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20 Jun 2005 : Column 853W—continued
EU Accession Country Workers
Lady Hermon: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what assessment he has made of the effect of the use of output-related payments to labour market intermediaries on the delivery of services to (a) ethnic minorities and (b) migrant workers from the EU Accession countries; and what plans he has to review the system. [5524]
Angela E. Smith: The Labour Market Intermediaries exist in three pilot areas of Belfast. They are supported by the Department for Employment and Learning. Job seekers from ethnic minorities and EU Accession countries who are legally entitled to work in Northern Ireland can avail of the services of the LMIs. An assessment of the LMI funding support arrangements, including the element that is output-related, will be undertaken as part of their formal evaluation which is scheduled to begin in September 2005.
Farmers (Loans)
Lady Hermon: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many people he expects to benefit from his recent announcement of low interest loans for young farmers in Northern Ireland. [5521]
Angela E. Smith: The new entrants scheme opened for applications on 6 June 2005. While it is difficult to estimate the level of demand, the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development has a target uptake of 600 young farmers over the next three years.
Forensic Examinations
Mr. Lidington: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland whether he plans to propose changes to the law to enhance the powers of civilian scenes of crime officers in Northern Ireland to carry out a forensic examination on a non-consenting suspect. [4086]
Mr. Woodward: There are currently no plans to change the law to enhance the powers of crime scene investigators (CSIs), as they are known within the PSNI, to carry out a forensic examination on a non-consenting suspect. CSIs currently have the power to take non-intimate samples with the written consent from a detained person (unless that person is detained under the Terrorism Act). Provisions are in place to facilitate forensic examinations on non-consenting suspects by constables and forensic medical officers.
I have been advised by the PSNI that they have recently increased the numbers of police officers trained within the serious crime branch investigation teams, in
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the process of cartridge discharge residue swabbing. This ensures the facilitation of forensic examination on non-consenting suspects, as required, and allows CSIs to be better utilized by being deployed at the scene of incidents that give rise to the detention of prisoners rather than in the processing of the prisoners themselves.
General Practitioners
Mrs. Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what extra resources are being provided to assist general practitioners in the Province in (a) the appraisal process for and (b) delivering special interest services. [1423]
Mr. Woodward: Since the introduction of the appraisal scheme in 2003–04, an additional payment of £300 per annum has been made to each general practitioner being appraised and a further payment of £300 is made to the GP appraiser for each appraisal carried out.
In relation to general practitioners delivering special interest services, no formal extra central funding is presently made available for this specific purpose, but Health and Social Services Boards do fund a small number of general practitioners for providing certain specialised services although the overall amount is not readily available.
Mrs. Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many general practitioner surgeries in the Province have been (a) built and (b) modernised since June 1997. [1447]
Mr. Woodward: There are 32 general practitioner surgeries that have been built and 189 general practitioner surgeries have been modernised since 1997. The Eastern health and Social Services Board have only been able to provide information on modernized surgeries from 2001.
A further 13 surgeries are currently being modernised.
In addition, all 365 surgeries across the Province have benefited from improvement grants in respect of (a) security and (b) adaptations in relation to the Disability Discrimination Act 1995.
Hare Coursing
Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many applications he has received for the netting of hares for hare coursing; and if he will defer any decision on these applications until he has receivedthe results of the survey of Irish hare numbers which the Department of Environment has recently commissioned. [4700]
Angela E. Smith: One application for a licence to net hares for hare coursing in October 205 has been received from the Ballymena Coursing Club.
My noble Friend, Lord Rooker, will take into account the status of the Irish hare population in considering that application.
Health Care Trusts
Mrs. Iris Robinson:
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many procedures each health
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trust in the Province has bought (a) within and (b) outside the Province; and what the resultant costs were in each of the last five years. [1439]
Mr. Woodward: Health and social services trusts do not purchase procedures either within or outside Northern Ireland, any transfer of patients is the responsibility of the health and social services boards.
Higher Education Funding
Lady Hermon: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how much funding for higher education colleges was made available by his Department in each education and library board area in Northern Ireland in each of the past five years; and how much was made available for the North Down and Ards Institute. [2181]
Angela E. Smith: In 1999 responsibility for the funding of the further education colleges in Northern Ireland passed from the education and library boards to the Department for Higher and Further Education Training and Employment, now the Department for Employment and Learning. In the academic years 1999/2000, 2000/01, 2001/02, 2002/03 and 2003/04 North Down and Ards Institute of Further and Higher Education received total FE recurrent and capital funding of £6.912 million, £7.869 million, £9.093 million, £10.846 million and £11.72 million respectively. The academic year runs from 1 August until 31 July and therefore the last full academic year for which details are available is year ended 31 July 2004. Detailed in the following table is the total recurrent and capital funding paid to all the further education colleges over the last five academic years.
(58)Amalgamated with university of Ulster.
Home Teaching
Lady Hermon: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many pupils in each education and library board area in Northern Ireland are taught at home; and what guidance or assistance is offered to those parents or guardians wishing to teach their children at home. [3494]
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Angela E. Smith: On 1 June 2005 the number of children being educated at home in each education and library board is as follows:
| Board area | Number of pupils |
|---|---|
| BELB | 5 |
| WELB | 28 |
| NEELB | 49 |
| SEELB | 16 |
| SELB | 60 |
| Total | 158 |
A parent seeking advice on educating their child at home will be directed to an appropriate source such as an education and library board or council for the curriculum, examinations and assessment (CCEA).
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