| Previous Section | Index | Home Page |
6 Apr 2005 : Column 1537W—continued
School Meals
Mr. Beggs: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what plans he has for additional funding to improve school meals in Northern Ireland. [224736]
Mr. Gardiner: I am committed to taking action that further improves the nutritional value of school meals here. I intend therefore to make additional funding available to improve school meals from September 2005. The arrangements for this will be finalised in light of evaluation of the outcomes of the Department's Nutritional Standards pilot scheme, involving 100 schools, which ended in March 2005.
David Burnside: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what plans he has to allocate additional funds for school dinners in schools in the Province. [224818]
Mr. Gardiner: I am committed to taking action that further improves the nutritional value of the school meals here. I intend therefore to make additional funding available to improve school meals from September 2005. The arrangements for this will be finalised in light of evaluation of the outcomes of the Department's nutritional standards pilot scheme, involving 100 schools, which ended in March 2005.
Special Advisers
Mr. Tyrie: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland (1) if he will list the occasions between 31 March 2003 and 31 March 2004 when special advisers attended meetings with external representatives at which ministers were not present; [210545]
(2) if he will list the speeches his special advisers made in an official capacity between 31 March 2003 and 31 March 2004, broken down by date. [210562]
Mr. Paul Murphy: All meetings held by special advisers and all speeches given by special advisers are conducted in accordance with the requirements of the Code of Conduct for Special Advisers.
Staff Training
Mr. George Osborne: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what the costs of departmental (a) staff training days and (b) staff development days held away from the Department were in each year since 1997. [213792]
Mr. Paul Murphy: The information requested by the hon. Member is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Stationery
Mr. George Osborne: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how much has been spent on official ministerial (a) business cards, (b) headed paper and (c) compliment slips in each year since 1997. [214947]
Mr. Paul Murphy: The information is not held in the format requested by the hon. Member.
The Northern Ireland Office's (excluding its Agencies and NDPBs) expenditure on official ministerial (a) business cards, (b) headed paper and (c) compliment slips is recorded under general printing
6 Apr 2005 : Column 1538W
expenditure codes which cover a vast range of items. To provide this information would be at disproportionate cost.
Mr. George Osborne: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how much the Department spent on (a) stationery and (b) office supplies in each year since 1997. [213842]
Mr. Paul Murphy: The information is not held in the format requested by the hon. Member.
The figures provided in the table incorporate both the amounts spent on (a) stationery and (b) office supplies by the Northern Ireland Office (excluding its Agencies and NDPBs) in each year since 1997:
| £ | |
|---|---|
| 1997–98 | 354,367 |
| 1998–99 | 424,354 |
| 1999–2000 | 356,736 |
| 2000–01 | 336,629 |
| 2001–02 | 224,796 |
| 2002–03 | 323,852 |
| 2003–04 | 309,062 |
TK-ECC
Mrs. Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how much of the grant assistance which was offered to TK-ECC in 1999 has been clawed back since its closure; and if he will contribute funds clawed back to the company's pension fund. [213549]
Mr. Gardiner: Under the terms of a Financial Assistance Agreement dated 4 June 1999, between TK-ECC Ltd. and the then Industrial Development Board (IDE), a total of £2,000,000 was made available to the company and £800,000 of this was drawn down. Following the closure of the company, Invest NI determined that £275,000 was recoverable under the terms of the Financial Assistance Agreement. This amount was repaid in full by the company on 4 October 2004. There is no provision that would allow funds recovered to be made available to the TK-ECC Ltd. Pension Fund.
HEALTH
A and E Departments
Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of the impact of (a) NHS Direct, (b) the new general medical services contract and (c) the four-hour accident and emergency waiting time target on attendances at accident and emergency departments. [222807]
Ms Rosie Winterton:
Our assessment is that the key factors contributing to the rise in reported attendances at accident and emergency departments since 2002–03 have been better reporting, increased availability and use of walk-in centres and minor injury units, which are classified as type two and three A and E departments, and increased public satisfaction with A and E services linked to improved performance against the four-hour target.
6 Apr 2005 : Column 1539W
We have found no evidence that NHS Direct or the new general medical service (QMS) contract have contributed to the rise in attendances. The start of the current trend of increased attendances pre-dated the implementation of the GMS contact by around a year.
Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of the impact of the four hour accident and emergency waiting time target on patient outcomes. [222809]
Ms Rosie Winterton: We have not undertaken a formal assessment, but the significantly increased number of accident and emergency patients now seen within four hours (96.8 per cent. in the third quarter of 2004–05, compared with 78 per cent. in the same quarter of 2002–03) can reasonably be expected to have improved patient outcomes. We have also received no evidence of any instances where the operation of the target has detracted from the quality of patient care.
Accidents
Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many accidents occurred at his departmental premises in each of the last five years involving (a) members of his Department's staff and (b) members of the public. [222568]
Ms Rosie Winterton: There were 83 accident book entries in 2000, 47 accident book entries in 2001, 83 accident book entries in 2002, 102 accident book entries in 2003 and 100 accident book entries in 2004. There are no accident figures held separately for members of the public.
Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether he publishes data for the number of accidents at work involving employees of his Department; and if he will make a statement. [222582]
Ms Rosie Winterton: Accident figures have been published in the Department's annual reports since 2003.
Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what arrangements for monitoring accidents at work involving members of staff of his Department are in place; and if he will make a statement. [222633]
Ms Rosie Winterton: All reported accidents and incidents are scrutinised initially by the Department's building services section, which also maintains reports, records and statistics.
Any serious event is notified to the building services, health and safety audit manager, who will initiate appropriate remedial action. The building services, health and safety audit manager will conduct necessary investigation and, where it applies, will report them under the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations.
Acute Beds
Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many acute beds there are for each 100,000 of population in each strategic health authority. [224631]
Mr. Hutton:
The information requested is shown in the table.
6 Apr 2005 : Column 1540W
Sources:
1. Beds data—KH03 2003–04.
2. Population figures—Office for National Statistics mid-2003 estimates.
| Next Section | Index | Home Page |