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2 Mar 2004 : Column 862W—continued

Mental Health

Mrs. Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will make a statement on the early indications of the effectiveness of (a) Assertive Outreach and (b) Crisis Response Teams in the practice of mental health locally. [151211]

Angela Smith: Assertive Outreach and Crisis Response Teams were established in the Northern and Southern Health and Social Services Boards in 2003. It is too early to assess the impact of these services in the Southern Board but initial indications from the

2 Mar 2004 : Column 863W

Northern Board show a degree of success. The Eastern Board plan to have Crises Response and Home Treatment Services operational by April 2004 and the Western Board have commissioned Foyle Trust to develop a Crises Response Out of Hours Pilot Service.

Mobile Phone Masts

Lady Hermon: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many mobile telephone masts there are in each Northern Ireland constituency; and what the equivalent figures were for each year since 2000. [156939]

Angela Smith: Unfortunately, Planning Service is unable to provide the information of the number of mobile telephone masts in the format requested.

This is because Planning Service's computer system does not distinguish between constituencies, its records are categorised by Divisional Planning Office and Council Area. Additionally, although Planning Service has a record of applications for telecommunication equipment, which have been approved, once an application has been approved, we cannot advise if the mast has been erected or activated.

Lady Hermon: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many applications there have been to construct mobile telephone masts in Northern Ireland in each year since 2000; how many of these applications have been (a) granted and (b) refused; and what the reason for refusal was in each case. [156944]

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Angela Smith: Details of applications including full planning applications and, prior to 21 June 2002, prior approval applications for telecommunications equipment approved and refused for each year since 2000 are set out in the table.

	Approved	Refuse
2000	396	52
2001	450	94
2002	307	37
2003	141	11
Total	1,294	201

As over 200 applications have been refused, it would be extremely time consuming and resource intensive to extract and identify the reasons for refusal in each case. It would therefore be at a disproportionate cost to Planning Service.

Occupational Therapy

Mrs. Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many patients are awaiting occupational therapy assessment and how many have waited for more than six months; and what the figures were at each six-month interval over the past five years. [151214]

Angela Smith: The figures for persons awaiting assessment by a community occupational therapist in respect of priority cases, non-priority cases and total cases are shown in the following table, for the position at quarters ending September 1998 to September 2003 (the latest date for which such information is available).

Number of persons waiting for assessment by community occupational therapists, and number waiting for six months or more

	Priority		Non-priority		Total
Quarter ending	Total	6 plus months	Total	6 plus months	Total	6 plus months
September 1998	1,627	88	7,055	2,042	8,682	2,130
March 1999	1,487	117	8,358	2,126	9,845	2,243
September 1999	1,965	292	9,217	2,921	11,182	3,213
March 2000	1,193	298	9,658	3,222	10,851	3,520
September 2000	1,819	240	11,182	5,515	13,001	5,755
March 2001	1,307	83	8,081	4,065	9,388	4,148
September 2001	1,356	67	8,123	4,010	9,479	4,077
March 2002	1,549	138	6,806	2,937	8,355	3,075
September 2002	2,052	307	7,775	3,124	9,827	3,431
March 2003	1,881	247	6,604	2,719	8,485	2,966
September 2003	1,880	243	6,390	2,370	8,270	2,613

Police Ombudsman's Office

Mr. Peter Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many civilians officers from the Police Ombudsman's Office have arrested since the Office was set up. [156690]

Jane Kennedy: The Police Ombudsman has advised that one civilian has been arrested by her investigating officers since the setting up of the office.

Mr. Peter Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland whether he has received complaints from police officers regarding (a) actions by officers from the Ombudsman's Office and (b) investigations carried out by the Police Ombudsman. [156691]

Jane Kennedy: A number of officers have written to the Northern Ireland Office regarding the Ombudsman's Office. However, the Police Ombudsman's Office is operationally independent and the handling of investigations by the Ombudsman's staff is a matter for the Police Ombudsman's Office.

Mr. Peter Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what powers he has to require explanations from the Police Ombudsman on (a) the actions of her officers and (b) investigations carried out by her office. [156692]

Jane Kennedy: The Secretary of State has no statutory powers to require explanations from the Police Ombudsman on the actions of her officers or the investigations carried out by her office.

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Police Service of Northern Ireland

Mr. Beggs: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many serving members of the full-time Police Service of Northern Ireland Reserve have passed entrance examinations for full-time posts in the PSNI and have not been appointed because of restrictions arising from 50:50 appointment legislation. [152460]

Jane Kennedy: From competitions 1 to 4, 1,706 non-Catholic and 604 Catholic applicants have qualified for appointment to the Police Service of Northern Ireland. Of these, 530 of each community background have been appointed. Of the qualified Catholic candidates, all were offered appointment, but some withdrew in the time intervening between qualification for appointment and the time of appointment.

Appointments from competition 5 have started, although the pool is not yet finalised, and the pool for competition 6 is not expected to be ready until April this year.

The information on the number of candidates who have passed the entrance examinations (i.e. have been successful in becoming qualified candidates and reaching the merit pool) more than once is taking some time to collate. As soon as the figures are available, they will be forwarded.

Prison Officers

Lady Hermon: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many prison officers in Northern Ireland have taken sick leave in each of the past 18 months on account of work-related stress; and how many of these officers have since returned to work. [156940]

Jane Kennedy: The information is as follows.

Prison Officer Grades absent suffering from work-related stress between 1 February 2003 and 27 February 2004

	Number of staff absent during month	Number of staff who have since returned to work
February 2003	1	1
March 2003	1	1
April 2003	1	1
May 2003	1	1
June 2003	2	1
July 2003	8	6
August 2003	16	13
September 2003	18	13
October 2003	18	12
November 2003	19	11
December 2003	19	10
January 2004	23	12
February 2004	17	4

At the end of February 2004, 13 officers remained absent due to work related stress.

Figures were not obtainable prior to February 2003 for work related stress as the computer system at that time did not differentiate between stress and work related stress.

Prisons

Mrs. Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will estimate the cost of maintaining prisons in the Province in 2003–04. [156319]

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Jane Kennedy: The estimated cost of maintaining prisons in Northern Ireland in 2003–04 is £109,581,000.

Rates

Mr. Trimble: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what research has been conducted into the impact the removal of rates relief on manufacturing premises will have on manufacturing industries; and if he will make a statement. [156460]

Mr. Pearson: Our assessment on the likely impact of the phasing out of industrial derating on the manufacturing industry in Northern Ireland (NI) came from a variety of different sources; for example, studies by DTZ Pieda, Invest NI as well as evidence presented during the public consultation exercise in 2002 by the DETI and DFP Assembly Committees, the CBI and local economists. The policy paper published in April last year included the Regulatory Impact Assessment, New TSN and Equality Impact Assessments. All this evidence was summarised, analysed and considered objectively and the various options were discussed openly with representatives of the business community before a final decision was made.

Mr. Trimble: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what research has been conducted into the impact levying rates on vacant buildings will have on investment in deprived areas; what proposals there are for exemptions; and if he will make a statement. [156461]

Mr. Pearson: The decision to rate vacant non-domestic property was informed by an analysis of the potential impact on deprived areas. It concluded that the impact is likely to be positive because such property tends to be concentrated in deprived areas and the effect of the measure will be to encourage owners to bring them back into use and occupation. This New TSN analysis was published with the policy paper in April 2003.

In line with the outcomes of the consultation exercise in 2002, the exemptions to the vacant rate will largely mirror those in the rest of the UK. They will cover the situation where the occupation or use of the property is restricted or prohibited in some way, or where the person would be liable only as a proxy for someone else. Property with a net annual value of less than £2,000, property vacant for less than three months, and other properties such as listed buildings will also be exempt. It is also intended to exempt industrial property, that is factories, mines and quarries, from the vacant rate. However, standalone warehouses will not be exempt because, unlike industrial property, they can be readily converted and put on the market for sale or letting to a range of buyers or tenants.

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