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12 Jan 2005 : Column 562W—continued
Medication (Adverse Reactions)
Mrs. Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will estimate the (a) costs incurred and (b) total bed days in the Province resulting from adverse reactions to medications in the 2004–05 financial year. [206341]
Angela Smith: The episodes arising in a hospital day case or inpatient environment which were specifically identified as including adverse reactions to medication cost some £2.2 million in the 2002–03 financial year, with related bed-days of some 19,300. This may not reflect the complete cost for all treatments resulting from adverse reactions to medications as these may not have been specifically identified within the hospital coding system and, furthermore, the above cost does not include related treatments in primary, community and outpatient settings.
Nursing
Mrs. Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland whether an individual in the Province has responsibility for promoting nursing as a career. [205971]
Angela Smith:
Responsibility for promoting nursing as a career is shared corporately within the profession across all care sectors and does not rest with an individual in the Province. In leading and advising on nursing policy development and implementation, the Chief Nursing Officer and her team promote nursing.
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Education Providers and HPSS employers collaborate on promoting nursing as an exciting and challenging profession and in particular target school leavers and careers teachers with this information. The DHSSPS through its commissioning processes encourage and support this activity.
Smoking
Mrs. Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what steps he is taking to tackle the level of smoking among young females in the Province. [206126]
Angela Smith: The Five Year Tobacco Action Plan, published in June 2003, provides a platform for inter-agency collaboration on tobacco control. The plan identifies children and young people as a key target group and we continue to work with Health and Social Services Boards, the Health Promotion Agency, the Department of Education, the voluntary sector and others to discourage all young people from starting to smoke and to help young smokers quit.
CONSTITUTIONAL AFFAIRS
Conferences
Mr. George Osborne: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs how many conferences were (a) attended by officials from the Department, (b) cancelled by and (c) facilitated by the Department in each year since 1997; and what the (i) cost to the Department and (ii) location was in each case. [205752]
Mr. Lammy: This information is not held centrally in my Department and therefore could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
Departmental Equipment
Mr. George Osborne: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs how many items of electrical equipment were used by the Department in the last year for which figures are available, broken down by (a) cost and (b) number of each type of item. [205728]
Mr. Lammy: The last year that figures are available for my Department is 2004. However, they relate only to the number of items of electrical equipment were in use and are not broken down by (a) cost or (b) the number of each type of item. Further, they relate to DCA HQ and Associated Offices only, and exclude the Court Service, which does not hold this information centrally and cannot provide the information without incurring disproportionate costs.
The question is not specific as to whether the response should include only small electrical items or whether it covers a wider scope including items of plant, servers, lighting installations or air conditioning. As a result, this answer has been prepared using the Portable Appliance Testing records for 2004 which includes all moveable items but excludes items of plant. I believe that this provides us with the most accurate response possible
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from the information available. The total number of electrical items in use, in my Department in 2004 was 21,410.
Departmental Expenditure
Mr. George Osborne: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs how much has been spent by his Department on (a) indoor bought plants, (b) indoor hired plants, (c) outdoor bought plants and (d) outdoor hired plants in each year since 1997. [205598]
Mr. Lammy: This response relates to the DCA HQ Estate and Associated offices only since the Court Service does not hold any records on this centrally and would have to incur a disproportionate cost to collect the information. Further, the DCA HQ only holds records for the last two years and would incur a disproportionate cost in searching all invoiced records since 1997.
In the last two years, The DCA HQ estate has spent the following amounts on plants:
| (a) | (b) | (c) | (d) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2003–04 | 1,0350 | 5,399 | 0 | 0 |
| 2004–05(9) | 6,360 | 18,115 | 0 | 0 |
(9) Note:
To December 2004.
Mr. George Osborne: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs how much has been spent by his Department on (a) new furniture and (b) hired furniture in each year since 1997. [205608]
Mr. Lammy: My Department has spent the following amounts on furniture in the last 4 years. No central figures are held from prior to 2001 and to obtain them would incur a disproportionate cost.
Further, this response is based on the DCA HQ Estate and associated offices only since the Court Service is unable to gather this information without disproportionate cost.
| New furniture | Hired furniture | |
|---|---|---|
| 2001–2002 | 527,000 | 0 |
| 2002–2003 | 640,000 | 0 |
| 2003–2004 | 1,719,000 | 0 |
| 2004–2005(10) | 775,000 | 0 |
(10) To December 2004
For the purposes of this question, furniture has been assumed to include: desks, chairs, pedestals, conference furniture, cupboards, general office storage and high density and mobile storage. The question has been answered in accordance with Cabinet Office Round Robin Guidance (issued 5 January. 2005).
Mr. George Osborne:
To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs how much the Department spent on lawyers in each year
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since 1997; how many (a) actions, (b) settlements and (c) court cases there were in each year; and what the costs were of each settlement. [206458]
Mr. Leslie: Most litigation brought by or against the Department is handled by the Treasury Solicitor. The Department paid the following amounts in respect of litigation matters handled by the Treasury Solicitor for the period 1997 to date.
(11) These are the number of litigation matters worked on and billed to the Department by the Treasury Solicitor during the financial year and not necessarily new litigation matters started during that year.
These figures do not include (i) the Treasury Solicitor's fees for providing legal advice not related to litigation, (ii) fees incurred by external legal advisers for either litigation or non-litigation related work, (iii) damages and costs paid to successful litigants in matters brought against the Department and (iv) fees incurred by counsel where the Department has instructed counsel direct on non-litigation matters.
The Department does not have the information readily to hand to answer questions (a) , (b) and (c). Collating this information would involve looking at each individual litigation file and, given the number of files involved each year, to conduct this exercise would involve disproportionate cost. The figures given in the table will include cases that have been resolved before the commencement of court proceedings, those that have been resolved by the parties during the course of court proceedings and those that have been determined by the court.
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