, the soccer strategy is recognised as an important initiative to which DCAL has allocated appropriate resources while also ensuring that sufficient attention continues to be devoted by the Department to its other important sporting priorities.

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