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13 Dec 2004 : Column 917W—continued

Departmental Expenditure

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, how many cases have been brought against his Department under the Human Rights Act 1998; and what the cost has been in (a) legal fees to defend cases and (b) compensation payments. [202514]

 
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Mr. Paul Murphy: The Human Rights Act 1998 has been relied on in numerous cases both civil and criminal. The Northern Ireland Office does not keep a record of cases brought against it where a party to the proceedings has relied on the Act. Without analysing each case brought against the Department in detail it would be difficult to determine the impact of the Human Rights argument in any particular case as it is normally only one of a number of arguments deployed.

Departmental Files

Dr. Julian Lewis: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland whether it is the policy of the Department to retain for the benefit of future (a) historians and (b) applicants under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 the same (i) complete categories of files, (ii) numbers of files and (iii) representative examples of files from categories of files destroyed as had been preserved prior to the passage of that Act. [203303]

Angela Smith: The implementation of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 will not affect the reviewing procedures for the selection of files deemed to be of historical and other research value. The Public Record Office of Northern Ireland has a records management policy that includes the appraisal of departmental files in order to identify files of permanent value. Files are selected for preservation on this basis when brought forward to the Public Record Office reviewers by Departments. Only a few sample files are preserved where the series of files is deemed to be of no historical interest. If a series is deemed to be of particular historical importance the complete series is preserved. The overall numbers of files selected for preservation will continue to depend on the historical value of the files reviewed in any given period.

Departmental Mobile Phones

Mr. Clifton-Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many departmental mobile telephones were used by Ministers, special advisers and officials in his Department in each year since 1997; at what cost; how many such telephones were lost or stolen in each year since 1997; and what the replacement costs were in each case. [202172]

Mr. Pearson: For the period April 2003 to March 2004:

(a) 7 mobile telephones were used by Ministers and Special Advisors of the Northern Ireland Office, and

(b) 1,677 mobile telephones were used by officials of the Northern Ireland Office and the 11 Departments of the NI Administration.

Of these 27 were lost or stolen incurring a cost of £1,282.

Information in the form requested for previous years is not held centrally and would only be available at disproportionate cost.

Disabled Access

Mrs. Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what assistance is available to businesses in the Province for adaptations to premises in response to new disability discrimination legislation. [202604]

 
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Mr. Spellar: The new Disability Discrimination legislation that came in on 1 October 2004 affected businesses both as employers and as providers of services to the public. The Disability Discrimination Act 1995 (Amendment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2004, which implemented the Employment Framework Directive, extended the Disability Discrimination Act to cover certain new occupations and employers with fewer than 15 employees. Also 1 October 2004 saw the introduction of the final stage of duties on service providers. From that date they have had to make 'reasonable adjustments' in relation to the physical features of their premises to overcome physical barriers to access. In effect this means that where a physical feature of a building makes it impossible or unreasonably difficult for disabled people to make use of services, a service provider will have to take reasonable steps to remove, alter or provide a reasonable means of avoiding it.

There is no specific funding available to help businesses with duties under the Disability Discrimination Act to meet these new requirements. This is because employers and service providers are only required to do what is reasonable, and factors such as the cost and practicability of making reasonable adjustments, and the financial and other resources available to the business will be taken into account in determining what is reasonable.

The Department for Employment and Learning does not directly provide assistance to businesses to adapt premises in response to disability discrimination legislation. However, in certain circumstances assistance can be provided through Access to Work (NI) towards adaptation of premises to help overcome employment related obstacles faced by disabled employees.

The Equality Commission for Northern Ireland has undertaken wide-ranging publicity campaigns to raise awareness of these new duties in order to give employers and service providers the opportunity to understand, and plan for, their implementation. Their campaigns have been supported by a variety of information leaflets and promotional literature.

EU Directives

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will list the European Union directives and regulations relating to his Department that have been implemented in each of the last two years, specifying (a) the title and purpose of each, (b) the cost to public funds of each and (c) the cost to business of each. [202513]

Mr. Paul Murphy: There have been no European Union directives or regulations implemented in the Northern Ireland Office in each of the last two years.

External Consultants

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what the total cost to his Department was for the use of external consultants in each of the last two years. [202515]

Mr. Paul Murphy: The total cost for the use of external consultants in the Northern Ireland Office in each of the last two years is as follows.
 
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	£
2002–03	2,418,272
2003–04	1,592,494
2004–05(22)	2,880,224

⁽²²⁾ Up to and including September 2004.

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what the total external spending by his Department was on Private Finance Initiative consultants in each of the last two years; how many full-time equivalent consultants were employed over this period; how many billed consultancy days there were per year; what the implied average cost of each PFI consultant was; how many consultancy firms were used by his Department over this period; and if he will make a statement. [202516]

Mr. Paul Murphy: The total external spending by this Department on Private Finance Initiative consultants in each of the last two years including how may full-time equivalent consultants were employed over this period; how many billed consultancy days there were per year; what the implied average cost of each PFI consultant was and how many consultancy firms were used by this Department over this period are as follows:
Causeway Programme

	Firm 1	Firm 2
Year 2003–04 Firms used (2)
FTE	1	7
Billed Days	5.64	73
Total Paid (ex VAT)	£14,664.00	£57,969.00
Implied Cost per Consultant	£2,600.00	£794.10
Year 2004–05 Firms Used (0)
FTE	—	—
Billed Days	—	—
Total Paid (ex VAT)	—	—
Implied Cost per consultant	—	—

IT Division

NIO ITD spent approximately £30,000 on "Partnerships UK" for investigating PFI options for delivery of the FLAX Programme during 2002–03. This equated to approximately 12 consultancy days.

This answer is in respect of the Northern Ireland Office only and does not include the 11 departments of the NI administration.

Health Expenditure

Mrs. Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how much has been spent by local health (a) boards and (b) trusts on (i) external contract staffing, (ii) external consultants and (iii) advertising in each of the last five years. [202603]

Angela Smith: The information requested is detailed in the following tables. The figures for external contract staffing and consultancy services are collected as one amount on the annual financial returns and as a result, the individual elements cannot be identified.
 
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Total NI expenditure on external contract staffing and consultancy services⁽²³⁾ £000

External contract staffing and consultancy services	1998–99	1999–2000	2000–01	2001–02	2002–03
Board
Eastern	59	108	90	119	56
Northern	135	54	154	142	174
Southern	111	126	57	149	0
Western	41	59	44	109	31
NI total	345	347	345	518	261

⁽²³⁾ Please note that any discrepancies in the totals are due to roundings
Note:
Expenditure in this category can vary from year-to-year and the amounts can relate to how services are provided in individual Trusts/Boards




 
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Total NI expenditure on advertising by Board⁽²⁴⁾ £000

Advertising	1998–99	1999–2000	2000–01	2001–02	2002–03
Board
Eastern	31	45	37	59	59
Northern	14	23	44	42	54
Southern	30	72	87	49	108
Western	6	21	25	165	54
NI total	81	162	193	315	275

⁽²⁴⁾ Please note that any discrepancies in the totals are due to roundings



Total NI expenditure on external contract staffing and consultancy services by Trust⁽²⁵⁾ £000

External contract staffing and consultancy services	1998–99	1999–2000	2000–01	2001–02	2002–03
Trust
Altnagelvin	8	8	8	8	8
Armagh and Dungannon	31	45	21	14	23
Belfast City Hospital	62	193	207	191	203
Causeway	60	47	36	57	116
Craigavon and Banbridge	38	72	86	54	76
Craigavon Area	38	99	38	130	181
Down Lisburn	40	27	6	19	65
Foyle	34	12	4	9	8
Greenpark	0	0	0	0	0
Homefirst	59	87	86	188	274
Mater	21	4	0	0	0
Newry and Mourne	12	33	22	61	107
NIAS	41	131	173	258	273
North and West Belfast	28	23	62	90	34
Royal Group of Hospitals	209	215	221	223	199
South and East Belfast	8	0	0	0	0
Sperrin Lakeland	14	15	11	22	0
Ulster	16	112	41	17	14
United	112	21	28	36	83
NI total	616	921	820	1,146	1,465

⁽²⁵⁾ Please note that any discrepancies in the totals are due to roundings.
Note:
Expenditure in this category can vary from year-to-year and the amounts can relate to how services are provided in individual Trusts/Boards





Total NI expenditure on advertising by Trust £000

Advertising	1998–99	1999–2000	2000–01	2001–02	2002–03
Trust
Altnagelvin	74	56	100	113	221
Armagh and Dungannon	53	66	100	77	71
Belfast City Hospital	84	117	157	168	190
Causeway	68	61	49	135	105
Craigavon and Banbridge	13	54	92	70	87
Craigavon Area	49	74	89	49	97
Down Lisburn	109	101	165	208	214
Foyle	89	91	116	129	149
Greenpark	47	65	76	138	116
Homefirst	80	84	135	193	200
Mater	31	37	50	65	71
Newry and Mourne	66	100	73	102	27
NIAS	18	14	22	33	34
North and West Belfast	66	60	89	201	185
Royal Group of Hospitals	108	133	160	274	250
South and East Belfast	114	76	86	122	179
Sperrin Lakeland	81	108	110	127	152
Ulster	75	101	154	253	175
United	64	105	101	118	147
NI Total	1,289	1,503	1,923	2,575	2,671

⁽²⁶⁾ Please note that any discrepancies in the totals are due to roundings





 
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