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22 Feb 2005 : Column 565W—continued

Jobskills Traineeships

Mr. Lidington: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many and what percentage of young people enrolled on year three of a jobskills traineeship in Northern Ireland had found a full-time job by the end of that year in each year since 2001. [215743]

Mr. Gardiner: The traineeship strand of the jobskills programme has a maximum training period of 78 weeks. Therefore the question is being answered on the basis of the number of young people who commenced a jobskills traineeship in each financial year since 2001 and, of those, the number who subsequently gained full-time employment.

The number of young people who commenced a jobskills traineeship in each financial year since 2001 is as follows:

	Number
2001–02	5,304
2002–03	4,956
2003–04	5,064
2004–05	(65)4,464

⁽⁶⁵⁾To date.

The number and percentage of young people recruited in each of the above years that subsequently found a full-time job is as follows:

	Number	Percentage
2001–02	3,018	57
2002–03	2,806	57
2003–04	(66)—;	(66)—;
2004–05	(66)—;	(66)—;

⁽⁶⁶⁾Too early to report.

Medical Negligence

Mrs. Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will estimate the number of deaths that resulted from medical negligence in the Province in each of the last 10 years. [216537]

Angela Smith: The information requested is not collected centrally.

Mrs. Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will estimate the total annual cost to the Northern Ireland economy of medical negligence in each of the last three years. [216539]

 
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Angela Smith: Information in relation to the last three years is detailed in the following table:
Amounts paid in settlements for clinical negligence claims from 2001–02 to 2003–04

	£000
2001–02	7,415
2002–03	13,550
2003–04	15,194

The amount paid in any one year in respect of clinical negligence can vary considerably due to the uncertain timing of the settlement of cases.

Motorcycle Races (Funding)

David Burnside: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what public sector (a) funding and (b) support is being provided to (i) the International North West 200 and (ii) the Ulster Grand Prix at Dundrod motorcycle races in 2005; and what assessment he has made of the economic effects on the local economy. [216304]

Angela Smith: To date, £5,800 has been made available by the Sports Council for Northern Ireland through the 2 and 4 Wheel Motorsport Steering Group Ltd. for the North West 200 in 2005. The Northern Ireland Events Company (NIEC) and the Northern Ireland Tourist Board (NITB) are presently considering applications for funding for the North West 200 and the NIEC is also considering an application for funding from the Ulster Grand Prix. Both the NIEC and NITB provide support to the organisers in developing these events.

An economic impact study commissioned by NIEC estimated the economic impact of the North West 200 in 2002 to be in the region of £5.6 million. An appraisal of the impact of the Ulster Grand Prix in 2004 carried out by Tourism and Transport Consult indicated a benefit of £1.9 million. These are separate studies and it may not be appropriate to make exact comparisons.

Royal Ulster Constabulary

David Burnside: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many (a) Roman Catholic and (b) Protestant members of the Royal Ulster Constabulary have been murdered by the IRA since 1 January 1975; and what percentage of the total numbers who have served in the Constabulary since 1975 each of those figures represents. [214358]

Mr. Pearson: Between 1 January 1975 and 4 November 2001, 222 Royal Ulster Constabulary Officers were murdered by the Provisional IRA.
 
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Monitoring of the community background of employees only came into effect in 1989, and it is therefore not possible to define the percentage of those murdered officers who were serving in the RUC from 1975 to 2001 by community background.

Lady Hermon: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many members of the part-time RUC reserve were required to transfer to either the full-time reserve or the regular police service as a result of intimidation or other terrorist activity during the troubles. [216840]

Mr. Pearson: There has never been provision for part-time reserve officers to transfer into the RUC full time reserve or the regular police service. Part-time reserve officers who wished to join the RUC full time reserve or regular police service had to resign and subsequently apply for and undertake the necessary training, as with any other applicant.

Lady Hermon: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many members of the part-time RUC reserve were forced to move home as a result of intimidation or other terrorist activity during the troubles. [216841]

Mr. Pearson: From 1994 to date, a total of 16 part-time reserve officers were evacuated from their homes as a result of intimidation or other terrorist activity. There are no figures specifically relating to the PTR available for the period before 1994.

NHS Staff (Abuse)

Rev. Martin Smyth: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will introduce legislation to protect persons serving within the national health service from physical and verbal abuse. [214819]

Angela Smith: Legislation already exists under the Public Order (Northern Ireland) Order 1987 which includes offences such as assault, assault and battery, and grievous bodily harm, and offences in relation to conduct in public buildings.

The Department has made it clear that it will not tolerate attacks on Health and Personal Social Services staff and expects employers to take reasonable steps to protect staff and to actively support staff who have been subjected to such incidents.

There are no plans to introduce any further legislation. However, the Department continues to closely monitor the number of attacks on staff and will review the situation should the monitoring process highlight a growing trend.

Official Residences

Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will list the official residences for which his Department is responsible; who occupies each one; what the annual cost is of running each property; what contribution the current occupants make towards the running costs of each; what the total capital and refurbishment expenditure has been on those properties in each of the past five years; how much money was spent in each property on (a) flowers and plants, (b) wine and entertaining, (c) food, (d) telephone bills and (e) electricity and gas in
 
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2003–04; how many (i)domestic and (ii) maintenance staff are employed at each property, broken down by post; and what the total cost of staff employment at each was in 2003–04. [213605]

Mr. Pearson: Hillsborough Castle is the official residence of the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland. The facilities at the castle are also used to provide official hospitality, overnight accommodation and to carry out other official business. The range of activities can include political meetings, hospitality for visiting dignitaries, the Secretary of State's garden party, and citizenship ceremonies. In addition to its use by the Northern Ireland Office and other Government Departments, charities and local community groups can request to use the facilities, generally for fund raising purposes, and the castle and grounds are open at certain times of the year for guided tours.

The total cost of running Hillsborough Castle in the 2003–04 financial year was £1,285,224.08. This includes the maintenance of the listed building and grounds; the security of the castle and its grounds and that of Ministers, officials and visitors while present at the castle. It also includes the cost hosting of the events listed above, as well as catering, hospitality and administration.

The Secretary of State is on duty while at Hillsborough Castle and therefore his costs count as official expense.

Records of expenditure on refurbishment are an integral part of the records that cover many other items of building maintenance and repair. It would be possible to identify only those items that relate specifically to refurbishment only at disproportionate cost.

During the 2003–04 year £16,769.87 was spent on flowers and plants. This included plants and flowers for the 100 acre listed estate surrounding the castle and flowers for functions.

A total £171,107.56 was spent on all catering and hospitality related items (the costs of food wine and entertaining not being separately available).

£19,254.33 was spent on telephone system including calls, installations and maintenance.

£64,360.56 was spent on power, including electricity, gas, oil and other forms of fuel.

The total cost for all staff in the 2003–04 year was £660,715.61. There are currently the equivalent of 5.5full-time domestic staff employed at Hillsborough Castle but no maintenance staff.

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