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27 Jun 2005 : Column 1323W—continued
Co-ownership Homes
Mrs. Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many houses have been built under the co-ownership scheme in the Province in the last three years; what the uptake of co-ownership homes was in each year; and if he will make a statement. [6676]
Mr. Hanson: Northern Ireland Co-ownership Housing Association, which administers the co-ownership scheme in Northern Ireland, does not build houses.
The table below shows the uptake of the co-ownership scheme in the last 3 years.
| First time buyers assisted to buy homes | |
|---|---|
| 2002–03 | 801 |
| 2003–04 | 463 |
| 2004–05 | 502 |
Credit Card Fraud
Mrs. Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what estimate he has made of the cost of credit card fraud involving identity fraud in each of the last five years; and if he will make a statement. [6573]
Mr. Woodward: The PSNI have provided the following figures. These are an estimate of criminal benefit obtained as a result of deception offences involving credit cards reported to the police. I am advised that this equates closely to credit card fraud involving identity fraud.
I am assured that the PSNI Cheque and Credit Card Unit is working closely with all relevant agencies and is involved in a number of different initiatives in an effort to combat credit card fraud. All reported instances of fraud are fully investigated and offenders made amenable to the courts.
| Number of investigations | Criminal benefit (£) | |
|---|---|---|
| 2002 | 626 | 1,279,286 |
| 2003 | 597 | 330,774 |
| 2004 | 551 | 281,512 |
| 2005 (to date) | 362 | 413,489 |
| Total | 2,305,061 |
Notes:
1.Records are not available prior to 2002.
2.These figures are based on incidents reported to the police. The true figure could be significantly higher as much of this type of crime is not reported directly to the police, but rather financial institutions such as banks.
Dementia (Personal Care)
Lady Hermon: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will introduce free personal and nursing care for those with dementia in Northern Ireland. [7125]
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Mr. Woodward: I refer the hon. Lady to my answer of 20 June 2005, Official Report, column 859W.
Disability Discrimination Act
Lady Hermon: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what recent assessment he has made of the compliance of public services in Northern Ireland with the Disability Discrimination Act 1995. [5518]
Angela E. Smith: While no assessment has been made of the compliance of public services in Northern Ireland with the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 (DDA), and nor is there any legislative requirement to do so, Government are fully committed to complying with all the requirements of the DDA. To this end, in relation to the access duties of the DDA, Accessibility Audits have been carried out on 168 of the 205 buildings within the Northern Ireland Civic Service Estate. Four buildings are still to be audited and the remaining 33 buildings do not require to be audited or to have adjustments made at this time because there is no public interface, no disabled member of staff or for operational reasons. All sites are kept under review and changes made if necessary.
Public service providers must ensure they are meeting their duties under the Act and the Equality Commission for Northern Ireland can provide detailed advice and information on meeting these requirements. In its publication Code of Practice, Rights of Access—Goods, Facilities, Services and Premises" the Commission recommends, as good practice, that service providers themselves consider certain steps to ensure compliance with the DDA. These include regularly reviewing whether their services are accessible to disabled people and consulting disabled customers, disabled staff and disability organisations about the accessibility of their services.
Education Action Zones
Mr. Dodds: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland (1) when education action zones will be set up in Northern Ireland; and in which areas; [5434]
(2) what funding will be available in education action zones in Northern Ireland; and from which sources. [5435]
Angela E. Smith: Each education and library board has been invited to work up education action zone proposals. The Department anticipates that each board will have at least one zone operating in its area and that zones will begin to come on stream early in the 2005–06 school year.
Some £6 million is expected to be made available by the Department over the next three financial years for the implementation of the education action zone initiative across Northern Ireland. Education and Library Boards have also been encouraged to seek and secure inter-agency support both in kind and in funding.
EWAY Rapid Transport Scheme
Mrs. Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will make a statement on progress on plans to introduce the EWAY Rapid Transport Scheme into Strangford and East Belfast. [6674]
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Mr. Woodward: The pilot rapid transit scheme known as EWAY" is included in the Belfast Metropolitan Transport Plan 2015, which was published in November 2004. This is a large, complex and expensive scheme and as with all such schemes, it is dependent on funding being available and is subject to a range of evaluation and statutory processes. Due to other higher priorities at present, it has not been possible to provide funding for EWAY in the Budget period to end 2008. The affordability of the scheme will however be kept under review in future budget rounds.
Exceptional Closure Days (Schools)
Lady Hermon: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what criteria are used by Education and Library Boards in Northern Ireland when deciding whether to grant additional exceptional closure days for schools. [5553]
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Angela E. Smith: The Department of Education determines the criteria for exceptional closure days in schools. The approval of such closures is only agreed in exceptional circumstances, where the closing of a school is outside the control of the school authority e.g. the death of a pupil at the school, flooding or burst pipes, electricity failure, terrorist incident etc.
Executive Programme Funds
Mr. Dodds: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how much has been allocated under each of the Executive Programme Funds in each year since their creation; and on what projects and programmes. [5431]
Angela E. Smith: The amounts allocated from each of the Executive Programme Funds since their creation is shown in the following table. Details of the underlying projects funded through these allocations have been placed in the Library.
Free School Meals
Mrs. Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many school children in each Education and Library Board area receive free school meals. [5339]
Angela E. Smith: At October 2004, the number of pupils entitled to free school meals, and the uptake in each Education and Library Board was as follows:
| Entitlement | Uptake | |
|---|---|---|
| BELB | 16,257 | 12,960 |
| NEELB | 10,471 | 8,213 |
| SEELB | 9,331 | 6,771 |
| SELB | 14,264 | 11,732 |
| WELB | 15,873 | 13,894 |
| Total | 66,196 | 53,570 |
Note:
The details exclude pupils in special schools which are not available.
Education and Library Boards have been required this year to set targets for increasing the numbers of pupils who take up their entitlement to free school meals.
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