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21 Jul 2005 : Column 1984W—continued

Motoring Offences

David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many people in Northern Ireland have been convicted for (a) careless driving and (b) motoring offences that resulted in a fatality in each of the last five years. [13947]

Mr. Woodward: The following tables provide the information requested between 1999 and 2003, the latter being the most up-to-date figures currently available.
Total number of convictions in Northern Irelandfor careless driving—1999 to 2003

	Number
1999	2,159
2000	2,371
2001	1,975
2002	1,556
2003	1,692

 
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Total number of convictions in Northern Ireland for motoring offences that resulted in a fatality—1999 to 2003

	Convictions for motoring offences resulting in a fatality
1999	20
2000	17
2001	15
2002	10
2003	24

Myeloma

Mark Durkan: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland whether approval is pending for Velcade treatment for people with myeloma; and if he will make a statement on available treatments in Northern Ireland for myeloma. [13932]

Mr. Woodward: The drug Velcade is licensed for use in Northern Ireland and clinicians are in a position to prescribe the product, taking account of the clinical circumstances of the individual patient, the licensed indications and in the context of local prescribing budgets.

There are a wide range of treatments for myeloma in Northern Ireland, including chemotherapy, radiotherapy, blood transfusion and a range of medicines both to treat the underlying disease and provide symptomatic relief for the individual. Many emerging therapies and combination therapy regimens are currently being tested in clinical trials.

Parliamentarians (State Benefits)

Dr. McCrea: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what state benefits have been received by each of the Sinn Fein (a) members of the Legislative Assembly, (b) Members of Parliament and (c) Members of the European Parliament in the last 10years. [11130]

Mr. Hanson: We are unable to provide the information requested as it is personal data and its release would breach data protection principles.

Police

David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how much has been spent using credit cards held by senior police officers in Northern Ireland in each of the last five years. [13938]

Mr. Woodward: Credit cards, used solely for business purposes to cover expenditure such as travel and accommodation, are available solely to the top team of senior managers in the Police Service of Northern Ireland.

The table illustrates the total credit card expenditure by the top team of senior managers for the last three financial years.

The periods prior to this are no longer held on the PSNI financial systems, and are only available as archived records. To trawl such records would involve a manual trawl at disproportionate cost.
 
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This expenditure has been included in the PSNI accounts and subject to audit as with all other expenditure.

	Total spend (£)
2002–03	31,113.62
2003–04	39,954.76
2004–05	23,113.16

Police Service

Lady Hermon: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how the Belfast city centre beat arrangement between the Police Service Northern Ireland and Belfast city traders and Chamber of Commerce is being funded. [11233]

Mr. Woodward: The partnership agreement will provide two dedicated police officers to address issues specific to the city centre, including:

Illegal street trading

Antisocial behaviour

The basic salary cost of both officers will be funded by the partners. The lead partner is Belfast City Centre Management, who received funding from Belfast city council and the Chamber of Trade. The Police Service of Northern Ireland will meet all other costs as part of the pilot of this new initiative.

Population Statistics

Mrs. Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many people over the age of 18 years and below pensionable age there are in each (a) constituency, (b) council area and (c) postcode area in Northern Ireland. [11982]

Angela E. Smith: Population estimates at 30 June 2003 for persons aged 18 and over but less than pensionable age (60 years for women and 65 years for men) for each parliamentary constituency and local government district are given in the following tables. Population estimates by age for individual postcodes in Northern Ireland are not available.
Table 1: Usually resident mid-year population estimate (2003)for each parliamentary constituency for personsaged 18 and over and less than pensionable age

Parliamentary constituency	Number
Belfast East	43,600
Belfast North	45,400
Belfast South	60,700
Belfast West	47,600
East Antrim	50,300
East Londonderry	52,100
Fermanagh and South Tyrone	53,200
Foyle	62,100
Lagan Valley	61,200
Mid Ulster	51,000
Newry and Armagh	59,200
North Antrim	59,700
North Down	50,700
South Antrim	60,400
South Down	61,400
Strangford	58,800
Upper Bann	61,000
West Tyrone	51,000

 
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Table 2: Usually resident mid-year population estimate (2003)for each local government district for personsaged 18 and over and less than pensionable age

Local government district	Number
Antrim	29,500
Ards	44,200
Armagh	31,900
Ballymena	34,500
Ballymoney	16,000
Banbridge	25,500
Belfast	158,500
Carrickfergus	22,700
Castlereagh	37,500
Coleraine	32,000
Cookstown	19,300
Craigavon	47,500
Derry	62,100
Down	37,500
Dungannon	27,700
Fermanagh	33,700
Larne	18,000
Limavady	20,100
Lisburn	64,200
Magherafelt	23,600
Moyle	9,200
Mewry and Mourne	51,100
Newtownabbey	47,200
North Down	45,300
Omagh	28,800
Strabane	22,200

Post-primary Education

Mr. Lidington: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how much money he has allocated to the Council for Catholic Maintained Schools to undertake a review of post-primary education in the Catholic sector; and if he will make a statement. [13200]

Angela E. Smith: Additional resources of £508,000 have been allocated to the Council for Catholic Maintained Schools in the current financial year to enable it to support and facilitate schools in the Catholic managed sector to develop collaborative arrangements with other schools and further education colleges to provide access to the entitlement framework and generally to support work by schools to prepare for the implementation of new post-primary arrangements. A total of £510,000 has been allocated to the education and library boards for the same purpose.

Premature Baby Units

Lady Hermon: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how much funding was allocated to Northern Ireland's premature baby units in each of the last five years; and what plans he has to change such funding. [13889]

Mr. Woodward: The Department allocates funding to the Health and Social Services Boards under an agreed capitation formula that recognises the healthcare needs of the populations within each Board area. Resources are, therefore, not centrally allocated to the funding of specific services such as premature baby units.
 
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Boards use their allocated funding to commission a range of maternity and paediatric services, including provision for premature babies. They continuously review their allocations in light of emerging priorities and changes in demand for specific services in their area.

Lady Hermon: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many staff were employed in each premature baby unit in Northern Ireland in each of the past five years, broken down by grade. [13890]

Mr. Woodward: The information requested has been placed in the Library.

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