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20 Jun 2005 : Column 856W—continued

Hospital Meals

Mr. Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland whether patients in Northern Ireland hospitals have been surveyed in 2005 to establish the level of satisfaction with hospital meals. [5548]

Mr. Woodward: The Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety has conducted a Public Attitudes Survey of the Health and Personal Social Services annually since 2003. Fieldwork for the 2005 survey has recently been completed but results are not yet available. The 2004 survey questioned 1,500 members of the public on their experience of using the Health Service in Northern Ireland. Fourteen percent of all respondents had an overnight stay in hospital during the previous twelve months. Those who had an overnight stay were asked to rate the quality of the hospital food, and for those who expressed an opinion, the results were as follows:

Satisfaction rating of the quality of hospital food	Percentage
Excellent	15.7
Good	36.5
Fair	24.9
Poor	22.8

When the figures are combined this shows that 52.2 per cent. of respondents rated the quality of hospital food as either good or excellent, while 47.8 per cent. rated it as either fair or poor.

Hydebank Prison

Lady Hermon: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what steps he is taking to implement the recommendations of the chief inspector of Criminal Justice and HM chief inspector of prisons following their recent inspection of Hydebank prison. [3505]

Mr. Woodward: Following the joint inspection last November, the Northern Ireland Prison Service published its action plan on the Prison Service's website which will be updated quarterly. The action plan responds to each of the 96 recommendations, around one-third of which have been implemented since the publication of the Inspection report on 26 May.

Two senior managers from HM Prison Service have been seconded to assist in the development of policy for female prisoners and Hydebank Wood has dedicated a
 
20 Jun 2005 : Column 857W
 
NIPS female governor exclusively to Ash House. A policy team whose role will include liaison with female prisoners and consultation with external organisations has also been appointed. Policies will be subject to consultation wherever appropriate.

Identity Cards

Lady Hermon: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what discussions he has had with the Chief Constable of the Police Service of Northern Ireland on the Government's plan to introduce a national identity card scheme. [3514]

Mr. Hain: The Association of Chief Police Officers, of which the Chief Constable of the PSNI is a member, has been involved in extensive consultation with the Home Office about the Government's proposal for a national identity card scheme across the UK.

Incapacity/Industrial Injury Benefits

Mrs. Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many residents in (a) Newtownards, (b) Comber, (c) Dundonald, (d) Carryduff and (e) Killyleagh were in receipt of (i)incapacity benefit and (ii) industrial injury benefits in each of the last three years. [5325]

Mr. Hanson: The information requested is as follows.
Incapacity benefit as at August each year Number

Area	2002	2003	2004
Newtownards	3,610	3,765	3,777
Comber	396	412	403
Dundonald	109	111	111
Carryduff	236	243	230
Killyleagh	143	132	129

Industrial injuries as at August each year Number

Area	2002	2003	2004
Newtownards	n/a	593	623
Comber	n/a	77	76
Dundonald	n/a	34	34
Carryduff	n/a	34	39
Killyleagh	n/a	10	13

A geographical breakdown of industrial injuries benefit claimants is unavailable for 2002.

Inter-departmental Group on Personal Care

Mr. Dodds: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland who the members are of the inter-departmental group on personal care; and how many times the group has met in each year since its formation. [4386]

Mr. Woodward: The membership of the inter-departmental group on personal care convened in September 2001 comprised senior officials from the Office of the First Minister and Deputy First Minister, the Department of Finance and Personnel, the Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety
 
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and the Department for Social Development. The inter-development group was supported by a sub-group which brought forward its findings for consideration and agreement by the inter-departmental group.

The groups met regularly in the course of preparing the report submitted to the Executive on 8 August 2002. The work on costed options has been updated annually following the collapse of the devolved administration.

Libraries

Mr. Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many libraries he expects will be operational in Northern Ireland in 2006. [5505]

Mr. Hanson: My expectation is that there will be 115 branch libraries in 2006. In addition there are 33 mobile libraries.

Mr. Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how much was spent on the purchase of new books for libraries in each education board area in each of the last five years. [5506]

Mr. Hanson: The following table sets out details of the amount spent by each of the Education and Library Boards on the purchase of new books in each of the last five years.
£000

	2000–01	2001–02	2002–03	2003–04	2004–05
BELB	445	371	497	125	(59)173
NEELB	336	274	577	342	(59)173
SEELB	490	565	472	266	(59)118
SELB	394	(60)228	334	119	(59)117
WELB	89	262	332	143	(59)176

⁽⁵⁹⁾Information sourced directly from boards, published figures not yet available.
⁽⁶⁰⁾Figure sourced directly from board, not included in published returns for this year
Note:
This information includes monies spent on reference books, adult fiction, adult non-fiction and children's books. It does not cover newspapers, periodicals, magazines or electronic media.
Source:
Remainder of figures sourced from the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA) Public Library Statistics Publication.

Lady Hermon: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what regulation his Department carries out of (a) charging levels and (b) practices relating to the delivery of services in public libraries in Northern Ireland. [5525]

Mr. Hanson: Charging levels for library services are a matter for the Education and Library Boards to determine. The Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure has meetings three times a year with the Chief Librarians and twice a year with other senior officers of the boards at which a range of practice issues, among other matters, are discussed.

Lady Hermon: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what plans he has to review the public private partnership arrangement between the Department of Education and Amey plc for the delivery of some library services. [5527]

 
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Mr. Hanson: The contract for the Electronic Libraries for Northern Ireland (ELFNI) project was signed in 2002 by the North Eastern Education and Library Board and Amey BPO Services Ltd., and runs until 2012 under a public-private partnership. The Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure, which has responsibility for the public library service, has no plans to review this arrangement.

The Department, together with the five Education and Library Boards, monitors the delivery and effectiveness of the project through regular monitoring arrangements.

Life Sentences

Mr. Dodds: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland whether he plans to introduce a statutory framework for life sentence tariffs in Northern Ireland. [4383]

Mr. Hanson: The Government have been considering the responses received from the public consultation carried out in Northern Ireland last year on minimum terms in life sentence cases. A separate consultation on a review of the sentencing framework in Northern Ireland has recently ended. I will now be considering the way forward in light of both consultations.

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