| Previous Section | Index | Home Page |
4 Mar 2005 : Column 1451W—continued
Financial Assistance Scheme
Mr. Waterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions pursuant to the written statement of 22 February 2005, Official Report, columns 16–18WS on the Financial Assistance Scheme, what estimate he has made of the cost of providing benefits (a) in full, (b) at the level that will be provided by the Pension Protection Fund and (c) at 80 per cent. of the core pension entitlement, but with the same minimum and maximum benefit cut-off as applies to the Pension Protection Fund, to (i) all the members of the schemes potentially eligible for the Financial Assistance Scheme listed and (ii) the 15,000 occupational pension scheme members who will be covered by the Financial Assistance Scheme provisions for those within three years of retirement age. [212304]
Malcolm Wicks: No such estimates have been made.
NORTHERN IRELAND
Inward Investment
Mr. McGrady: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many visits to Northern Ireland by potential inward investors have been organised by his Department in the past four years; and how many of these have been to South Down. [219424]
Mr. Gardiner: In the period 1 April 2001 to 31 January 2005 Invest NI organised 551 visits by potential investor companies to Northern Ireland. Of these, 373 included site visits to a number of parliamentary constituencies, with 15 viewing sites in the constituency of South Down.
Public Service Pensions
Mr. McGrady: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will make a statement on the Government's proposed changes to the local government pension scheme and the retirement age of school teachers; and what assessment was made of the consequent effect upon job prospects for newly qualified teachers. [217726]
Mr. Gardiner: The Department of the Environment will be consulting on proposed changes to the local government pension scheme in Northern Ireland in the near future. This scheme covers education and library board staff and support staff in some schools but does not extend to school teachers.
The Department of Education considers the review of the Northern Ireland Teachers' Superannuation Scheme (NITSS) as an opportunity for modernisation in a way that scheme members will value and also secures the long-term affordability of the scheme. We have therefore embarked upon a major consultation with interested parties, including individual teachers, to give them an opportunity to comment on a range of issues related to the future of the NITSS.
In particular, the Department is looking at ways of increasing the flexibilities available to teachers over the way in which they plan for their retirement because the more attractive and flexible the NITSS is as a benefit to
4 Mar 2005 : Column 1452W
the membership, the greater the contribution it will make to recruitment of newly qualified teachers and retention of existing members.
The consultation document can be found at www.deni.gov.uk
Targets
Mr. George Osborne: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many targets have been set in each year since 1997 by the Department; and, of these, which have been (a) met, (b) nearly met, (c) not met, (d) changed and (e) dropped. [215833]
Mr. Paul Murphy: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given by my hon. Friend the Financial Secretary to the Treasury on 21 February 2005, Official Report, column 75W.
Because of uncertainties surrounding political developments in Northern Ireland at the time, it was not possible for the Northern Ireland Office to publish its first PSA until the 2000 Spending Review.
Water Service
Mr. McGrady: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what the cost has been of the two consultation exercises on water reform in Northern Ireland; and what the (a) operational and (b) staffing costs of the Water Reform Unit have been from the exercise. [219427]
Mr. Spellar: Total non-staffing expenditure incurred in respect of the 2003 public consultation on options for the reform of water and sewerage services in Northern Ireland amounted to £120,000. Total non-staffing costs in respect of the public consultation on the Integrated Impact Assessment of proposals for Water Reform, which concludes on 4 March 2005, have not been finalised, but are expected to be in the order of £90,000.
Figures in relation to staffing costs of the Water Reform Unit in respect of these consultations could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Mr. McGrady: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many people are employed in the Water Service, broken down by (a) professional engineer, (b) technical and (c) administrative grades; how many there were in (i) 1998 and (ii) 2000; and how many staff have been made redundant in the Water Service in the last year, broken down by position and grade in each category. [219428]
Mr. Spellar: The Chief Executive of Water Service (Mrs. Katharine Bryan) has been asked to write to the hon. Gentleman in response to this question.
Letter from Mrs. Katharine Bryan to Mr. Eddie McGrady, dated 4 March 2005:
You recently asked the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland a Parliamentary Question about how many people are employed in the Water Service, broken down by (a) professional engineer, (b) technical and (c) administrative grades; what the figures were in (i) 1998 and (ii) 2000; and how many staff have been made redundant in the Water Service in the last year broken down by types of positions and grade in each category (219428). I have been asked to reply as the issue falls within my responsibility as Chief Executive of Water Service.
The information is not readily available in the form requested but details of the staffing levels in the 4 main staff disciplines in Water Service are set out in the following table.
Mr. McGrady: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will extend the consultation period in respect of the integrated impact assessment which was due to conclude on 4 March. [219426]
Mr. Spellar: The publication of Water Service's second Asset Management Plan does not provide grounds for extending the 14-week consultation period on the Water Reform Programme Integrated Impact Assessment which ends on 4 March 2005.
HEALTH
A & E Services (Lancashire)
Mr. Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people in (a) Chorley and (b) Preston used accident and emergency services in each of the last three years. [213909]
Miss Melanie Johnson: The information is not collected in the format requested. The information shown in the following table relates to the Lancashire teaching hospitals national health service trust, which serves Chorley and Preston. Data before 2002 relates to the two predecessor organisations—Chorley and South Ribble NHS trust and Preston acute hospitals NHS trust—which merged to form the Lancashire teaching hospitals NHS trust on 1 August 2002.
(6) Lancashire teaching hospitals includes both Royal Preston hospital and Chorley and South Ribble district general hospital. Separate data for the two hospital sites on attendances is only available prior to 2002–03.
Source:
Department of Health dataset QMAE.
4 Mar 2005 : Column 1454W
Source:
Department of Health dataset QMAE.
| Next Section | Index | Home Page |