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8 Jul 2003 : Column 764W—continued
Workplace Health and Safety
Mr. Cox: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will make a statement on steps being taken by his Department to reduce the number of (a) deaths and (b) injuries suffered by working people at their place of employment. [118220]
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Mr. Browne: The 'Revitalising Health and Safety' strategy encourages people to work together to achieve significant reductions in the incidence of injury and ill health in the workplace. It sets targets to be achieved by 2004 to:
- reduce the number of working days lost by 15 per cent.
reduce the rate of cases of work-related ill health by 10 per cent.
reduce the rate of fatalities of major injuries by 5 per cent.
achieve double these improvements by 2010.
Further details of work will be available in the Business Plan for 2003–04. A copy will be placed in the Library when it is published later this year.
NORTHERN IRELAND
Absenteeism
Mr. Peter Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what the average level of staff absenteeism was in each of the Northern Ireland Departments in (a) 2001–02 and (b) 2002–03. [123795]
Mr. Pearson: A detailed analysis of sick absence rates for non-industrial staff in the 11 Northern Ireland Departments for 2001–02 has already been published and is accessible on the Department of Finance and Personnel's website at: www.dfpni.gov.uk/publications. The statistics for 2002–03 are not yet available. Comparable figures for industrial civil servants are not held centrally and could be obtained only at disproportionate costs.
Civil Service
Mr. Dodds: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what proportion of people employed at each grade of the Northern Ireland civil service are (a) Protestants, (b) Roman Catholics and (c) neither Protestant nor Roman Catholic. [122633]
Mr. Pearson: I would refer the hon. Member to Appendix 1 of the 8th Report of the Equal Opportunities Unit, a copy of which is in the Library.
Departmental Report
Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what the cost was of the publication of the 2001 Departmental Report. [112806]
Mr. Paul Murphy: The cost of the publication of the 2001 Northern Ireland Office Departmental Report (excluding staff time in preparation of data) was £6641.18.
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Disability Rights
Mr. Dodds: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what progress has been made in ensuring full accessibility for people with disabilities to Government Offices in Northern Ireland. [122354]
Mr. Pearson: A programme of works is under way that aims to ensure that both the Northern Ireland civil service and Northern Ireland Office office estates are compliant with the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 by October 2004; this will include full accessibility for people with disabilities, including both staff and members of the public.
East Down Institute of Further andHigher Education
Mrs. Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will make a statement on the long-term future of the East Down Institute of Further and Higher Education centre in Kircubbin. [123468]
Jane Kennedy: Any decision on the future of Kircubbin centre is entirely a matter for the Governing Body of East Down Institute of Further and Higher Education, which must take decisions in light of its financial responsibilities. The Institute has advised that it is committed to continuing to provide a range of provision at its Kircubbin centre.
EU Peace Initiative
Mr. McGrady: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland which groups, organisations and bodies have benefited from funding from the Peace I and Peace II programmes since 1996 in the constituency of South Down; what financial amounts were allocated to each group; for what projects; from which sectors of the Special European Union Programme for Peace and Reconciliation funding came; and what sums were provided. [122444]
Mr. Pearson: The information requested will be placed in the House of Commons Library.
Individual Learning Account
Mr. McNamara: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will list the five top earning providers from the individual learning accounts scheme in Northern Ireland, and the amount paid to each organisation. [121532]
| Provider | Amount Paid (£) |
|---|---|
| ITT Consultancy, Belfast | 319,581 |
| Fermanagh Training Ltd, Enniskillen | 297,300 |
| CTRS Community College, Enniskillen | 217,040 |
| Marketlink Europe Ltd, Chester | 210,682 |
| Pitman Training (Savage and Company), Belfast | 174,479 |
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Inward Investment
Mr. Peter Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what plans there are to attract further inward investment projects to East Belfast. [123701]
Mr. Pearson: Internationally, Invest Northern Ireland promotes and markets the Northern Ireland business proposition as a whole. While the siting of investments is ultimately a decision for investing companies, Invest NI does make use of incentive packages to promote investment into Targeting Social Need (TSN) areas.
In recent years the shift in Foreign Direct Investment flows towards service industries has increasingly focused new investment on metropolitan areas, in particular the central business areas of regional cities, and this has resulted in major investments in Belfast along the River Lagan, most of it in the financial services sector.
It is planned that a number of important high profile business delegations from the United States and elsewhere will visit Belfast between now and the end of 2003 and areas of East Belfast such as the Titanic Quarter and the Northern Ireland Science Park will feature prominently in their programmes. These exciting new developments in East Belfast will further increase the attractiveness of this constituency as a location for investors.
Job Losses (County Fermanagh)
Mr. Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many jobs have been lost in County Fermanagh in the last five years. [124407]
Mr. Pearson: It is not possible to determine the number of jobs lost in County Fermanagh However in the last five years, there have been 1,022 redundancies confirmed to the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment in the Enniskillen Job Centre Area.
Over the five-year period May 1998 to May 2003 the number of claimants in Fermanagh District Council Area fell from 2,274 to 1,566 (31.1 per cent.). The claimant count rate fell by 2.4 percentage points (from 6.9 per cent. to 4.5 per cent.) over the same period.
Prisoners (Early Release)
Mr. Wray: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many terrorist prisoners have been released since the Good Friday Agreement; and how many have since been re-arrested. [121170]
Jane Kennedy: To date (25 June 2003), 447 prisoners convicted of scheduled offences have been released early under the Good Friday Agreement.
Details are not held centrally regarding the numbers of these persons re-arrested—information is held in relation to those charged with criminal offences while they were on licence. 33 licensees have been charged with further offences committed during their licence period.
Universities
Mr. Peter Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many (a) academics and (b) other staff were employed by (i) the Queens
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University of Belfast and (ii) the University of Ulster, broken down by gender, within the salary bands (A) less than £20,000, (B) £20,000 to £29,999, (C) £30,000 to £39,999, (D) £40,000 to £49,999, (E) £50,000 to £59,999, (F) £60,000 and above in the last five financial years. [123797]
Jane Kennedy: Information on academic and academic related staff employed at Queen's University, Belfast and the University of Ulster is collected and provided to the Department for Employment and Learning by the Higher Education Statistical Agency (HESA). Information on non-academic staff is not available within the Department. Information on salary bands is provided by HESA in a format which relates to academic years.
The attached tables provide salary information of academic and academic related staff employed over the last five academic years.
Mr. Peter Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many university places were available in Northern Ireland in 2002–03; how many students left Northern Ireland for universities (a) elsewhere in the UK, (b) in the Irish Republic and (c) in Europe in 2002–03; and how many students took a university placement in Northern Ireland from (i) elsewhere in the UK, (ii) the Irish Republic and (iii) the rest of Europe. [122536]
Jane Kennedy: The Department for Employment and Learning sets an annual upper limit, known as the Maximum Student Number (MaSN) on the number of home and EU students who may be enrolled on full-time undergraduate courses and on postgraduate courses of initial teacher training (ITT). The MaSN does not, however, apply to non-EU overseas full-time undergraduate students or those for whom a National Health Bursary may be payable. For 2002–03, the combined MaSN total for the Northern Ireland universities was 22,941, including a 1 per cent. flexibility margin.
The only Departmental constraint on postgraduate places applies to those applying for postgraduate awards.
There is no prescribed limit on part-time undergraduate places.
Information on the take up of places in 2002–03 will not be available within the Department until mid-December 2003.
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