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10 Mar 2005 : Column 2000W—continued
Children's Fund
Mr. McGrady: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland whether all projects already established through the Children's Fund will be sustained following the withdrawal of the fund. [217770]
Angela Smith: The Department does not have the resources available to sustain the projects currently under the Children Fund once the funding cycle is completed. All organisations in receipt of this funding were aware of the fixed term nature of the funding and it was a criterion of the funding arrangements that there needed to be an exit strategy to identify alternative sources of money if the projects were to be sustained once the funding cycle was completed. It is not known how many of the projects have secured alternative funding.
Corporate Manslaughter
Lady Hermon: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will bring forward legislation to create an offence of corporate manslaughter in Northern Ireland. [211722]
Mr. Spellar:
The Government are firmly committed to reforming the law on corporate manslaughter and when proposals are published for England and Wales we intend to consult on the proposal that a Bill's provisions should extend to Northern Ireland.
10 Mar 2005 : Column 2001W
Crohn's Disease
Mr. Beggs: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many children in Northern Ireland are diagnosed as suffering from Crohn's disease; what treatment provision is available to them; what the average cost of treatment is per child; and what provision is available for the counselling of parents of children suffering from the disease. [216927]
Angela Smith: Information on the prevalence of Crohn's disease in children is not available. Some children with Crohn's disease receive treatment from clinicians at the Royal Belfast Hospital for Sick Children, with support from the adult service. Children with conditions requiring access to a paediatric gastroenterology service are being referred to hospitals in Great Britain. In the 2003–04 financial year the average cost per inpatient episode with a primary diagnosis of Crohn's disease was £1,692 and the average cost per day-case attendance was £355. No special provision is made for counselling parents of Crohn's sufferers, other than the normal access that they have to their child's paediatrician.
Planning (Strangford)
Mr. Beggs: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many staff in his Department work on the Belfast Metropolitan Area Plan and the Newtownards area plans; and what progress has been made in reducing time taken to consider planning applications in Strangford. [220753]
Angela Smith: The Belfast Metropolitan Area Plan team comprises 31 staff in total. There are currently 13 staff working on the draft Ards and Down Area Plan 2015. It is not possible to provide processing times for planning applications within the Strangford Area as processing times are collated on a district council basis. Nevertheless, the Planning Service is committed in its Modernising Planning Processes (MPP) change programme, through a wide variety of projects and initiatives, to improving the processing times for all planning applications.
Psychiatry
Mrs. Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many (a) admissions and (b) bed days resulting from admissions of young people under the age of 18 years who were admitted to adult psychiatric wards there have been in the Province in each of the last five years. [206179]
Angela Smith [pursuant to the reply, 13 January 2005, Official Report, c. 657W]: The figure given for (b) number of bed days in 2003–04 was incorrect. The correct information is as follows:
The number of (a) admissions and (b) bed days resulting from those admissions of young people under the age of 18 years who were admitted to adult psychiatric wards in the Province in each of the last five years is detailed in the following table.
10 Mar 2005 : Column 2002W
| (a) Admissions | (b) Number of bed days | |
|---|---|---|
| 2003–04 | 173 | 5,097 |
| 2002–03 | 194 | 5,401 |
| 2001–02 | 183 | 6,346 |
| 2000–01 | 198 | 6,551 |
| 1999–2000 | 196 | 7,522 |
Notes:
1.Figures relate to financial years except for one trust who provided figures for calendar years and for 2004 to 30 November.
2.If a patient was admitted in one year and their episode carried into the next year the number of bed days are attributed to the year in which the admission took place and the admission is only counted once in the year it occurred.
3.If a patient is admitted when aged less than 18 years and the patient turns 18 years of age during their episode, bed days after the patient turns 18 years of age are included in total length of stay.
4.Where possible the number of bed days was calculated excluding days on leave, however one trust was unable to exclude days on leave from their figures.
5.Figures include patients admitted to psychiatric wards in Muckamore Abbey hospital, which normally caters for learning disabled patients.
Source:
HSS trusts
Sewerage
Mr. Trimble: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what methodology was used to form the equality impact assessment's view that (a) Protestants and (b) Unionists are likely to bear a disproportionately greater burden of the domestic and sewerage bill under the Government Reform of Water and Sewerage Services; by what percentage he estimates they will be disproportionately affected; and by how much he estimates this would affect the income of the average family in the course of a year, based on each broad policy option. [221339]
Mr. Spellar: A spatial analysis methodology was used in the recently published draft Integrated Impact Assessment to assess the equality impact of proposals for domestic charging under the reform of water and sewerage services in Northern Ireland. Analysis of impacts in respect of religious belief was performed at electoral ward level using community background" data from the 2001 census. Analysis of impacts in respect of political opinion was performed at district council level using Electoral Office data based on first preference votes at the 2001 local elections. These data were combined with information regarding recent house sales from the Valuation and Lands Agency. The conclusion that Protestants and Unionists are likely to bear a disproportionately greater burden of domestic water and sewerage charges reflects the fact that there is a markedly higher representation of these groups in those areas of Northern Ireland with higher domestic property prices.
This methodology allows broad assessments to be made, however data are not available on individual properties to enable calculations to be made of the likely average water and sewerage charge for Protestant and Unionist households. Accordingly, it is not possible to estimate the percentage by which Protestant and Unionist households may be disproportionately affected, nor by how much in relation to the average family income for each broad policy option.
10 Mar 2005 : Column 2003W
Social Workers
Mrs. Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many social workers are employed in Northern Ireland; and how many vacancies for social workers there are in each health trust within the Province. [220660]
Angela Smith: Information is only available in respect of Social Work staff working within the Northern Ireland Health and Personal Social Services.
The information requested is provided in the tables as follows.
(28) Homefirst Community Health and Social Services Trust were unable to provide the number of unqualified staff in social work posts in the specified timescale.
(29)Craigavon Area Hospital Group HSS Trust is the only Acute Hospital Trust who directly employs Social Services staff.
(30)Down Lisburn Trust could only provide a whole-time equivalent number of vacancies.
(31)Homefirst Community HSS Trust was unable to provide the number of Social Work vacancies in the specified timescale.
Note:
Temporary vacancies have been excluded from the table. There were a total of 13 temporary vacancies (13 WTE); Armagh and Dungannon HSS Trust have 10 temporary posts, Causeway HSS Trust have two and Craigavon Area Hospital Group HSS Trust have one.
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