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Industrial Tribunals

Mrs. Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what the average waiting time to hear an industrial tribunal case in Northern Ireland was in the last year for which figures are available. [189696]

Mr. Gardiner: In 2003 the average time from application to hearing for Industrial Tribunal discriminatory complaints was two years six months and for non-discriminatory complaints five months.

Mrs. Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many industrial tribunal cases in Northern Ireland are waiting to be heard; and what action he is taking to reduce waiting times. [189697]

Mr. Gardiner: On 23 August 2004 there were 12,967 cases awaiting determination by the Industrial Tribunals. Almost 2,000 of these were discrimination cases and the remainder were non-discrimination cases. Some 6,300 cases relate to a common complaint against one respondent under working time regulations and a further 1,936 cases relate to 10 large multiple applications. A case may involve more than one complaint.

A series of measures has already been taken to improve the operation of the tribunals and reduce waiting times, including:

appointment of three additional full-time Chairmen;

updating the Tribunal rules of procedure;

provision of additional administrative staff;

 
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provision of additional Tribunal accommodation, and;

introduction of a new IT system.

Further improvements will include:

the imminent appointment of additional part-time chairmen;

enhancements to the Tribunals IT system;

testing the use of digital audio recording systems to speed up lengthy cases;

improved case management; and

promoting alternative methods of resolving workplace disputes.

In addition, new regulations due to come into effect in April 2005 will introduce statutory minimum dispute resolution procedures in every workplace in Northern Ireland. The outcome of this legislation should be a reduction in the number of applications being made to the Tribunals, which in time should reduce waiting times overall.

Inward Investment

Mr. Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what plans Invest Northern Ireland has to ensure that more potential inward investors have opportunities to visit the East Londonderry constituency in 2005. [189610]

Mr. Gardiner: In the context of a highly competitive marketplace for mobile international investment, the priority is to maximise investment for the Northern Ireland economy as a whole.

Internationally, Invest Northern Ireland will continue to focus its sales and marketing efforts on aggressively promoting Northern Ireland as an attractive and viable location for new inward investment opportunities. Invest Northern Ireland has a target of securing 150 inward visits by potential investors during the financial year 2004–05. While efforts are made to take visitors to as many potential locations as possible in Northern Ireland, each visit programme is dictated by investor requirements. Invest Northern Ireland's local offices have been working with local stakeholders to ensure that up to date and detailed information on sub-regions is available to potential investors when required.

Lagan Doc Service

Mrs. Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland when the recording of telephone conversations between the general public and staff at Lagan Doc Service commenced at Down, Lisburn Trust as a matter of course; and if he will make a statement. [190152]

 
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Angela Smith: Lagan Doc Out-of-Hours Service has been recording all incoming calls from the public from 6 August 2004. The primary reason for doing so is to help improve the quality of service provided and additionally for staff training and security purposes. Callers are advised at the outset, by a pre-recorded message, that the call is being recorded and of the reasons for doing so.

Londonderry Railway Station

Mr. Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how much has been spent on (a) maintenance and (b) improvements to the rail station in Londonderry in each of the past five years. [189604]

Mr. Spellar: The following figures detail how much has been spent on maintenance to the rail station in Londonderry in each of the past five years. There were no capital costs for improvements or additions.
Maintenance

	£
1999–2000	30,445
2000–01	31,387
2001–02	33,039
2002–03	34,416
2003–04	41,930

Manufacturing Industry

Mr. Trimble: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many people were employed in manufacturing in Northern Ireland in each of the last five years; and how many people he estimates will be employed in manufacturing in each of the next five years. [153833]

Mr. Gardiner: The NI labour market is performing well; the latest employee jobs figure of 683,050 is the highest figure on record. However, over the last 30 years a trend of declining manufacturing employment has been a feature of advanced economies including NI. As illustrated in the following table, over the last five years the number of manufacturing employee jobs in NI decreased by over 15 per cent. (the comparable figure for the UK is 17 per cent.).
Employee jobs in manufacturing (seasonally adjusted)

Year (June)	Manufacturing employee jobs in NI
1999	105,430
2000	103,830
2001	101,930
2002 (R)	97,510
2003 (R)	92,840
2004 (P)	89,080

Notes:
1. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10
2. Figures are seasonally adjusted
Source:
DETI, Northern Ireland Labour Market Statistics

The Department does not provide forecasts of labour market trends. However, DETI is aware of the challenges facing manufacturing and has recently commissioned research which will inform the development of NI policy for this important sector.
 
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Mental Health

Mrs. Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what the cost to public funds in the Province was in each of the last five years of (a) care provision, (b) absence from work, (c) legal actions against employers and (d) premature deaths, in relation to mental health. [188543]

Angela Smith: Details of total HSS Trust expenditure on the Mental Health Programme of Care in Northern Ireland for each of the last five years available are listed in the following table:

Year ended March	Total Expenditure (£ millions)
1999	114.8
2000	124.0
2001	133.2
2002	139.3
2003	150.8

The information required to answer parts (b), (c) and (d) is not available.

Ministers

Mr. Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many days each Northern Ireland Minister was on duty in the Province in each of the last six months. [188734]

Mr. Paul Murphy: The number of days that each Northern Ireland Office Minister was on duty in Northern Ireland in each of the last six months was as follows:

	March	April	May	June	July	August
Secretary of State	10	16	13	13	10	8
John Spellar	10	5	8	10	5	1
Ian Pearson	12	9	10	10	12	7
Angela Smith	14	9	10	5	9	9
Barry Gardiner	—	9	7	11	6	6

Post Offices (Deprived Areas)

David Burnside: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what progress has been made in implementing the Fund to Develop Post Offices in Deprived Urban Areas. [190380]

Mr. Spellar: This Deprived Urban Post Office Scheme opened for applications in April of this year. The first application was received in May from a Belfast post master and the second application was received in June from a Lurgan post master. Both of these applications are at an advanced stage of processing. Two further applications to the scheme were received in September from post masters in Craigavon and Newry.

Officials from the Department for Social Development have met with representatives from Post Office Ltd. regarding the scheme. At these discussions the post office confirmed that further applications will be submitted to the Department in the near future.
 
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