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2 Nov 2004 : Column 236W—continued

Departmental Accountancy Practice

Mr. Bacon: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland who the finance director of the office is; what accountancy qualifications the director holds; and on how many occasions there has been a qualified opinion on (i) the resource accounts and (ii) other accounts of the office in each of the last five years. [183422]

Mr. Paul Murphy: The information is as follows.

Part (1)

Director of resources (equivalent of finance director) for the Northern Ireland Office is Paul Priestly. He does not hold an accounting qualification, but the head of finance who works to the director of resources is a fellow member of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants.
 
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Part (2)

There has been a qualified opinion on the resource accounts on two occasions (2000–01 and 2001–02) in the past five years.

There has been no qualified opinion on other accounts of the department during the same period.

Departmental Spending

Mr. Lidington: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how much his Department has spent on (a) hospitality and (b) taxi costs in (i) 1996–97 and (ii) the lastest year for which figures are available. [188766]

Mr. Paul Murphy: The Northern Ireland Office (including its agencies but excluding NDPBs as we do not have a breakdown of their costs) has spent the following on:

	£
(a) hospitality
(i)1996–97	269,613
(ii)2003–04	319,741

	£
(b) taxis
(i) 1996–97(37)	—
(ii)2003–04	19,213

⁽³⁷⁾ The amount is not available as at that time there was not a specific code for taxi expenditure.

Mr. Lidington: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how much his Department has spent on (a) headhunters and recruitment consultants and (b) management consultants in (i) 1996–97 and (ii) the latest year for which figures are available. [188770]

Mr. Paul Murphy: The Northern Ireland Office (including its agencies but excluding NDPBs as we do not have a breakdown of their costs) has spent the following on:

	£
(a) headhunters and recruitment consultants
(i) 1996–97	nil
(ii) 2003–04	4,944

	£
(b) management consultants
(i) 1996–97	180,968
(ii) 2003–04	238,802

Mr. Lidington: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how much has been spent by his Department on (a) advertising and (b) public relations consultants in (i) 1996–97 and (ii) the latest year for which figures are available. [188771]

 
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Mr. Paul Murphy: The Northern Ireland Office (including its agencies but excluding NDPBs as I do not have a breakdown of their costs) has spent the following on:

	£
(a) advertising
(i) 1996–97	480,160
(ii) 2003–04	558,797

	£
(b) public relations consultants
(i) 1996–97	3,995
(ii) 2003–04	136,260

Disposable Nappies

Mrs. Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what estimate he has made of the number of disposable nappies used in the Province in the last year for which figures are available; and what the resultant cost of disposal was. [193704]

Angela Smith: There are no figures collected relating specifically to the use of disposable nappies annually in Northern Ireland. However, the Northern Ireland Household Waste Characterisation Study (2000) by NI2000 stated that disposable nappies made around 4 per cent. of the waste of the average Northern Ireland household. In 2003, a total of 901,136 tonnes of household waste was produced in Northern Ireland which, applying the 4 per cent. factor, implies a total of some 36,000 tonnes of disposable nappy waste. At 200 grammes per disposable nappy, this amounts to approximately 180 million such nappies per year.

The three sub-regional Waste Management Groups are due to submit their Annual Performance Reports for 2003, which will include costs of waste disposal per district council, by the end of November. Based on the composition of the waste stream, it will be possible to estimate a figure for the costs associated with nappy disposal.

Copies of the documents referred to will be placed in the Library, and I will write to the hon. Lady.

Equality Schemes

Peter Bottomley: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will estimate the number of pages in each equality scheme required under section 75 of the Northern Ireland Act 1998. [183678]

Mr. Spellar: An equality scheme is a public statement of a public authority's commitment to fulfilling their statutory duties and sets out how they intend to fulfil these duties. The Equality Commission for Northern Ireland's "Guide to the Statutory Duties" lays out the key elements, as a minimum, which must be included in the equality scheme. Public authority's can, if they so wish, include additional information over and above this.
 
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The number of pages in equality schemes varies, depending on the nature of the public authority's business, the detail included (over and above the minimum required by Equality Commission for Northern Ireland), the physical layout of the document and the language used.

The average number of pages contained in the equality schemes of the 11 Departments of the Northern Ireland Administration and the Northern Ireland Office is approximately 75 pages (including annexes).

Fixed Penalty Notices

Mr. Beggs: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland whether (a) English, (b) Scottish, (c) Irish and (d) Welsh driving licence holders can pay fixed penalty notices for traffic offences committed in Northern Ireland without having to be present in court. [192531]

Angela Smith: The Department of the Environment has introduced legislation for the mutual recognition of driving disqualifications and endorsable road traffic offences between Northern Ireland and Great Britain. The Road Traffic (Driving Disqualifications) (Northern Ireland) Order 2003, which came into operation on 11 October 2004, allows the holder of a Great Britain driving licence to pay a fixed penalty notice for a traffic offence without having to be present in court. The holder of a Republic of Ireland driving licence cannot avail of the fixed penalty procedure and offences must be processed through the court system.

Fuel Costs

Mr. Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what assessment he has made of (a) the availability of cheaper fuel to people living close to the border with the Irish Republic and (b) the impact of the availability of such fuel on (i) deprivation levels and (ii) economic regeneration in border areas of Northern Ireland. [193640]

Mr. Spellar: No assessment has been made of this situation.

GP Prescribing

Mrs. Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland (1) what the cost was in 2003 of the prescribing of mediboxes by each general practitioner surgery in the Province; [193759]

(2) what the cost was in 2003–04 of prescribing mediboxes on a weekly basis, broken down by general practitioner surgery in the Province. [194985]

Angela Smith: The information requested is not available. Mediboxes are not available on health service prescription but can, however, be privately prescribed, purchased, or provided in a variety of other ways.

Hazardous Waste

Lady Hermon: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what definition he uses of (a) special waste and (b) hazardous waste. [193723]

Angela Smith: Special Waste is defined under the Special Waste Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1998.
 
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Hazardous waste is defined under the Landfill Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2003 and the Pollution Prevention and Control Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2003 as "any waste as defined in Article 1(4) of Council Directive 91/689/EEC (the Hazardous Waste Directive)".

The Department intends to subsume the Special Waste Regulations into new Hazardous Waste Regulations which, together with a new List of Wastes Regulations, will have the effect of implementing the definition set out in the Hazardous Waste Directive. Once these Regulations are in force the term "special waste" will no longer be used.

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