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Departmental Underspend

Mr. Dodds: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how much of the underspend by Departments in Northern Ireland for the year ending 31 March 2002 will not be carried forward to the next financial year. [119045]

Mr. Pearson: The full amount of end-year flexibility (EYF) that Northern Ireland is entitled to carry forward from 2001–02 is being retained under the normal arrangements. Underspends to be carried forward into 2002–03 in respect of 2001–02 were originally based on an estimate of departmental spend made in the early summer of 2002. This has subsequently been revised to take account of actual departmental spend in 2001–02 and will be drawn down in 2003–04, subject to agreement by the Treasury.

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Of the actual underspend by Northern Ireland Departments for 2001–02, some amounts were outside the EYF arrangements: resources of £3.6 million in respect of the Interconnector scheme were not carried forward into future years. This was a specific ring-fenced and time-bounded scheme where the original allocation was not required in full. In addition, resources of £9.9 million in respect of the EU Peace and Reconciliation Programme I (EUPRP I) were not carried forward into future years. Due to changes in the Sterling/Euro exchange rates and other technicalities during the life of the Programme, these resources were not required to secure the full draw-down of eligible funding from Brussels.

Under Treasury rules, some Reserve claims have to be deducted from the following year's end-year flexibility (EYF): in respect of 2001–02, amounts of £1.9 million had to be treated in that way. Also, as had been agreed following the 2000 Spending Review (SR 2000), the EYF claim was abated by an amount of £22.1 million to correct an over-allocation which arose in SR 2000. These had been allowed for in the planning of budgets and did not affect departmental budgets.

Efficiency Savings

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what the target is for efficiency savings in 2003–04 expressed (a) in money terms and (b) as a percentage of the Department's expenditure limit. [114112]

Mr. Paul Murphy: Within the Northern Ireland Office the efficiency target, built into last year's Spending Review outcome, requires the Department to continue to secure 2.5 per cent. efficiency savings annually in our core departmental administration costs. These core costs of £57.6 million represent 34 per cent. of the department's total administration cost limit.

Within the 11 Departments of the Northern Ireland Administration the 2003–04 spending plans do not contain specific efficiency savings targets expressed in money terms or as a percentage of departmental expenditure limits. However, the drive to achieve greater efficiency is evidenced by the ongoing development and refinement of Public Service Agreements and Service Delivery Agreements. In addition, the key aim of the reform agenda and Departmental Reform Plans is to improve performance in terms of delivering better quality services to the public.

All spending programmes and projects also remain subject to the completion of satisfactory scrutiny and analysis in respect of their value for money.

Northern Ireland Civic Forum

Mrs. Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what costs were incurred by the Northern Ireland Civic Forum in the last 12 months; and how many times the body met during the same period. [116978]

Mr. Paul Murphy: I refer the hon. Lady to the answer I gave to question reference 100724. Since providing this answer, an additional £18,535 administration costs were met in 2002–03 for actions carried out by the Civic Forum prior to suspension.

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The Civic Forum met on three occasions in plenary format during the period April 2002 to 14 October 2002.

Pay Audits

Angela Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what progress has been made on completing a pay audit in his Department and its non-departmental public bodies to measure any disadvantage in terms of remuneration for (a) women, (b) ethnic minorities and (c) people with disabilities; and if he will publish the results of such an audit. [117432]

Mr. Paul Murphy: An Equal Pay Review has been carried out by the Northern Ireland Office in respect of the Department and its agencies in order to identify any gender pay gap. The findings are currently being considered by the unions and we aim to finalise it in July 2003.

The Equal Pay Review only examined gender pay. In parallel with this Review, we separately examined performance ratings of women, ethnic minorities and people with disabilities to measure any disadvantage in the operation of the performance management system.

A copy of the action plan will be placed in the Library of the House once internal discussions are complete.

The 11 Departments within the Northern Ireland Administration carried out a review of its pay and grading arrangements in 1998, which examined the gender gap between administrative grades, that are majority female, and professional and technical grades, that are predominantly male. We are in the process of implementing a programme of work arising from the review and this will be complete by April 2004. The need for a further equal pay audit that will also include other groups covered by section 75 of the Northern Ireland Act 1998 is currently under consideration.

Peace II European Initiative

Mr. Dodds: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will make a statement on progress on funding for organisations under the Peace II European Initiative in North Belfast. [119038]

Mr. Pearson: No projects were funded during 2001. However, during 2002, 71 projects with a total value of £8 million were allocated funding under the Peace II Programme in the North Belfast area and 12 projects with funding of £1.5m have been approved in 2003 to date. The information relates to projects that have been allocated funding with a postal address in the North Belfast Parliamentary Constituency. Where the project address is incomplete, further analysis has been carried out on the applicant address. The figures, therefore, have been produced by first including those projects with a project address in Belfast North and then adding those where the project address is incomplete but the applicant address is in Belfast North. However, where it is apparent that the benefit of the project clearly falls outside North Belfast, these amounts have been excluded. Also, the impacts of any project may extend beyond the geographical location of the project itself.

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Reform and Reinvestment Initiative

Mr. Dodds: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what the interest rate for borrowings is under the Reform and Reinvestment Initiative; and what the interest rate for PPP projects is. [119041]

Mr. Pearson: The Reinvestment and Reform Initiative (RRI) is about tackling Northern Ireland's infrastructure deficit and improving and reforming public services. As part of the RRI, there is the power to access borrowing from the National Loans Fund (NLF). The Public Works Loans Board (PWLB) is the statutory body that facilitates all lending from the NLF and they publish the interest rates through their website on a daily basis (www.pwlb.gov.uk). The interest rate on any loan will be dictated by the prevailing rate at the time it is drawn down.

It is not appropriate to consider PPP projects as borrowing by the public sector. Rather, the PPP approach allows additional resources to be levered in from the private sector sooner than is possible under conventional procurement, with additional benefits in terms of value for money and efficiency. While the cost of capital for the private sector may be higher than borrowing from Treasury, this is mitigated by other cost, risk and service advantages inherent in the approach. Value for money over the lifetime of the contract is the key concept.

Mr. Dodds: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland whether water charges are included for the purposes of determining convergence with local taxation in Great Britain under the Reform and Reinvestment Initiative. [119043]

Mr. Pearson: Yes.

Reform of Public Administration

Mr. Dodds: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what progress has been made on the review called Reform of Public Administration. [119044]

Mr. Paul Murphy: The Review of Public Administration (RPA) was initiated by the Northern Ireland Executive in June 2002. The original work programme for the review envisaged final decisions being taken by the Executive in December 2003. The suspension of the Northern Ireland Assembly has, however, affected this timetable. The RPA has continued with its scheduled programme of engagement, research and study visits, but I decided earlier this year not to go out to public consultation in advance of the elections to the Assembly, then scheduled for 29 May 2003. I am currently examining the options for the future conduct of the Review and intend to make an announcement in the near future.

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