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24 Oct 2005 : Column 88W—continued
Cold Case Reviews
Lady Hermon: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland whether there have been any changes to (a) the remit, (b) the terms and conditions of the investigating officers and (c) the manner and conduct of the investigation in the cold case reviews undertaken by the Police Service of Northern Ireland. [20776]
Mr. Woodward: My right hon. Friend, the then Secretary of State for Northern Ireland (Mr. Murphy), announced in March 2005 the provision of additional funds to the Chief Constable to enable him to set up a new unit within PSNI to review the unresolved deaths due to the security situation between 1969 and 1998.
I have been advised by the PSNI that since then there have been no changes to (a) the remit of the historical inquiry team which is currently being established to undertake this review, (b) the terms and conditions of the investigating officers and (c) the manner and conduct of the investigations to be undertaken by this team.
The work of the historical inquiry team is due to formally commence early in the new year and it remains the case that the key aims of the team are to achieve, where possible, closure for the families of victims either by judicial or non-judicial means, in a way that commands the confidence of the wider community.
Contaminated Land
Mr. Peter Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what his estimate is of (a) the value and (b) the acreage of contaminated land in Northern Ireland. [19454]
Angela E. Smith:
The Department of the Environment does not hold estimates of either the area or value of contaminated land in Northern Ireland. The Department of the Environment's land use database has
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identified locations where former land use may have caused contamination. It does not however, quantify the areas of land involved.
Cyclists (Prosecutions)
Mr. Peter Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many prosecutions have been brought against cyclists for cycling on pavements in each of the last five years for which figures are available, broken down by Police Service of Northern Ireland district. [19528]
Mr. Woodward: The latest court proceedings data for calendar years 1999 to 2003 (the latter being the most up-to-date data presently available) confirm that there were no prosecutions for 'riding a pedal cycle on a footpath'.
Dentistry
Mrs. Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many children in the Province were registered with a dentist in 1997. [18429]
Mr. Woodward: Information requested is provided in the table as follows.
| Number | |
|---|---|
| Children registered with an NHS Dentist, June 1997(17)(5508210018) | 285,960 |
(17) Figures are derived from dental registration data.
(18) Figures for registered patients include a small proportion who may reside temporarily elsewhere in the UK.
Disabled Drivers
Mr. Peter Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland (1) what powers (a) the police and (b) local authorities have to deal with the improper use of disabled parking bays by able-bodied drivers; [19551]
(2) how many people were fined for offences directly relating to the improper use of (a) disabled vehicle stickers and (b) disabled parking spaces in each of the last three years. [19552]
Mr. Woodward: Police and traffic wardens are able to enforce violations of on-street disabled parking by advice and warning or the issue of a fixed penalty notice. The following table provides the number of fines issued by police and traffic wardens for on-street disabled parking offences in each of the last three years:
| Type of offence | ||
|---|---|---|
| Parking in a disabled person's parking space | Wrongful use of a disabled person's badge | |
| 2002 | 2,002 | 8 |
| 2003 | 2,341 | 6 |
| 2004 | 2,331 | 13 |
Responsibility for the enforcement of off-street disabled parking spaces in public car parks rests with the Department of Regional Development's (DRD) Roads Service.
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There is not a major difficulty with the misuse of off-street disabled parking spaces and Roads Service have not had to make any prosecutions against offenders in the last three years.
Doctors' Salaries
Mr. Peter Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how much money was spent by each health board on salaries for doctors (a) on suspension and (b) absent on special leave in each of the last three years. [19556]
Mr. Woodward: The information requested is not readily available and can be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Education and Library Boards
Mrs. Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what the overall deficit of each education and library board in Northern Ireland is for the year 2005–06. [19941]
Angela E. Smith: In common with all public bodies, the five Education and Library Boards are required to live within the allocations voted by Parliament. The final 2005–06 position will not be known until after the year end, once the 2005–06 Accounts are received. However, the Department expects all Boards to remain within budget this year. Two Boards (the Belfast and South Eastern Education and Library Boards) breached their budget allocations in the last two years and their deficits currently amount cumulatively to £31.2 million.
Electroconvulsive Therapy
Mrs. Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what obligations there are on hospital staff in Northern Ireland who are involved in electroconvulsive therapy procedures to understand the calibration settings of ECT machines. [17560]
Mr. Woodward: Clinical staff, using an ECT machine to provide electro-convulsive therapy, are trained by an appropriately experienced consultant psychiatrist and subsequently use ECT machines only when deemed competent to do so by the consultant psychiatrist.
Freedom of Information
Mrs. Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many requests have been received under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 by each Government Department in the Province. [18431]
Angela E. Smith:
The Office of the First Minister and Deputy First Minister publishes statistics on the performance of the 11 Northern Ireland Departments on a quarterly basis. Similarly, figures for the Northern Ireland Office are included in the Department for Constitutional Affairs quarterly update for Whitehall Departments. The total number of requests received by each Department between 1 January 2005 and 30 June 2005 are set out in the following table. Figures for the third quarter, 1 July 2005 to 30 September 2005, should be available towards the end of the year.
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(19) Figures include requests made under the Environmental Information Regulations 2004.
(20) DCAL figure includes requests made to the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland.
Mrs. Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will estimate the costs which have resulted from requests under the Freedom of Information Act 2000. [18432]
Angela E. Smith: The information requested is not collected routinely and could be obtained at only disproportionate cost.
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