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13 Sept 2004 : Column 1473W—continued
Care Homes
Mrs. Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will make a statement on insurance costs for independent care homes. [187762]
Angela Smith: The cost of insurance for independent care homes is a business matter between home owners and their insurers.
Civic Forum
Mrs. Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what the (a) set-up costs and (b) most recent annual running costs were of the civic forum. [187806]
Mr. Paul Murphy:
Set-up costs for the civic forum were approximately £75,000. The running costs of the civic forum for the financial year 2002–03 were £328,000.
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Clinical Negligence
Mrs. Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how much was awarded in (a) legal costs and (b) damages for clinical negligence cases in Northern Ireland in each of the last 10 years. [187810]
Angela Smith: The information in respect of the cost of clinical negligence cases in Northern Ireland in relation to each of the previous six years is as follows.
| £000 | |
|---|---|
| 1998–99 | 12,286 |
| 1999–2000 | 4,859 |
| 2000–01 | 9,409 |
| 2001–02 | 7,415 |
| 2002–03 | 13,550 |
| 2003–04 | 15,194 |
The information relating to the previous four years is not readily available in the form requested and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.
Information on the split of the above figures between damages and legal costs is not readily available in the form requested and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
Cocaine
Mrs. Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what information he has collected on the extent of cocaine use in the Province; and if he will make a statement. [187809]
Angela Smith: In 2003, there were 25 registered cocaine addicts on the Drug Addicts Register while the Drug Misuse Database shows that in 2002–03, 68 persons presented for treatment citing cocaine as their main drug of misuse. In the All Ireland Drug Prevalence Survey 2002–03 1.6 per cent. of 15–64 year olds reported that they had ever used cocaine.
There is growing anecdotal evidence of an increase in the use of cocaine in the club and pub setting among young adults. In light of these reports the Government have set up a small group to consider more closely the level of cocaine use in Northern Ireland with a view to informing future policy and strategy development in terms of prevention and treatment.
Counterfeit Goods Seizures
Mrs. Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will make a statement on counterfeit goods seized in the Province in the last year. [187450]
Mr. Pearson:
The Police Service of Northern Ireland have had significant success in disrupting and frustrating criminals networks involved in intellectual property crime and in 2003–04 seized £7.6 million of counterfeit goods. Enforcement work is continuing, and under the umbrella of the Organised Crime Task Force the PSNI is working in partnership with industry and brand holders to identify illicit products, improve
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understanding of the scope of trademark and copyright law, and raise public awareness of the risks associated with the purchase of counterfeit goods.
Crime (Elderly People)
Mr. Beggs: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what the mortality rate of elderly people who have been the victims of crime was in the last five years for which figures are available. [178382]
Mr. Pearson: The medical cause of death certificate contains no specific information as to whether the person had previously been the victim of a crime. Information can be provided only on cases where the cause of death is assault. The following table provides figures on the number of people of pensionable age (aged 60 or over for females, 65 or over for males) who died as a result of assault 1 over the period 1999 to 2003.
1 Cause of death was defined using the International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision (ICD-10) codes X85-Y09 and Y87.1 (2001–03) and the Ninth Revision (ICD-9) codes E960-E969 (1999–2000).
| Deaths | |
|---|---|
| 1999 | 1 |
| 2000 | 2 |
| 2001 | 0 |
| 2002 | 0 |
| 2003 (data for 2003 are provisional) | 2 |
Dementia
Mrs. Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will estimate the annual cost of providing nursing and personal care for dementia sufferers in Northern Ireland. [187797]
Angela Smith: The information requested is not available centrally.
Disability Benefits
Mr. McGrady: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what rationale underlies the differing periods of time which must elapse from the commencement of an illness before a claim can be made for (a) attendance allowance and (b) disability living allowance; and if he will review the rationale. [187824]
Mr. Spellar:
The qualifying periods for attendance allowance and disability living allowance help ensure that they are not paid to people with short term, transient disabilities. The differences in the qualifying periods for the two benefits reflect the differing characteristics of the people they are designed to help. Disability living allowance focuses help with the extra costs of disability on people who have the very considerable disadvantage of being severely disabled early, or relatively early, in life. Hence, it has a shorter qualifying period than attendance allowance which provides help with the disability-related extra costs of people who do not experience the onset of severe disability until later in life when they are aged 65 or over. There are no plans to change these arrangements.
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Mr. McGrady: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland whether he plans to review the legislation that places an age restriction on eligibility for disability living allowance. [187825]
Mr. Spellar: There are no plans to review the legislation in relation to the age bands for either the care or mobility components of disability living allowance.
Mr. McGrady: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will lower the rate of the care component for attendance allowance in order to provide elderly claimants with assistance towards their care costs. [187826]
Mr. Spellar: Attendance allowance is paid at two rates. The higher rate is for people who need help with personal care and/or supervision or watching over to avoid substantial danger to themselves or others by day and at night. The lower rate is for people who have those needs either during the day or at night. As at May 2004, attendance allowance was providing help towards the disability-related extra costs of over 65,000 people aged 65 or over in Northern Ireland. We believe that the allowance is properly directed towards the needs of older disabled people and there are no plans to introduce a third rate.
Doctors' Working Hours
Mrs. Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what percentage of (a) junior house officers, (b) senior house officers and (c) specialist registrars are compliant with the European Working Time Directive at each health trust in the Province. [187802]
Angela Smith: The information detailed in the table below was obtained from each of the HPSS Trusts during May and June of this year as an assessment of how the junior doctors they employ would measure in terms of compliance against the European Working Time Directive (EWTD) requirements as to be introduced at 1 August 2004.
Note: n/a = not available
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Based on this information, the overall HPSS compliance position was that, approximately 60 per cent. of the total junior doctor workforce was expected to meet the August 2004 EWTD requirements.
However the situation has moved on since this information was gathered, in that a further 75 new junior doctor positions have been created within the HPSS, and that the addition of these new posts are expected to bring the overall compliance figure up to nearer 70 per cent.
The Department is currently engaged in gathering more up to date information from all HSS organisations in relation to the junior doctors EWTD compliance position, and will be analysing the information gathered with a view to making a more definitive assessment of the overall current HPSS compliance position.
We continue to work closely with all HSS organisations to ensure the objective of achieving full EWTD compliance for all junior doctors is achieved as soon as possible, while ensuring services to patients are not adversely affected.
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