| Previous Section | Index | Home Page |
3 Mar 2004 : Column 970W—continued
Departmental Officials
Mr. Cousins: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland which former officials of the Department have asked for permission to join (a) PricewaterhouseCoopers, (b) Deloitte and Touche, (c) Ernst and Young and (d) KPMG. [156906]
Mr. Pearson: No former Civil Servants from the 11 departments of the Northern Ireland Administration and the Northern Ireland Office have, during the calendar years 2001, 2002 and 2003, applied for permission to join PricewaterhouseCoopers, Deloitte and Touche, Ernst and Young or KPMG.
Mr. Cousins: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what secondments (a) PricewaterhouseCoopers, (b) Deloitte and Touche, (c) Ernst and Young and (d) KPMG have made to his Department since 2001; for what (i) periods and (ii) tasks the secondments were made; whether secondments of staff from his Department have been made to those firms; and for what (A) periods and (B) tasks. [156921]
Mr. Pearson: Since 2001 no secondments, either inward or outward, have taken place between the 11 departments of the Northern Ireland Administration and the Northern Ireland Office and the companies mentioned.
The answer excludes agencies and NDPBs.
Doctors' Hours
Mrs. Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many hours on average were worked weekly by (a) consultants, (b) registrars, (c) senior house officers and (d) junior house officers at each of the Province's health trusts in the most recent period for which figures were available. [157395]
Angela Smith: The information requested is provided in the table. Detailed information of this nature, however, is not routinely collected by trusts and can be difficult to obtain due to the non-standard working patterns of medical staff. Where precise figures have been unavailable, a number of trusts have attempted to provide a best estimate or range.
(14) Altnagelvin Group HSS Trust cannot readily provide number of hours worked. The majority of the doctors are contracted for a basic 40 hours per week but many are working alternative shift patterns and are on 'on call' rotas.
(15) Craigavon and Banbridge Community HSS Trust has provided approximate hours worked as the medical staff participate on 'on-call' rotas. As such, hours worked each week will vary depending on the intensity of work required in that particular week.
(16) Greenpark Healthcare HSS Trust cannot readily provide number of hours worked.
(17) Homefirst Community HSS Trust has provided figures supplied from the trust's last monitoring return. Information supplied is as at February 2004.
(18) Mater Infirmorum Hospital HSS Trust cannot provide figures for consultant hours as they are currently undertaking a diary exercise on hours worked and this information is not available at present but will be available in due course.
(19) Newry and Mourne HSS Trust have not monitored hours in the period so they can only give an approximation based on the rotas set out for each grade of staff.
(20) Sperrin Lakeland HSS Trust have provided consultant figures from 2001 Consultant Appraisal Exercise and Registrar, SHO and Junior House Officer figures from Junior Doctors New Deal Monitoring.
(21) Ulster Community and Hospitals Group HSS Trust has not provided figures due to the disproportionate cost of obtaining the information.
3 Mar 2004 : Column 971W
Ethnic and Religious Integration
Rev. Martin Smyth: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how much emphasis in targeting social need is given to integrating ethnic and religious groups. [157320]
Mr. Spellar: New Targeting Social Need (TSN) is Northern Ireland's main policy for tackling poverty and social exclusion and has three priority areas which focus on Employment/Employ ability, addressing inequality in other areas such as health and housing and Promoting Social Inclusion.
The Promoting Social Inclusion (PSI) element of New TSN involves Departments working, both collectively and with partners outside Government to identify and tackle factors, which can contribute to social exclusion. One of the initial priority areas identified under PSI was the position of minority ethnic people in Northern Ireland.
A formal PSI Working Group was set up to develop a strategy to promote inclusion of minority ethnic people in Northern Ireland and to tackle racial inequalities. A Race Equality Unit was established in 2001 within the Office of the First and Deputy First Minister to oversee the development of the Race Equality Strategy. The Unit's role is to lead on action—by Government and in partnership with external stakeholders—to tackle social exclusion of minority ethnic people in Northern Ireland and racial inequalities. It maintains close links with the Home Office, the National Assembly for Wales, the Scottish Executive and the administration in Republic of Ireland.
A draft of the Strategy was published for consultation in February 2003. A finalised version of the Strategy, which takes account of the results of the consultation, will be published in summer 2004.
3 Mar 2004 : Column 972W
Fatal Shootings
Mr. McNamara: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what the circumstances were of the fatal shooting involving members of the Police Service of Northern Ireland on 29 April. [145735]
Jane Kennedy: The Police Ombudsman advises that the fatal shooting on 29 April 2003 involving the Police Service of Northern Ireland was referred to her office and that the incident is currently under investigation.
Giant's Causeway
Mr. Trimble: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what the timetable is for the restoration of the visitor centre at the Giant's Causeway, County Antrim; and if he will make a statement. [157274]
Mr. Pearson: The Government have set Easter 2006 as the target date for the provision of new visitor facilities at the Giant's Causeway.
A Prior Information Notice which declares Government's intention to run parallel international competitions for both the architectural design and for the interpretation and fit out of the new facilities will be placed in the Official Journal of the European Union during week commencing 1 March 2004. This is the first step in the process and will be followed by the Formal Notice for the Architectural Design Competition which will invite expressions of interest. The architectural competition, which will be supervised by the International Union of Architects in Paris, will be run in accordance with UNESCO standard regulations for international competitions for World Heritage Sites.
Health Service (Complaints)
Mrs. Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many complaints were received in Northern Ireland in the last 12 months by each health trust regarding (a) hospital, (b) community and (c) other care. [156321]
Angela Smith: Information is not available in the format requested. The following table presents information on the total number of complaints received
3 Mar 2004 : Column 973W
by each Health and Social Services Trust in the year ending September 2003. The Trusts are categorised according to whether they are hospital Trusts, community Trusts, mixed (hospital and community) Trusts, or other Trusts.
| Health and Social Services Trust | Total Number of Complaints |
|---|---|
| Belfast City Hospital | 142 |
| Green Park | 126 |
| Mater Infirmorum | 90 |
| Royal Group of Hospitals | 418 |
| United Hospitals | 281 |
| Craigavon Area Group | 177 |
| Altnagelvin Group | 205 |
| Hospital Trusts (Total) | 1,439 |
| North and West Belfast | 160 |
| South and East Belfast | 300 |
| Homefirst | 233 |
| Craigavon and Banbridge | 71 |
| Foyle | 57 |
| Community Trusts (Total) | 821 |
| Down Lisburn | 271 |
| Ulster Community and Hospitals | 331 |
| Causeway | 471 |
| Armagh and Dungannon | 80 |
| Newry and Mourne | 123 |
| Sperrin Lakeland | 85 |
| Mixed Trusts (Total) | 1,361 |
| Northern Ireland Ambulance Service | 192 |
| Other Trusts (Total) | 192 |
| Northern Ireland Total | 3,813 |
Note:
Community Trusts may provide services in non-acute hospitals, as well as services outside hospital
| Next Section | Index | Home Page |