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14 Jun 2005 : Column 315W—continued

Costello Report

Lady Hermon: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland pursuant to his answer of 25 May 2005, Official Report, column 116W, whether each pro-forma letter received by his Department in relation to the Costello Report is treated as a single letter of support or opposition. [2264]

Angela E. Smith: In addition to recommending that transfer from primary to post-primary school should be on the basis of informed parental and pupil choice, with no reference to academic ability, the Post-Primary Review Working Group Report made a number of key recommendations. These include the introduction of an Entitlement Framework" to guarantee pupils access to a wider choice of courses, and the development of a Pupil Profile. These and other recommendations have received a large measure of support, including from some of those opposed to the changes relating to academic selection. It is not, therefore, feasible or appropriate to categorise correspondence received by the Department as simply either supporting or opposing the Report as a whole.

Each letter received by the Department on these issues, whether part of a campaign or not, is treated on an individual basis.

Freedom of Information

Mrs. Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what estimate he has made of the costs to date for Northern Ireland Government departments resulting from individuals seeking information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000. [1398]

Angela E. Smith: The information requested is not collected routinely and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
 
14 Jun 2005 : Column 316W
 

Fuel poverty

Mr. Dodds: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what percentage of the population in Northern Ireland is categorised as fuel poor. [4149]

Mr. Hanson: The Northern Ireland House Condition Survey 2001 indicated that 33 per cent. of the population in Northern Ireland were classified as fuel poor. It is expected that the interim House Condition Survey, which is due to be published later this year, will indicate a reduction reflecting the Department for Social Development's efforts to reduce fuel poverty.

Mr. Dodds: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what steps are being taken to tackle fuel poverty in Northern Ireland. [4150]

Mr. Hanson: The Department for Social Development's fuel poverty strategy which was launched last year sets stringent targets for the eradication of fuel poverty in vulnerable households and all social houses by 2010, and in non-vulnerable households by 2016. The Strategy is underpinned by a wide range of measures and programmes which both directly and indirectly tackle fuel poverty including the Warm Homes Scheme, winter fuel payments, cold weather payments and the Northern Ireland Housing Executive's (NIHE) heating replacement programme. A Fuel Poverty Advisory Group and an Interdepartmental Group on Fuel Poverty have been established to monitor and review the fuel poverty strategy and ensure a partnership approach to tackling fuel poverty.

Hospital Consultants

Mrs. Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will make a statement on progress in implementing the new consultant contract. [1406]

 
14 Jun 2005 : Column 317W
 

Mr. Woodward: The Department is fully committed to ensuring the full implementation of the new consultant contract in Northern Ireland at the earliest possible date, and continues to make progress towards this. Health and Personal Social Services employers have been instructed to agree job plans with consultants by 1 July 2005. Substantial additional funding has been provided to the Health and Personal Social Services to support implementation of the new contract and the Department is developing a range of measures to monitor implementation.

Housing Executive

Lady Hermon: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many Housing Executive
 
14 Jun 2005 : Column 318W
 
properties in each housing executive district in Northern Ireland are vacant; how many of those are awaiting refurbishment; and how many are available for use. [3497]

Mr. Hanson: The information requested is not available in the form requested. However, the following table sets out by Housing Executive District office, the total number of vacant properties, and indicates those that have been identified for refurbishment and those that could be let. In addition the table shows those properties for which longer term use has still to be decided, because they are located in areas where there has been civil disturbance. Some of these may need repairs and may eventually come back into use. Also shown are those properties being used for decanting purposes and on which decisions on future use have still to be made. For completeness the table also shows those not available for letting due to planned demolition or sale.
Vacant housing executive properties

		In need of refurbishment			Available for letting
Housing Executive District Office area	Total vacant	Awaiting major repairs(30)	Major programmed schemes(31)	Undergoing urgent COT(32) repairs	Awaiting relet	Difficult to let
Belfast 1	14	0	5	0	1	3
Belfast 2	202	51	46	0	0	5
Belfast 3	10	3	3	0	0	0
Belfast 4	344	34	34	0	0	45
Belfast 5	245	71	5	0	0	40
Belfast 6	224	13	27	2	2	0
Belfast 7	71	39	21	0	0	0
Area total	1,110	211	141	2	3	93
Bangor	188	18	76	0	0	0
Newtownards	233	47	111	0	3	5
Castlereagh	143	28	57	0	1	2
Lisburn (A/S)	314	70	150	0	4	14
Lisburn (D/F)	36	12	17	0	0	0
Downpatrick	62	16	5	0	0	0
Area total	976	191	416	0	8	21
Banbridge	64	11	31	9	1	1
Newry	132	16	42	1	0	0
Armagh	118	15	43	0	1	36
Lur/Brownlow	275	13	0	0	0	139
Portadown	67	22	13	0	0	15
Dungannon	111	12	2	0	0	46
Fermanagh	29	14	1	0	0	4
Area total	796	103	132	10	2	241
Ballymena	258	40	31	0	2	66
Antrim	195	11	66	0	2	0
Newtownabbey 1	152	12	68	0	0	7
Newtownabbey 2	157	34	1	0	0	0
Carrick	112	12	21	0	0	6
Larne	236	37	10	0	0	24
Ballycastle	14	4	5	0	1	0
Ballymoney	15	13	2	0	0	0
Coleraine	133	6	11	20	1	19
Area total	1,272	169	215	20	6	122
Waterloo Place	103	23	4	0	0	11
Waterside	74	25	20	0	0	5
Collon Terrace	18	16	0	0	0	0
Limavady	42	7	8	0	0	0
Magherafelt	39	10	2	1	0	3
Strabane	50	20	4	1	0	15
Omagh	110	12	34	0	0	47
Cookstown	30	9	0	1	1	0
Area total	466	122	72	3	1	81
NI	4,620	796	976	35	20	558

 
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	May or may not be brought back into use		Not available for letting
Housing Executive District Office area	Civil disturbance	Used for decanting	Approved for sale	Approved for demolition
Belfast 1	0	5	0	0
Belfast 2	5	5	0	90
Belfast 3	0	1	0	3
Belfast 4	38	63	1	129
Belfast 5	2	3	1	123
Belfast 6	89	6	2	83
Belfast 7	0	9	2	0
Area total	134	92	6	428
Bangor	1	43	3	47
Newtownards	8	21	5	33
Castlereagh	0	31	0	24
Lisburn (A/S)	1	57	0	18
Lisburn (D/F)	0	7	0	0
Downpatrick	0	8	1	32
Area total	10	167	9	154
Banbridge	0	6	1	4
Newry	0	38	0	35
Armagh	0	13	6	4
Lur/Brownlow	9	7	4	103
Portadown	9	2	0	6
Dungannon	32	3	3	13
Fermanagh	6	4	0	0
Area total	56	73	14	165
Ballymena	8	21	0	90
Antrim	0	14	94	8
Newtownabbey 1	1	31	0	33
Newtownabbey 2	4	80	0	38
Carrick	1	20	0	52
Larne	9	5	0	151
Ballycastle	0	4	0	0
Ballymoney	0	0	0	0
Coleraine	55	13	0	8
Area total	78	188	94	380
Waterloo Place	0	21	0	44
Waterside	2	18	4	0
Collon Terrace	0	0	0	2
Limavady	1	26	0	0
Magherafelt	6	4	1	12
Strabane	4	5	0	1
Omagh	6	8	3	0
Cookstown	0	15	4	0
Area total	19	97	12	59
NI	297	617	135	1,186

⁽³⁰⁾ Dwellings identified as requiring major improvements
⁽³¹⁾ Dwellings where work is under way
⁽³²⁾ Change of Tenancy Repairs

Lady Hermon: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how much has been spent in each housing executive district in Northern Ireland on accommodating those on the waiting list for housing in hostels, hotels or bed and breakfast establishments in each of the past five years for which figures are available. [3498]

Mr. Hanson: The information is not available in the form requested, or for the period specified. The Housing
 
14 Jun 2005 : Column 320W
 
Executive makes use of a variety of types of housing such as self-contained or hostel accommodation and shared" accommodation which may be a house in multiple occupation or a bed and breakfast establishment. However, the following table details expenditure on all temporary accommodation by Housing Executive administrative area and the out of hours service for the financial years 2003–04 and 2004–05.
Temporary accommodation expenditure 2003–04 and 2004–05

	Expenditure (£)	Expenditure (%)	Expenditure (£)	Expenditure (%)
Housing Executive administrative area	2003–04	2003–04	2004–05	2004–05
After hours services (province wide)	46,868	0.5	94,677	1.1
Belfast	4,486,946	53.5	3,785,300	47.8
North East	877,552	10	702,853	9
South	441,072	5	518,276	6.5
South East	1,417,812	17	1,569,957	20
West	1,206,910	14	1,234,306	15.6
Total	8,477,160	100	7,905,369	100

 
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Lady Hermon: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many of those on the waiting list for housing in each Housing Executive district in Northern Ireland are being accommodated in hostels, hotels or bed and breakfast establishments. [3499]

Mr. Hanson: The information requested is not available. The Housing Executive has however provided details of the numbers placed in all forms of temporary accommodation, by its district office, as follows:
Number of cases currently in temporary accommodation

Housing Executive District Office area	Total
Belfast 1	60
Belfast 2	18
Belfast 3	129
Belfast 4	46
Belfast 5	2
Belfast 6	58
Belfast 7	39
Homeless Advice Centre	302
Belfast Area	654
Antrim	7
Ballycastle	1
Ballymena	33
Ballymoney	3
Carrickfergus	7
Coleraine	49
Lame	4
Newtownabbey 1	2
Newtownabbey 2	7
North East Area	113
Armagh	5
Banbridge	4
Dungannon	15
Fermanagh	24
Lurgan Brownlow	8
Newry	9
Portadown	10
South Area	75
Bangor	16
Castlereagh	11
Downpatrick	53
Lisburn Antrim Street	65
Lisburn Dairyfarm	70
Newtownards	16
South East Area	231
Collon Terrace	32
Cookstown	5
Limavady	0
Magherafelt	0
Omagh	3
Strabane	7
Waterloo Place	67
Waterside	30
West Area	144
Northern Ireland total	1,217

 
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Lady Hermon: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many people are on the waiting list for housing in each housing executive district in Northern Ireland; and how many of those have been on the list for (a) less than one month, (b) between two and six months, (c) between six and eight months, (d) between eight and 10 months, (e) between 10 and 12 months and (f) longer than 12 months. [3500]

Mr. Hanson: The information requested is as follows:
Housing executive waiting list by district office and length of time on the list

Housing executive district office	<1 month	1<2 months	2<6 months	6<8 months	8<10 months	10<12 months	>12 months	Total
Antrim	27	42	161	86	63	58	300	737
Armagh	5	36	124	55	56	46	262	584
Ballycastle	3	14	70	21	18	18	131	275
Ballymena	33	66	208	94	95	78	508	1,082
Ballymoney	5	11	65	32	44	25	145	327
Banbridge	6	29	94	44	28	25	195	421
Bangor	24	80	250	109	103	89	862	1,517
Belfast 1	6	44	144	62	58	43	625	982
Belfast 2	12	84	274	114	93	86	825	1,488
Belfast 3	6	34	121	61	67	45	615	949
Belfast 4	11	58	131	49	57	59	542	907
Belfast 5	10	60	153	47	53	35	313	671
Belfast 6	7	65	185	99	62	68	637	1,123
Belfast 7	18	79	324	139	146	133	949	1,788
Carrickfergus	3	45	164	53	65	64	455	849
Castlereagh	15	54	167	97	71	50	536	990
Coleraine	5	83	197	77	80	62	409	913
Cookstown		33	90	28	24	20	115	310
Downpatrick	2	40	177	94	90	55	470	928
Dungannon	5	36	137	55	48	52	266	599
Fermanagh	2	44	150	68	47	58	416	785
Larne	7	38	84	35	28	21	177	390
Limavady	7	36	97	30	32	31	170	403
Lisburn Antrim Street	13	91	272	129	110	96	111	1,488
Lisburn Dairy Farm	15	49	105	53	39	40	264	565
Londonderry 1	10	48	133	57	55	52	328	683
Londonderry 2	8	55	111	42	47	59	217	545
Londonderry 3	12	46	115	54	47	47	264	585
Lurgan	9	54	176	86	59	56	360	800
Magherafelt	5	40	82	45	28	29	168	397
Newry	7	55	252	118	105	101	737	1,375
Newtownabbey 1	4	40	126	53	44	39	332	638
Newtownabbey 2	11	42	123	59	51	49	340	675
Newtownards	8	74	226	93	85	76	632	1,194
Omagh	1	46	123	48	43	44	167	472
Portadown	8	57	143	67	68	59	164	566
Strabane	18	47	116	41	55	45	285	607
Grand total	348	1,855	5,676	2,494	2,264	2,013	14,958	29,608

 
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