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17 Oct 2005 : Column 755W—continued
Sports Council
Mrs. Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how much funding has been allocated by the Sports Council in Northern Ireland over the last five years, broken down by (a) Westminster parliamentary constituency and (b) district council area. [18016]
Mr. Hanson:
The Sports Council for Northern Ireland has allocated Exchequer and Lottery funding in Northern Ireland for the amounts shown in the table in
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the last five years. This includes funding for bodies with a province-wide remit, for example, governing bodies of sport.
| Exchequer | Lottery | |
|---|---|---|
| 2000–01 | 4.423 | 5.528 |
| 2001–02 | 3.536 | 2.090 |
| 2002–03 | 5.276 | 1.896 |
| 2003–04 | 7.096 | 2.903 |
| 2004–05 | 5.937 | 0.788 |
Information on Exchequer and Lottery funding for sport is retained by the Sports Council for Northern Ireland in accordance with how it is distributed, i.e. to sport, to individual athletes, district council areas and by programme. Information on Exchequer funding has only been kept, with regard to district council area, since 2003–04, therefore the information requested for district council areas cannot be provided for Exchequer fundingfor the years 2000–01, 2001–02 and 2002–03. Exchequer and Lottery funding is not distributed on a parliamentary constituency Basis, and consequently, the details requested regarding funding broken down by parliamentary constituency areas cannot be provided, except at disproportionate cost.
The amounts of exchequer funding allocated by the Sports Council for Northern Ireland on a district council basis for the years 2003–04 and 2004–05 are shown in the following table:
The amounts of Lottery funding allocated by the Sports Council for Northern Ireland on a district council basis for the years 2000–01 to 2004–05 are shown in the table. Minus figures indicate awards made in previous years, which have been withdrawn (e.g. for insufficient partnership funding).
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Teriparitide
Mrs. Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will make a statement on the availability of Teriparitide in Northern Ireland. [17133]
Mr. Woodward: Teriparitide is licensed for the treatment of established osteoporosis in post-menopausal women.
The decision to prescribe a particular medicine is a matter for clinicians, taking account of the clinical circumstances of the individual patient, a drug's licensed indications and local prescribing policies and commissioning decisions.
Additional funding of £5 million has been allocated in 2005–06 for specialist hospital drugs. It is for the health and social services boards, as commissioners of services, to prioritise how funding is used, taking into account the competing demands and pressures in their areas and the strategic objectives and priorities of my Department.
I understand that boards have not identified funding for Teriparitide in the current financial year but will be keeping this position under review.
CONSTITUTIONAL AFFAIRS
Commercial Court
Mr. Djanogly: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs how much funding the Treasury is providing for the improvement of the facilities at the commercial court. [16648]
Ms Harman:
My Department will able to give this information when the business case has been received, evaluated and the funding level quantified.
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Electoral Administration Bill
Mr. Heald: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs if she will deposit in the Library copies of the responses received to her Department's consultation paper on the Electoral Administration Bill. [17465]
Ms Harman: We received over 160 responses, within the deadline, to the policy paper on electoral administration which was put out on 25 May this year.
On 11 October, alongside introduction of the Electoral Administration Bill, we published a paper which detailed and analysed the responses received. Copies of the paper were put into the Libraries of both Houses on that day.
Freedom of Information
Mr. Pelling: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs what investigations she has undertaken into whether the Data Protection Act 1998 is being used as a way of preventing governmental information being divulged under the Freedom of Information Act 2000. [16419]
Ms Harman: Section 40 of the Freedom of Information Act limits the applications of the FOI rights of access to personal information by reference to provisions of the DPA. This provision ensures consistency across the FOI and data protection regimes.
No investigation has been undertaken on the use of S40, however there is no evidence that DPA 1998 is being used a way of preventing information being divulged under FOI, disproportionately to other exemptions or that it has been cited without good reason. Statistics have been published on the implementation of the FOI Act 2000 in central Government which show that in quarter one and
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quarter two, 22,403 requests have been received. Exemptions have been claimed 3,631 times to refuse information with section 40, being used 930 times. These statistics are available at www.FOI.gov.uk.
Graduated Fees
Ms Gisela Stuart: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs what recent consultations she has had with the General Council of the Bar and the Law Society about the graduated fee payment scheme. [17129]
Bridget Prentice: The Lord Chancellor and I meet regularly with representatives of the General Council of the Bar and the Law Society to discuss a range of issues, including the Graduated Fee Scheme.
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