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Care Homes (South Down)

Mr. McGrady: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland (1) what action will be taken to resolve the shortage of home care staff in the South Down area; [183058]

(2) if he will make a statement on the shortage in home care staff in the South Down area. [183064]

Angela Smith: The Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety (DHSSPS) recognises the recruitment and retention difficulties faced by domiciliary care providers, not only in the South Down area but across the region as a whole. Research has been commissioned, which includes exploring with Health and Social Services Trusts and independent domiciliary care providers, the key issues affecting their ability to commission or deliver such services in the future. The outcome of this research will help to inform decisions on future funding for domiciliary care services.

DHSSPS is committed to securing additional resources for community care services. This year I have allocated an additional £4 million for community care,
 
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which will include domiciliary care. These funds have been allocated to boards on the basis of their capitation shares of overall resources.

Chlamydia

Mrs. Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will establish a chlamydia screening programme in Northern Ireland. [183028]

Angela Smith: The Department is in the process of establishing a Working Group to consider the evidence and the feasibility of introducing a Chlamydia screening programme in Northern Ireland.

Civil Servants (Industrial Action)

Mr. Lidington: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will make a statement on the impact of the current industrial action of civil servants on the payment of rates. [180791]

Mr. Pearson: While the ongoing industrial action is causing some disruption to services the Rates Collection Agency has deployed contingency measures and performance at the end of May 2004 was on a par with that at the end of May 2003.

Diabetic Retinopathy Screening

Rev. Martin Smyth: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what funding has been made available in the last year to roll-out a regional diabetic retinopathy screening programme in Northern Ireland; and (a) how and (b) where this funding has been spent. [183451]

Angela Smith: In the financial year 2003–04 £175,000 was allocated to the four Health and Social Services Boards, on a capitation basis, to begin the development of a regional diabetic retinopathy screening programme. This year (2004–05) £300,000 has been provided to the boards towards the extension of the programme. These resources will allow the boards to commence recruitment and training of staff for photography and grading, and certain aspects of IT. £100,000 has been set aside to support the development of central elements of the programme including a regional co-ordinator, clerical support, and a quality assurance framework. A further £300,000 capital funding is available this year for the purchase of essential equipment.

Rev. Martin Smyth: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what the implementation strategy is for rolling out regional diabetic retinopathy screening in Northern Ireland; and what the (a) timescales and (b) targets for the future roll-out are. [183452]

Angela Smith: Introduction of a comprehensive regional diabetic retinopathy screening programme with its different methodologies and complex IT and operational aspects is expected to take a number of years. Boards are developing local implementation plans which take account of local needs and existing arrangements. They are being guided by the Department's Diabetic Retinopathy Screening Working Group. The aim is to screen around 20,000 people with diabetes in the current year, subject to recruitment of appropriate staff.
 
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Rev. Martin Smyth: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what the progress is of the Regional Diabetic Retinopathy Steering Group since January in taking forward the proposals outlined in the Report of the Working Group to the Chief Medical Officer, October 2002, entitled Proposal for the Introduction of a Comprehensive Diabetic Retinopathy Screening Programme in Northern Ireland. [183453]

Angela Smith: Following the Report of the Working Group, money was made available in April 2003 to develop diabetic retinopathy screening. Since then the Department's Diabetic Retinopathy Working Group has been overseeing developmental work required for the extension of the Diabetic Retinopathy Screening Programme. This includes work with Health Board staff, and other health professionals involved in screening, in progressing local implementation plans. Work is also on-going on issues including regional co-ordination, a quality assurance framework, datasets and IT support. The capacity of the treatment services is also being assessed.

Drugs

Mrs. Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what his Department is doing to limit mortality and morbidity from adverse drug reactions in Northern Ireland. [183415]

Angela Smith: The Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety is actively supporting the introduction of medicines management services in Northern Ireland. These are specifically targeted to reduce morbidity and mortality associated with medicine use. Such services include prescribing support, medication review, managing your medicines schemes, repeat dispensing, patient education and interface management between primary and secondary care.

Mrs. Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will provide mainstream funding for the Stopping Them Starting drugs prevention campaign through education projects in primary schools. [184063]

Mr. Gardiner: The Department for Education does not directly fund or prescribe the use of any particular programmes or materials that schools should use. It is entirely a matter for individual schools to select the resources and materials they consider necessary to deliver the curriculum, including drugs education.

Education Budget

David Burnside: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland (1) how much of the projected budget for schools in 2005–06 will go to (a) primary and (b) secondary education; [184214]

(2) what special funding has been allocated to schools in socially deprived areas in the 2005–06 budget. [184294]

Mr. Gardiner: Specific budgets for the 2005–06 financial year will be determined in light of the outcome of the Budget 2004 Spending Review.
 
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David Burnside: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what additional funding for education in Northern Ireland was received from the Exchequer following the Chancellor's funding statement in March. [184216]

Mr. Gardiner: The Chancellor of the Exchequer's statement provided for increased allocations for the Department for Education and Skills in 2006–07 and 2007–08. Northern Ireland received a proportion of these increases but, under the standard funding arrangements, such additions are not hypothecated as the allocation of the overall Northern Ireland budget is a matter for local decision.

Equality Commission

Rev. Martin Smyth: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how much has been paid in legal aid for cases supported by the Equality Commission in the last three years. [171541]

Mr. Spellar: The Equality Commission for Northern Ireland (ECNI) is not responsible for legal aid but does support a range of discrimination cases of strategic value through its legal and financial resources. ECNI's published Annual Reports and Accounts for 2000–01, 2001–02 and 2002–03 report spending on legal cases supported by the Commission as:

	£
2000–01	653,890
2001–02	1,046,561
2002–03	2,750,825

As stated in the Audited Accounts, the total for 2002–03 includes a contingent liability of legal fees of £605,000 anticipated over the next three years in respect of 287 closed cases.

Rev. Martin Smyth: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many cases the Equality Commission has supported in the last three years, broken down by (a) gender, (b) disability and (c) religion; and how many succeeded. [171542]

Mr. Spellar: The information requested is as follows.

Area	2000–01	2001–02	2002–03
Gender	141	160	52
Disability	68	112	43
Religion/Political Opinion	142	289	37

Applications Granted Assistance 2000–01 to 2002–03

On the basis of information supplied by the Equality Commission, in the same period the following numbers of cases were either settled or heard and upheld ¹ .

¹ The year in which applications were granted support and the year when settlements or hearings were completed are unlikely to be the same.

	Number of cases
2000–01	108
2001–02	124
2002–03	196

 
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Rev. Martin Smyth: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many cases are before the Equality Commission; and how long each has been awaiting a decision. [171543]

Mr. Spellar: There are currently 176 applications for assistance being considered by the Equality Commission of which 120 have been received within the past four months and 56, four months or more.

The target processing period is four months and a number of those applications currently requiring longer are dependent on responses from respondents.

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