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26 May 2004 : Column 1649W—continued

Residential Homes

Mrs. Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will make a statement on changes in the cost of care at residential homes. [175211]

Angela Smith: Residential homes may charge individual residents different amounts based on the type and extent of care needed and the standard of facilities and accommodation provided. For those residents who are not self-funding, Health and Social Services Trusts will normally pay agreed regional tariffs for the appropriate standard placement for each class of resident. In recognition of the increased pressures faced by the independent care home sector, the Department has made significant additional resources available to provide for increases above inflation. Above inflation increases have been made in each year since 2001–02 and the additional money this year has enabled Health and Social Services Trusts to increase rates paid for an elderly residential home place from £230 in 2001–02 to £273 in 2004–05, an increase of around 16 per cent.

Special Schools

Mrs. Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what estimate he has made of the costs of educating every child currently in a special school in Northern Ireland in a mainstream school. [175222]

Mr. Gardiner: I have not made an estimate of this kind. The forthcoming Special Educational Needs and Disability Order aims to strengthen the right of children with special educational needs to be educated in mainstream schools. Any costs arising from this will be dependent on the nature and extent of the exercise of this right over time, and will depend on the needs of the individual child. Educational provision will continue to be tailored to meet these needs, whether in mainstream schools, special units attached to mainstream schools, or special schools. I anticipate that special schools will continue to play a vital role in supporting pupils with significant and complex needs, in accordance with parental wishes and professional advice, and that they are likely to develop their role further in the future in the provision of specialist advice and support to mainstream schools.

The Government's investment of significant capital funding in the schools estate will continue to improve disabled access. In particular, all new and recently built or refurbished schools will comply with the requirements for physical access contained in the draft Special Educational Needs and Disability Order.
 
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Teenage Pregnancy

Mrs. Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland (1) what plans he has for youth development programmes to reduce teenage pregnancy rates; [175158]

(2)   if he will introduce a young people's development programme similar to that launched by the Departments of Health and Education and Skills. [175170]

Angela Smith: A multi-agency Implementation Group is overseeing and driving forward the 21 actions set out in the Teenage Pregnancy and Parenthood Strategy and Action Plan. One of the action points in the plan is the further development, particularly in areas of socio-economic deprivation and rural areas, of community based teenage personal development programmes that incorporate sexual health issues and risk taking behaviour. These programmes are being taken forward by Health and Social Services Boards and Trusts in partnership with the voluntary and community organisations and are tailored to the needs of our population.

The young people's development programme in England is a three year pilot exercise which is the subject of on-going evaluation. The findings are unlikely to be available until April 2007. Officials here will be liaising with colleagues in the Department of Health to monitor developments.

Mrs. Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many females aged between 11 and 19 years were fitted with contraceptive implants in Northern Ireland in each year since 2000, broken down by age. [175224]

Angela Smith: The information requested is not available.

Transmitter Masts

Mr. Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what information he has collated in relation to health risks associated with the provision of transmitter masts in residential areas. [175527]

Angela Smith: The Independent Expert Group on Mobile Phones (IEGMP) published a report on the subject of mobile phone technology in May 2000. It concluded that the balance of evidence indicated that there was no general risk to the health of people living near the base stations on the basis that exposures were expected to be small fractions of the guidelines of the International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP).

This position has been confirmed through the ongoing random audit of base stations being undertaken by the Radiocommunications Agency (now part of the Office of Communications—Ofcom). In the course of this audit programme almost 20 surveys were conducted at sites here in Northern Ireland during 2001 and 2002, mainly at schools and two at hospitals. Measurement of emissions in every case showed these to be hundreds and sometimes thousands of times below the ICNIRP guidelines.
 
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In January 2004 in a report made to the National Radiological Protection Board, the Advisory Group on Non-Ionising Radiation (AGNIR), having reviewed the evidence for health effects especially in work published since the IEGMP Report, concluded that

"exposure levels from living near to mobile phone base stations are extremely low, and the overall evidence indicates that they are unlikely to pose a threat to health."

DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER

Computer File Formats

Mr. Allan: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what his Department's policy is in respect of the computer file formats used for the (a) distribution and (b) archiving of publicly available documents. [173360]

Yvette Cooper: All documents published on the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister's website, both current and archived, are in either HTML and/or PDF format, with the exception of some statistical data which are available in Excel spreadsheet format.

Departmental Staff

Matthew Taylor: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how many staff were employed in the Department to work in the communications field and what the total expenditure on communications for the Department was, broken down by (a) Government Information and Communication Service staff and (b) other staff, broken down by (i) press officers, (ii) special advisors and (iii) others, in (A) 1994–95, (B) 1996–97, (C) 1997–98 and (D) 2001–02. [168673]

Yvette Cooper: The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister was created on 29 May 2002. Information for periods prior to this date is not available.

Extra Care Housing

Dr. Whitehead: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what definition of extra care housing his Department uses in collecting Supporting People mapping data. [175249]

Yvette Cooper: The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister has not issued a specific definition of extra care housing for the purposes of Supporting People mapping data. The relevant guidance does, however, include a definition of very sheltered housing for older people as:

"sheltered accommodation for physically or mentally frail older people, with on-site support and enhanced communal facilities, specialist design features and the capacity to offer a range of care and support services".

Most extra care housing would, in practice, fall within this definition.

High Hedges

Mr. Spring: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister when the findings of the public consultation in England on the measures in the Anti-social Behaviour Act 2003 dealing with high hedges will be published. [175550]

Yvette Cooper: The public consultation on implementing Part 8 of the Anti-social Behaviour Act 2003 runs until 30 June. The Office of the Deputy Prime
 
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Minister expects to report the results of the consultation and to bring the legislation into operation towards the end of 2004.

Housing Stock Transfer

Mr. Austin Mitchell: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how much his Department (a) expects to spend in this financial year and (b) spend in (i) 2002–03 and (ii) 2003–04 on writing off overhanging debt for local authorities that transfer their housing; and from which budget this sum is allocated. [176275]

Keith Hill: Payments to meet local authorities' overhanging debt are made where the value of the housing stock is less than a local authority's associated housing debt. It is estimated that if all the housing transfers programmed to transfer in 2004–05 secure a positive ballot and transfer this financial year then the 2004–05 provision for making Overhanging Debt payments of £616 million would be used in full. £548.2 million was paid in 2002–03 and £90.9 million in 2003–04. The payment reflects the liability the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister would otherwise have to pay continuing subsidy on a local authority's housing attributable debt. It is not possible to use this resource for capital purposes.

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