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20 Oct 2005 : Column 1216W—continued
NHS (Overseas Workers)
Mrs. Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will estimate the training costs that are saved as the result of having staff from overseas working within the NHS. [11793]
Mr. Woodward: Trained staff employed from overseas does not have the effect of creating savings in training costs. Ethical recruitment of overseas staff has been carried out in recent years to partly address serious work force shortages when the level of departmental funding for training would not have supplied sufficient numbers of trained staff for the health service. Departmental spending on training has since increased considerably with the annual intake of student nurses being increased from 480 in 1999 to the current level of 750; an additional 63 medical students will enter Queen's University in September 2005, bringing the annual intake to 250.
Mr. Dodds: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many nurses from abroad are employed at (a) the Mater hospital and (b) the Royal Group of hospitals. [9485]
Mr. Woodward:
The information requested is provided in the following table.
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Source:
Mater Infirmorum Hospital HSS Trust and Royal Group of Hospitals HSS Trust
Physiotherapists
Mrs. Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many vacancies for physiotherapists there are at each health trust in the Province. [10968]
Mr. Woodward: Information requested is provided in the following table:
Mrs. Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many physiotherapists are employed by each health trust in the Province; and how many were employed five years ago. [10969]
Mr. Woodward: Information requested is provided in the following tables:
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Racially Motivated Crime
Mr. Peter Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what the (a) maximum and (b) minimum sentence is which has been handed down to a person charged with racially motivated crime in Northern Ireland. [18058]
Mr. Hanson: Statistics relating to sentencing of racially motivated crime are presently not available. I anticipate, however, that this information will become available towards the end of next year with the further development of the new Causeway information system.
Rail Workers (Injuries)
Mr. Peter Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many rail workers have been injured while working on the rail lines in Northern Ireland in each year since 1998. [19581]
Mr. Woodward: Translink have advised that the total number of rail workers injured while working on the rail lines in Northern Ireland in each year since 1998 is 29, broken down as follows:
| Minor | Major | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1998 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 1999 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 2000 | 4 | 3 | 7 |
| 2001 | 2 | 1 | 3 |
| 2002 | 9 | 0 | 9 |
| 2003 | 4 | 0 | 4 |
| 2004 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| 2005 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Total | 29 |
Of these figures, 21 workers sustained minor injuries—defined as requiring first aid treatment, resulting in less than three days lost. Eight workers sustained major injuries—defined as resulting in three days or more lost time. In addition, there were two
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fatalities, one resulting in death within 12 months of an accident in 1998 and the other being a contractor's employee who died as a result of an accident in 2002.
Roads (West Belfast)
Mr. Dodds: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland when work in respect of the road layout at the Mackey site in West Belfast began; and when it is planned to be completed. [18691]
Angela E. Smith: The contractor was appointed on 30 March 2004 and work on the road layout began shortly thereafter and was largely completed by June 2005. The completion of the overall road layout will be dependent on sales of individual units and sites within the business park and at this stage, it is not possible to provide a definite timetable.
Sex Offenders Register
Mr. Peter Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many people are on the Sex Offenders Register in Northern Ireland. [18249]
Mr. Hanson: On 30 September 2005 there were 580 persons in Northern Ireland subject to the notification requirements of Part 2 of the Sexual Offences Act 2003.
Sickness Absence
Mrs. Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will estimate the costs resulting from sickness absence among health service employees in the Province in 2004–05. [10965]
Mr. Woodward: The information requested is not held centrally.
Velcade
Mrs. Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will make a statement on the availability of Velcade in Northern Ireland; and what plans there are to increase access for patients to Velcade. [10354]
Mr. Woodward: Velcade was licensed for use in all areas in the UK in April 2004. Clinicians are in a position to prescribe Velcade within its licensed indications and in the context of local prescribing budgets.
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 the Department.
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The Department will continue to seek to improve access to specialist medicines that offer the potential for significant improvement in patient care.
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