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14 Oct 2003 : Column 222W—continued
Racial Assaults
Mr. Beggs: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland (1) how many racial assaults there were in each Northern Ireland parliamentary constituency in each of the last three years, broken down by ethnic group; [128291]
- (2) how many racial assaults, broken down by ethnic group, have occurred in each of Northern Ireland's parliamentary constituencies in each of the last three years. [131523]
Jane Kennedy: The following table details the total number of racially motivated assaults recorded in each of the last three years in Northern Ireland. Current recording methods do not break these figures down by parliamentary constituency or ethnic group.
| Year | Number of physical assaults |
|---|---|
| April 2000 to March 2001 | 58 |
| April 2001 to March 2002 | 39 |
| April 2002 to March 2003 | 50 |
Respite Care
Mr. Beggs: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what provision there is for respite care for adults with special needs in the Northern Health and Social Services Board Area; and what plans there are to increase provision in the constituency of East Antrim. [131038]
Angela Smith: The Northern Health and Social Services Board advises that the provision of respite services to support adults with special needs differs between the two Community Health and Social Services Trusts in its area.
In Causeway Health and Social Services Trust service provision is almost exclusively through the Trust's own family based respite care scheme. In Homefirst Health and Social Services Trust the model of provision is slightly different, drawing mainly on services provided through a family based scheme run by the voluntary sector, while also using a limited amount of statutory sector provision. This year the Northern Health and Social Services Board provided additional resources to increase family based respite, in conjunction with the voluntary sector, in the East Antrim area.
Senior Civil Service
Mr. McGrady: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will make a statement on the implementation of the Senior Civil Service Review. [131878]
Mr. Pearson: The independent review of Appointment and Promotion Procedures for the Senior Civil Service of the Northern Ireland Civil Service was conducted under the chairmanship of Lord Ouseley. The review report was published in 2002 and contained 25 specific recommendations, two of which related to reserved matters.
An action plan was developed to address the recommendations made, and was put out for public consultation. Considerable progress has since been made against its objectives. The consultation also
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sought views on recommendations on open recruitment and work/life balance, and it is intended that an announcement on these matters will be made later in the autumn.
Teachers
Lady Hermon: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many qualified teachers were working in (a) primary and (b) secondary schools in Northern Ireland in each year since 1997. [129823]
Jane Kennedy: The information requested (expressed as full time equivalents) is as follows:
| Number | |
|---|---|
| (a) Primary Schools | |
| 1997–98 | 9,012 |
| 1998–99 | 8,810 |
| 1999–2000 | 8,751 |
| 2000–01 | 8,741 |
| 2001–02 | 8,780 |
| 2002–03 | 8,753 |
| Preparatory Departments | |
| 1997–98 | 181 |
| 1998–99 | 186 |
| 1999–2000 | 172 |
| 2000–01 | 170 |
| 2001–02 | 160 |
| 2002–03 | 154 |
| (b) Secondary Schools | |
| 1997–98 | 10,336 |
| 1998–99 | 10,358 |
| 1999–2000 | 10,548 |
| 2000–01 | 10,747 |
| 2001–02 | 10,809 |
| 2002–03 | 10,840 |
Telecommunications Industry
Mr. Beggs: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what measures are in place to support Northern Ireland's existing and new high technology and telecommunications industry and entrepreneurs; and if he will make a statement. [131525]
Mr. Pearson: Invest NI employs a broad range of measures to assist existing companies and entrepreneurs in the hi-technology and telecommunications sectors. The principal form of support available to assist significant new investment proposals (by new or existing businesses) is Selective Financial Assistance, which may contain elements covering capital and revenue grants in addition to loans and equity participation. Invest NI also operates a comprehensive series of schemes and programmes aimed at providing support which can be tailored to the needs of individual companies or entrepreneurs.
These measures assist Invest NI to achieve the objectives set out in its Corporate Plan 2002–05. They therefore focus on promoting innovation and stimulating higher levels of R&D and knowledge transfer; helping companies to achieve higher levels of growth; promoting a more enterprising culture; raising the number of business starts; and attracting new inward investment.
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Invest NI has achieved a highly credible performance in its first year of operation. Key Innovation targets have been met or exceeded; Growing Existing Businesses and Business Start-up targets have been substantially achieved; and performance in attracting new inward investment has been encouraging, despite the continuing global downturn in foreign direct investment. In particular, Invest NI has assisted the setting up of 74 new, potentially high growth companies in the hi-tech and telecommunications sectors. Its offer of £14.3 million support towards business proposals by companies in these sectors represents a total investment of £109 million.
Invest NI has also played a key role in establishing the Northern Ireland Science Park and has provided £26 million to support the establishment of 17 Centres of Research Excellence, the majority of which are focused on high technology sectors. In addition, Invest NI has been highly active in drawing up a series of sector strategies aimed at maximising the economic development potential for a range of sectors including hi-technology and telecommunications.
These excellent first year achievements offer a very sound platform on which Invest NI can build in the future. They demonstrate the success of the measures which Invest NI has developed to provide support schemes and programmes which are both comprehensive and sufficiently flexible to meet the needs of existing businesses and entrepreneurs in a wide range of industrial sectors, including hi-technology and telecommunications.
Teletech Redundancies
Mr. Dodds: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what measures he has implemented to assist those workers at TeleTech in North Belfast made redundant recently. [131575]
Jane Kennedy: The Department for Employment and Learning's North Belfast JobCentre contacted TeleTech immediately after the company's announcement on 3 September that approximately 60 workers would be made redundant. An offer of assistance to help find alternative employment for those workers facing redundancy was made. The company decided not to take up this offer at this time as it is hoping to reduce the numbers to be made redundant by redeploying some of those affected to other contracts within TeleTech.
Television Licences
Mr. Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, against how many people successful prosecutions have been taken for the non-payment of television licence fees in the past five years. [123999]
Estelle Morris: I have been asked to reply.
The available information for England, Wales and Scotland relates to all offences under the Wireless Telegraphy Acts of 1949 and 1967, though the great majority of these involve licence fee evasion.
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Figures for Northern Ireland, provided by TV Licensing, relate specifically to unlicensed use of a television receiver. The number of convictions recorded in the United Kingdom in each of the last five years for which information is available was:
| Year | Number of convictions |
|---|---|
| 1997 | (47)79,898 |
| 1998 | 78,804 |
| 1999 | (48)56,929 |
| 2000 | 108,680 |
| 2001 | 86,118 |
(47) Excludes Northern Ireland, for which figures for 1997 are not available.
(48) 1999 returns for Scotland may be incomplete.
Mr. Dodds: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many prosecutions proceeded in relation to TV licensing in 2002 in Northern Ireland, broken down by constituency. [131574]
Estelle Morris: I have been asked to reply.
As I indicated in my reply to the hon. Member on 8 September 2003, Official Report, columns 30–31W, the total number of prosecutions proceeded with by TV Licensing in Northern Ireland in 2002 for installation or use of television without a licence was 1,448. I understand that TV Licensing does not record prosecutions by constituency.
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