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27 Apr 2004 : Column 921W—continued
Health Services (Newtownards and North Down)
Mrs. Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what assessment he has made of the equity of resource allocation studies by the Eastern Health and Social Services Board and what conclusions he has drawn, in relation to the provision of services for those residing in the Newtownards and North Down Region; and if he will make a statement. [167725]
Angela Smith:
In line with departmental policy, the Eastern Board is responsible for the equitable distribution among its local populations of the resources provided to it by the Department. In doing so, the Board
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has developed a locality equity strategy which has, and will continue to, skew additional resources towards those local populations assessed as being underfunded in relation to their target share of resources determined by an evidence based formula. Resources skewed towards the North Down and Ards locality in 2004–05 have resulted in a reduction of the relative under investment position by £0.329 million. In addition, a further £0.6 million has been provided to support Family and Child Care services in North Down and Ards. The locality equity assessment will be revised next year as the latest research into needs-based allocations becomes available.
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Hospital Admission Procedures
Mrs. Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will appoint an experienced individual or group (a) to conduct a Province-wide appraisal of the course of hospital admissions and (b) to suggest means of enhancing efficiency from the primary care assessment stage through to ward discharge; and if he will make a statement. [167605]
Angela Smith: Improving the flow of emergency hospital admissions is a key priority for my Department. A target has been set to reduce by a third the number of patients waiting more than two hours in an accident and emergency department between the decision to admit and admission to a ward, by 31 March 2005 compared to 2003–04 levels. Boards and trusts are required to submit proposals to streamline processes relating to emergency patients flows to the Department by 31 August 2004.
The Department plans to take forward a regional initiative during 2004–05 to improve the flow of emergency patients through hospital. This regional programme, which will ensure that recognised best practice is implemented across all hospitals, will be overseen and directed by a Regional Steering Group comprising people with a wide range of experience in this area. It will build on work undertaken in the Eastern Board area over the past year which examined the way hospitals admitted emergency patients, how those patients moved through the hospital system and how they were discharged, and the experiences of similar programmes developed by the Modernisation Agency in England.
Housing
Mr. Beggs: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will make a statement on the availability of properties for first-time buyers in Northern Ireland. [168190]
Mr. Spellar: While there are no specific properties made available for first time buyers, price being the main factor in determining whether or not a specific property is appropriate for a first time buyer, the vast majority of new houses constructed in Northern Ireland are affordable to first time buyers.
The Housing Executive's house sales scheme and my Department's Co-ownership scheme also make a vital contribution in providing a stock of suitable properties for first time buyers.
The Housing Executive's house sales scheme has enabled over 105,000 tenants to become home owners while the Co-ownership scheme has, since its inception in 1978, helped over 17,500 participants to become homeowners on an equity sharing basis, with over 13,000 of these eventually moving to full home ownership.
According to lending sources 13,000 mortgages were advanced to first time buyers in 2003, and DSD and NIHE statistics indicate that almost half of these applied to NIHE house sales and Co-ownership transactions.
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Nurses
Mr. Beggs: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what steps he is taking to encourage the recruitment and retention of nurses in Northern Ireland; and if he will make a statement. [168266]
Angela Smith: Recruitment and retention of nursing staff is a matter for individual employers. In recognition of recruitment difficulties the annual number of pre-registration nurse training places was increased from 580 to 680 in 2001 and 750 in 2002 and these increases have been maintained. There are currently around 2,300 nursing students undergoing training.
Local employers attend annual "Job Fairs" arranged by Queen's University and University of Ulster and these provide additional opportunities to recruit staff and promote nursing as a career.
Existing employees have opportunities to participate in post-registration training to meet service needs and enhance career progression.
Mr. Beggs: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many school (a) full-time and (b) part-time nurses are employed within each Northern Ireland Education and Library Board area. [168274]
Mr. Gardiner: The information available in respect of the number of (a) full-time and (b) part-time nurses employed by each Northern Ireland Education and Library Board is detailed follows.
| Full-time | Part-time | |
|---|---|---|
| BELB | 0 | 0 |
| NEELB | 0 | (15)3 |
| SEELB | 0 | (16)5 |
| SELB | (17)4 | (17)7 |
| WELB | 0 | 0 |
(15) Two share one post.
(16) Four nurses and one matron.
(17) Staff are engaged by the board as nurses, matrons and pupil welfare auxiliaries.
Police Stations
Lady Hermon: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what funding has been made available for the maintenance and renovation of police stations in Northern Ireland in each of the past five years; and what steps he is taking to improve (a) security and (b) working conditions in police stations. [144348]
Mr. Paul Murphy: The question of optimising resources made available for policing, including the maintenance and renovation of properties in the police estate, is a matter for the Chief Constable, in consultation with the Policing Board.
I have been advised that a total of £35.1 million was made available for maintenance works in the last five years. This is broken down as follows:
| £ million | |
|---|---|
| 2003–04 | 8.1 |
| 2002–03 | 8 |
| 2001–02 | 7 |
| 2000–01 | 7 |
| 1999–2000 | 5 |
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With regard to the security of police stations, the relevant District Commanders keep the security measures at PSNI stations under constant review, with additional expert advice and guidance available, when required, from specialists at PSNI Headquarters.
In relation to improving working conditions, the maintenance funding delivers a programme of works specifically designed to achieve uniformity of working conditions at all stations to Home Office/PSNI accommodation standards. Considerable emphasis is being placed on improving environmental management, heating and ventilation, upgrading lighting and compliance with Disability Discrimination Act requirements.
Lady Hermon: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland when each police station in Northern Ireland was last substantially refurbished. [144349]
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Mr. Paul Murphy: The police have advised that all major District Command Unit Headquarter stations are refurbished on a five year cycle, although maintenance required to address Health and Safety concerns is expedited on an annual basis. All Sector stations are subject to Condition Surveys every three years with resulting maintenance works expedited within the following twelve months.
Stolen Cars
Lady Hermon: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many cars were reported stolen in each police district in Northern Ireland in the last five years for which figures are available; how many of these cars were later recovered; and what steps he is taking to tackle car crime in Northern Ireland. [156937]
Mr. Paul Murphy: The following tables set out the numbers of vehicles stolen in each police District Command Unit, over the past five years, together with the number of vehicles recovered.
| 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stolen | Recovered | Stolen | Recovered | Stolen | Recovered | |
| Antrim | 233 | 200 | 225 | 191 | 229 | 186 |
| Ards | 189 | 158 | 202 | 177 | 258 | 233 |
| Armagh | 85 | 66 | 117 | 79 | 93 | 77 |
| Ballymena | 123 | 113 | 110 | 93 | 129 | 105 |
| Ballymoney | 18 | 16 | 45 | 41 | 23 | 16 |
| Banbridge | 65 | 56 | 95 | 69 | 89 | 68 |
| Belfast East | 338 | 301 | 440 | 379 | 488 | 430 |
| Belfast North | 658 | 576 | 766 | 682 | 968 | 838 |
| Belfast South | 1,026 | 867 | 1,378 | 1,180 | 1,786 | 1,579 |
| Belfast West | 1,102 | 992 | 1,361 | 1,230 | 885 | 801 |
| Carrickfergus | 81 | 74 | 89 | 83 | 101 | 90 |
| Castlereagh | 272 | 243 | 295 | 256 | 389 | 331 |
| Coleraine | 146 | 136 | 134 | 117 | 123 | 105 |
| Cookstown | 69 | 48 | 57 | 38 | 70 | 55 |
| Craigavon | 281 | 248 | 302 | 250 | 342 | 291 |
| Down | 252 | 233 | 293 | 257 | 339 | 296 |
| Dungannon and South Tyrone | 108 | 79 | 130 | 103 | 148 | 118 |
| Fermanagh | 99 | 89 | 88 | 76 | 86 | 73 |
| Foyle | 293 | 271 | 245 | 221 | 243 | 212 |
| Larne | 57 | 52 | 42 | 40 | 68 | 59 |
| Limavady | 29 | 25 | 43 | 38 | 54 | 46 |
| Lisburn | 733 | 667 | 782 | 672 | 817 | 712 |
| Magherafelt | 73 | 58 | 61 | 47 | 65 | 52 |
| Moyle | 18 | 17 | 25 | 25 | 41 | 36 |
| Newry and Mourne | 292 | 216 | 285 | 211 | 291 | 214 |
| Newtownabbey | 365 | 317 | 328 | 270 | 399 | 330 |
| North Down | 271 | 241 | 288 | 266 | 342 | 312 |
| Omagh | 137 | 122 | 134 | 119 | 89 | 78 |
| Strabane | 45 | 35 | 77 | 68 | 63 | 54 |
| Total | 7,458 | 6,516 | 8,437 | 7,278 | 9,018 | 7,797 |
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In March 2003 the Government published a Community Safety Strategy—Creating a Safer Northern Ireland through Partnership. One of the nine key issues specified in the strategy related to car crime. The Strategy has an aim of reducing car crime by 10 per cent. by 2007, using 2001–02 as a baseline year. A number of activities were defined in the Strategy document and many of these have commenced.
During the period March to May 2002 the PSNI implemented Operation Clean Up in the Greater Belfast area, an operation that removed unlicensed vehicles from public roads. In that period 940 vehicles were removed with 83 per cent. of them being destroyed. This operation had a major impact on crime with the reported crimes of domestic burglary, theft of vehicles and "drive offs" from petrol stations significantly reduced; road traffic accidents were also down by 13 per cent., vehicle arsons were down by 23 per cent. and the number of vehicles removed by Councils down by 32 per cent.
Since then further similar exercises have been completed in Londonderry, Tyrone, Ballymena and Larne.
Funds have now been secured to deliver an extended car crime project, based upon Operation Clean Up, and discussions are currently on going with the PSNI, DVLNI and Belfast city council.
In a partnership of organisations led by the Probation Board and funded by the NIO the IMPACT project was established in West Belfast. The aim of the project is to reduce the level of car crime related incidents by targeting those involved and those who are vulnerable to involvement to such activity, through the provision of structured preventative, diversionary and interventionist programmes. This project has recently been given funding for the period up to March 2006.
The PSNI have undertaken a number of specific initiatives to tackle offenders. A special Auto Crime Team has been established which operates mainly in the West Belfast area, to tackle the problems associated with "joy riding". This has proved to be very successful with a significant number of arrests being made and individuals prosecuted.
In addition a number of local initiatives have been undertaken throughout Northern Ireland which are supported by advice and leaflets from local crime prevention officers.
Since 2003 the Government have introduced legislation which brought in some new offences and tougher penalties for offences such as aggravated vehicle taking, dangerous driving, causing death by dangerous driving, causing death by careless driving while under
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the influence of alcohol or drugs and causing death or grievous bodily injury by aggravated vehicle taking. The PSNI will have powers of arrest for drivers who drive while disqualified. Many of these legislative proposals are currently published for consultations. It is anticipated that any new offences and changes to the maximum sentences available will be in place and operational by autumn 2004.
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