| Previous Section | Index | Home Page |
23 Feb 2005 : Column 621W—continued
Children's Fund
Mr. McGrady: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland whether all projects established under the Children's Fund will continue to receive funding. [217600]
Angela Smith: All projects funded under the current three year Children's Fund cycle will receive their full allocation from existing Children's Fund monies.
Education Action Zones
Mr. Dodds: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what resources are being committed to funding education action zones in North and West Belfast; and from what sources. [217416]
Mr. Gardiner: Some £6 million is expected to be available over the next three financial years for the implementation of the Education Action Zone (EAZ) initiative across Northern Ireland. The bids presently being developed include proposals from the BELB for EAZ provision in North and West Belfast.
EU Grants
Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what procedures are in place in his Department to ensure that EU regional development grants are used in accordance with the European Commission rules. [217282]
Mr. Pearson: In Northern Ireland EU structural funds expenditure must comply with the requirements of the procedural guide Government Accounting in Northern Ireland" (GANI) and EU regulations guidance on European Commission rules contained in the EU structural funds operating manual for Northern Ireland.
Compliance is ensured through a system of both management (Article 4 of Regulation (EC) No. 438/2001) checks that must be carried out on all projects and a system of a minimum of a 5 per cent. sample check (Article 10 of Regulation (EC) No 438/2001). Certifying bodies must satisfy themselves that these checks have been carried out before making claims to the Commission (Article 9 of
23 Feb 2005 : Column 622W
Regulation (EC) No 438/2001). EU expenditure is also subject to internal audit and the Northern Ireland Audit Office reviews.
Health Trusts
Mr. Dodds: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many people are employed by each of the health trusts covering (a) North Belfast and (b) West Belfast, broken down by (i) gender and (ii) religion and community background. [217415]
Angela Smith: Information requested is provided in the following tables.
Nurses
Mrs. Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many episodes of physical abuse occurred against nurses in hospitals in Northern Ireland in the last year. [217302]
Angela Smith: The information is not available in the form requested for the last year and could only be provided at disproportionate cost. However, during the first 6 months of the financial year for which figures are available (1 April 2004–30 September 2004) a total of 1176 incidents were recorded of physical abuse against nurses in hospitals in Northern Ireland, out of a total of 1977 recorded incidents of physical abuse against HPSS staff during the same period.
Parking
Mr. George Osborne: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how much has been spent on (a) provision of parking spaces for civil servants and (b) parking tickets and penalties incurred by civil servants in the Department in each year since 1997. [213811]
Mr. Paul Murphy:
The information is not held in the format requested by the hon. Member.
23 Feb 2005 : Column 623W
The Northern Ireland Office (excluding its agencies and NDPBs) has spent the following on:
(a) Provision of parking spaces for civil servants
Between 1997–98 and 1999–2000 the cost of parking spaces was captured under the expense code property rental" and is not separately identifiable.
In 2000–01 the expense codes were amended so that the cost of parking spaces could be identified separately. The costs from 2000–01 to 2003–04 are provided as follows.
| Cost of parking spaces | |
|---|---|
| 2000–01 | 106,357 |
| 2001–02 | 152,616 |
| 2002–03 | 187,416 |
| 2003–04 | 196,633 |
(b) Parking tickets and penalties incurred by civil servants
The amount spent on parking tickets and penalties cannot be identified separately as these costs are all captured under other travel costs".
Regional Rate
Mr. Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what the percentage change in the regional rate in Northern Ireland was in each of the last five years. [211877]
Mr. Pearson: The following table gives the percentage increase in the domestic and the non-domestic regional rates from the 2000–01 financial year.
Between 2000–01 and 2004–05 the average household rate bill increased from £394 to £509, an increase of £115. The average increase for England for this period was £270.
| Domestic regional rate increase | Non-domestic regional rate increase | |
|---|---|---|
| 2000–01 | 8.0 | 4.6 |
| 2001–02 | 7.0 | 3.3 |
| 2002–03 | 7.0 | 3.3 |
| 2003–04 | 6.0 | 3.3 |
| 2004–05 | 8.8 | 3.3 |
Suicides (North Belfast)
Mr. Dodds: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what strategy is in place in north Belfast to tackle suicides, with particular reference to young people. [216418]
Angela Smith:
The North and West Belfast Health and Social Services Trust's Strategy for the Prevention of Suicide includes gender specific health education campaigns and education tools for schools aimed at promoting positive mental health and raising awareness of suicide, support for primary care, home-based early
23 Feb 2005 : Column 624W
intervention on a 24-hour 7-days a week basis, the provision of support and training for community based counselling services and support for those affected by suicidal behaviour.
Mr. Dodds: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how much money has been spent on tackling suicides in north Belfast in each year since 2000. [216419]
Angela Smith: The information requested is not available, as it is not possible to disaggregate the amounts spent specifically on tackling suicide from the services that are involved.
Waiting Lists/Times
Mr. Hume: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many people normally resident in Northern Ireland have been assessed and accepted for (a) heart, (b) lung and (c) heart and lung transplant waiting lists in each of the last three years; how many have received transplants; and how many have died whilst waiting for transplantation. [216666]
Angela Smith: Information on the number of people normally resident in Northern Ireland who have been assessed and accepted for heart, lung and heart and lung transplant waiting lists and the number of people who have died whilst waiting for heart, lung and heart and lung transplantation in each of the last three years is not available.
Information on the number of people normally resident in Northern Ireland who have received heart, lung and heart and lung transplants in each of the last three years is provided in the following table:
Mrs. Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what he is doing to tackle the number of trolley waits in hospitals in Northern Ireland. [217303]
Angela Smith: A regional programme of work is being taken forward to examine and improve the flow of emergency admissions through hospitals and to reduce the numbers of trolley waits. All trusts were required as part of this regional programme to undertake a snapshot survey to identify delays in the hospital system. A regional workshop will be held later this month to examine the results of these surveys and consider how best to address the issues arising from them. All of this work is being overseen and monitored by a regional steering group comprising representatives from health and social services boards and trusts.
In preparation for the extra demands that would be made on services during the winter months, an additional £2 million recurrent and £6 million non-recurrent funding was made available to the Northern Ireland health service in 2004–05. This money has been used to provide a range of services, including
23 Feb 2005 : Column 625W
additional acute and community nursing staff, enhanced primary and community care provision, and additional hospital capacity.
| Next Section | Index | Home Page |