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19 Apr 2004 : Column 283W—continued

Health Services

Mrs. Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland (1) what plans he has to provide a specialist paediatric epilepsy nurse in the Province; [164913]

(2) if he will make a statement on the provision of paediatric nurse specialists for the NHS. [164923]

Angela Smith: The Department has invested over a number of years in the provision of paediatric nursing in the community. The aim of community paediatric nursing service is to provide a range of professional skills to meet the needs of children, e.g. asthma/respiratory care, diabetes, behaviour management, epilepsy, pain management, nutrition and constipation and palliative care. The service is aimed at those children with disability, chronic and life limiting illness.

Traditionally, access to a specialist epilepsy nurse was through a regional service, but the increasing prevalence of this condition has required Boards to commission a
 
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more locally based service from within the community paediatric service. The development of this service means that only in exceptional circumstances should a child have to attend the regional service, thereby not interrupting school and normal activities of living.

Boards are continuing to review and invest in paediatric community services.

Housing

Mr. Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many Housing Executive single homes in Northern Ireland have been adapted for disability use in each of the last five years. [165735]

Mr. Spellar: The Housing Executive carries out both major and minor adaptations for its tenants. Information relating to dwellings occupied by single persons, which have been adapted for disability use, is not readily available and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost. However the following tables show the numbers of completed adaptations in individual properties for each of the five years from 1998–99 to 2002–03 and the year 2003–04, to the end of February 2004.

	Major works	Minor works
1998–99	2,006	8,243
1999–2000	2,297	8,060
2000–01	2,548	6,855
2001–02	3,981	8,543
2002–03	4,053	8,049
2003–04	3,174	7,527

Labour Statistics

Mr. Hume: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what the percentage unemployment level is in (a) Coleraine, (b) Derry (city), (c) Strabane, (d) Omagh, (e) Dungannon, (f) Cookstown, (g) Eniskillen, (h) Armagh (city), (i) Portadown, (j) Newry and (k) Lisburn. [165344]

Mr. Gardiner: Claimant Count unemployment rates are not available at a town or city level, but can be provided at District Council Area level. The Claimant Count rates at February 2004 for the District Council Areas which contain the specified towns and cities are provided in the table below.
Claimant count unemployment rate by District Council Area at February 2004

District Council Area	Percentage Rate
Coleraine	3.4
Derry	5.7
Strabane	5.5
Omagh	3.3
Dungannon	2.1
Cookstown	1.9
Fermanagh	4.0
Armagh	2.4
Craigavon	2.8
Newry and Mourne	3.2
Lisburn	2.2
Northern Ireland	3.2

 
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Landfill

Mr. Trimble: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what amount of industrial and commercial waste was sent to landfill in 2003, expressed as a percentage of the 1998 level. [165948]

Angela Smith: The most recent survey figures available relate to the 2002 Survey "Industrial and Commercial Waste Production in Northern Ireland" commissioned by the Department of the Environment's Environment and Heritage Service. This survey reported that approximately 635,000 tonnes of industrial and commercial waste were generated, of which 40 per cent. (252,000 tonnes) went to landfill.

The 1998 survey "Development of a Waste Arisings Database for Northern Ireland—Pilot Survey and Database Design" initiated by EHS showed 700,000 tonnes of industrial and commercial waste were generated, of which 57 per cent. (399,000 tonnes) went to landfill.

The amount of such waste sent to landfill in 2003 was, therefore, 63 per cent. of the 1998 figure, which equates to a reduction of some 37 per cent.

Copies of both documents have been placed in the Library.

MRI Scanners

Mr. Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what the average waiting time for an MRI scan is in each of the hospitals providing such treatment in Northern Ireland. [165734]

Angela Smith: The information requested could only be provided at disproportionate cost.

NHS Dentistry

Mr. Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many National Health Service dentists have been working in Northern Ireland in each of the last five years. [165992]

Angela Smith: The information requested is as follows General Dental Practitioner headcount by year.

Year(102)	Headcount
2004	720
2003	696
2002	689
2001	673
2000	661

⁽¹⁰²⁾ Figures are at 1 April for each year.
Source:
Central Services Agency

Nursing

Mrs. Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many student nurses (a) commenced and (b) completed training in Northern Ireland in each of the last 10 years. [165791]

Angela Smith: The information requested is provided in the following tables.
 
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Numbers who commenced training in each of the last 10 years

Year 1 April–31 March	Number commencing training
1994–95	663
1995–96	733
1996–97	711
1997–98	749
1998/99	617
1999–2000	562
2000–01	614
2001–02	856
2002–03	770
2003–04	864

Note:
2004 figure includes 30 Open University students.




Number of students who became eligible for First Level Registration

Year 1 April–31 March	Number
1994–95	779
1995–96	827
1996–97	626
1997–98	716
1998–99	599
1999–2000	612
2000–01	508
2001–02	454
2002–03	449
2003–04	490

Ofcom

Mrs. Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what discussions he has had with OFCOM on unsolicited telephone calls for commercial purposes. [166049]

Mr. Gardiner: The level of complaints in Northern Ireland concerning unsolicited calls has been small and as such I have not intervened directly in this matter.

The use of telephones for unsolicited commercial, particularly direct marketing, reasons is covered by Directive 2002/58/EC on privacy and electronic communications. The Regulations came into force on 11 December 2003 and are enforced by the Information Commissioner's Office, rather than OFCOM. The regulations work on the principle of opt-out rules on unsolicited direct marketing by phone; it is a breach of the regulations to make an unsolicited direct marketing call to any subscriber who has either told that caller not to ring, or who has been registered on the Telephone Preference Service (TPS) for at least 28 days. Currently only individual subscribers have the right to register on the TPS but in response to a Government consultation undertaken last year this will be opened to corporate subscribers also as of 25 June 2004.

Parenting Initiatives

Lady Hermon: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how much funding has been made available to education and library boards in Northern Ireland specifically for parenting initiatives in each of the past five years; what plans he has to increase the current level of funding for parenting initiatives; and if he will make a statement. [165726]

 
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Mr. Gardiner: The Department of Education recognises the importance of engaging parents in their children's learning. Over the last five years the allocations to Education and Library Boards specifically for parenting initiatives were as follows:
£000

	Amount
1999–2000	(103)131
2000–01	207
2001–02	212
2002–03	217
2003–04	238

⁽¹⁰³⁾ part year

There are no plans to increase the current level of earmarked funding which the Department of Education makes available to Education and Library Boards for this purpose. However, Boards are free to supplement this funding by allocating further resources from within their overall block grant.

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