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20 Oct 2003 : Column 425W—continued
Commercial Rates
Mrs. Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many premises in Northern Ireland were charged a commercial rate for 2002–03. [132088]
Mr. Pearson: I have asked the Chief Executive of the Rates Collection Agency to write to the hon. Lady in response to this question. A copy of the letter will be placed in the Library.
Concessionary Fares
Mr. Dodds: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what his policy is on the acceptance by Translink of concessionary public transport passes issued outside Northern Ireland. [133241]
Mr. Spellar: The Northern Ireland Concessionary Fares Scheme provides concessionary travel only for eligible Northern Ireland residents on scheduled public transport services within Northern Ireland. Consequently, Translink does not accept concessionary public transport passes issued outside Northern Ireland. We have no plans to extend the Concessionary Fares Scheme to include people who are not resident in Northern Ireland.
Delayed Discharges
Mrs. Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how much money was spent by each health board in Northern Ireland to counter delayed discharges in each of the last three years. [132467]
Angela Smith: Information in the form requested is not readily available and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Mrs. Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many hospital in-patients in Northern Ireland had their discharge delayed while awaiting community care packages on 1 January (a) 2000, (b) 2001, (c) 2002 and (d) 2003. [132468]
Angela Smith: Information on delayed discharges is collected in respect of the position at the last day of each month. The numbers of acute hospital in-patients who had their discharge delayed while awaiting community care packages were 265 at 31 December 2000, 341 at 31 December 2001, and 323 at 31 December 2002. Equivalent information is not available for the position at 31 December 1999, but at February 2000 there were 319 in-patients whose discharge was delayed.
Drug Treatment
Mrs. Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what the age was of the youngest person in Northern Ireland treated in the last five years with an (a) anti-depressant, (b) anti-psychotic and (c) amphetamine drug. [132472]
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Angela Smith: The information requested is not available.
Equality Commission
Mr. McGrady: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many press releases the Equality Commission has released in 2003; and of these how many were wholly or mainly on the issue of fair employment. [132214]
Mr. Spellar: I have asked the Chief Executive of the Equality Commission for Northern Ireland to write to the hon. Gentleman. A copy of the letter will be placed in the Library.
Exotic Pets
Mrs. Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what plans there are to require the owners of exotic pets in Northern Ireland to register them. [132466]
Angela Smith: On 13 October I published the legislative proposals for public consultation to regulate dangerous wild animals kept by private individuals in Northern Ireland. The proposed legislation will require anyone owning or wishing to own a dangerous wild animal to apply to the Department of the Environment for a licence. It will also establish stringent criteria, on matters such as public safety, security of accommodation and animal welfare, which will need to be met, and confirmed by inspection, before the grant of a licence. The draft legislation also specifies licence conditions which the licence holder will have to meet while any dangerous wild animal is being kept. The consultation paper has been circulated and the Department of the Environment would welcome any views on the legislative proposals.
Fuel Poverty
Mr. McNamara: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many fuel poor households based on the 2001 Northern Ireland House Conditions Survey there are in each local authority area; and what his estimate is of how many children are living in fuel poor households. [132577]
Mr. Spellar: The number of fuel poor households identified in the 2001 House Condition Survey in each local authority area is following table:
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The 2001 house condition survey estimated that there are some 114,000 children living in fuel poor households.
General Practice
Mrs. Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many general practitioners practices in Northern Ireland are not accepting any new patients on to their lists. [132094]
Angela Smith: The information requested is not available.
Health Service IT
Mrs. Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what comparative studies have been conducted on the cost of improving health service information technology in Northern Ireland and schemes in the rest of the United Kingdom; and if he will make a statement. [131918]
Angela Smith: To date no formal comparative studies have been conducted on the cost of improving health service information technology in Northern Ireland and schemes in the rest of the United Kingdom. My Department published earlier this year a new ICT Strategy for the HPSS, which will set the overall direction of investment for modernising ICT services over the next 10 years. This strategy will be taken forward in a cost-effective way and will make use of developments, products and services sourced as far as possible from the same supplies who supply systems to the NHS.
Mrs. Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will make a statement on standards in NHS information technology; and what costs have been incurred from the recent modernisation of the technology. [131922]
Angela Smith: Northern Ireland works closely with the other UK administrations in the development of standards for use in ICT in healthcare and my Department is fully committed to adopting any UK-wide standards for use in the HPSS.
In addition to using UK standards, within the HPSS the policy has historically been to use common IT solutions for common problems. This has led to the use of standard IT systems throughout the HPSS, for example in patient administration, clinical support services, finance and administration.
Since 1 April 2002, costs incurred in Nl-wide ICT modernization projects have been:
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i. £4.2 million for the implementation of a unique patient and client identifier for use within health and social care throughout Northern Ireland together with the provision of a highly secure 'always on' communications network and E-Mail and Internet services to all GPs (contract let July 2003).
ii. £4.3 million for the consolidation of 104 obsolescent computers in the HPSS into two highly resilient, mutually supportive computer systems to serve the whole HPSS (Contract let December 2002).
Organ/Tissue Retention
Mrs. Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what payment has been made for organs and tissue removed and retained without informed consent in Northern Ireland in the last five years. [132338]
Angela Smith: No payment has been made for organs and tissue removed and retained without informed consent in Northern Ireland in the last five years.
IRA Weapons Stocks
Mrs. Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what estimate he has made of the amounts of (a) weapons and (b) explosives possessed by the Irish Republican Army (i) now, and (ii) in April 1998; and if he will make a statement. [131917]
Jane Kennedy: Estimates of the amount of weaponry held by paramilitary organisations are an intelligence matter on which it would be inappropriate to comment. The Government has consistently made clear that paramilitary groups must end all forms of terrorist activity and decommissioning should be carried out through the Independent International Commission on Decommissioning appointed by the Government for this purpose.
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