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24 Oct 2005 : Column 103W—continued
Liver Cancer
Mrs. Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what the average time was that patients in the Province waited for treatment for liver cancer in (a) 1999 and (b) the last 12 months for which figures are available. [20065]
Mr. Woodward: Information on waiting times for cancer treatment is not collected centrally.
Negligence Claims
Mrs. Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many clinical negligence claims there have been against each health trust in the Province in each of the last three years. [20049]
Mr. Woodward: The information is not available in the form requested and could be provided only at a disproportionate cost.
NHS Clinical Staff
Mrs. Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what estimate he has made of the percentage change in whole-time equivalent NHS clinical staff in the Province since 1997. [20051]
Mr. Woodward: The information requested is provided in the table. Clinical staff are those who provide a direct service to patients. Therefore, clinical staff within the HPSS includes the following terms and condition groups: nursing, midwifery and health visiting, social services, professional and technical, medical and dental and ambulance staff. Clinical staff consist of those who are professionally qualified and those staff working in direct support of professionally qualified clinical staff.
Source:
Human Resource Management System
NHS Pension Scheme
Mrs. Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland when sessional general practitioners in the Province will be able to join the NHS pension scheme. [20068]
Mr. Woodward: Amending regulations which will open the HPSS superannuation scheme to sessional general practitioners in Northern Ireland are scheduled to be introduced in December 2005.
These regulations will provide for both backdated and future scheme membership for sessional general practitioners from the date they are introduced.
The Department's HPSS Superannuation Branch has recently issued a letter to sessional general practitioners informing them of this.
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Non-clinical Staff
Mrs. Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what the annual spending was on administrative and non-clinical staff within the health service in the Province in each of the last two years. [20045]
Mr. Woodward: Expenditure on administrative and non-clinical staff was £212 million in 2002–03, and £236 million in 2003–04. The figures for 2004–05 are not yet available.
Non-consultant Hospital Doctors
Mrs. Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what estimate he has made of the percentage change in whole-time equivalent non-consultant hospital doctors in the Province since 1997. [20053]
Mr. Woodward: Information requested is provided in the following table.
Note:
Non-consultant hospital doctor figures include both medical and dental staff.
Source:
Human Resource Management System
Northern Bank Robbery
Mr. Peter Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many people have been (a) questioned, (b) arrested and (c) detained in connection with the Northern bank robbery. [19468]
Mr. Woodward: The investigation into the Northern bank robbery is ongoing. To date no-one has been arrested or detained and subsequently interviewed by the Police Service of Northern Ireland in relation to the robbery.
PSNI are working closely with An Garda S-"ocha"na on a number of aspects of the investigation into the Northern bank robbery. Progress has been made, and the Garda Commissioner has stated publicly that a large quantity of money recovered in raids in Cork was stolen from the Northern bank. PSNI are fully committed to bringing the perpetrators to justice and are confident of a successful outcome to the investigation.
Mr. Peter Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many officers are working on the Northern Bank robbery case. [19469]
Mr. Woodward:
The investigation into the Northern Bank robbery is ongoing and a dedicated team of detectives have been allocated to the case and are working closely with their counterparts in An Garda S-"ocha"na. PSNI are fully committed to bringing the perpetrators to justice and additional resources can be called upon as the inquiry evolves.
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The allocation of police staff resources is a matter for the Chief Constable.
Mr. Peter Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how much money has been recovered to date from the Northern Bank robbery. [19566]
Mr. Woodward: The investigation into the Northern Bank robbery is ongoing. To date the Police Service of Northern Ireland has recovered £50,000 of the proceeds from the Northern Bank robbery. In addition An Garda S-"ocha"na has recovered over £2.4 million which they believe to be from the Northern Bank robbery.
Mr. Peter Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how much money the most recent change of notes after the Northern Bank robbery cost the Northern Bank to implement. [19567]
Mr. Woodward: It is not known precisely what costs were incurred by the Northern Bank to change its bank notes in the aftermath of the robbery of the bank in December. The hon. Member may wish to raise this issue with the chief executive of the Northern Bank.
The Bank's decision to withdraw the old bank notes and replace them with notes of a different colour and design was warmly welcomed by the then Secretary of State as it significantly reduced the value of the robbery to the perpetrators and increased the logistical barriers for those responsible to launder the stolen money.
Nurses
Mrs. Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what estimate he has made of the percentage change in whole-time equivalent qualified nurses in the Province since 1997. [20043]
Mr. Woodward: Information requested is provided in the following table.
Notes:
Qualified nurses include midwives and health visitors.
Source:
Human Resource Management System
Ovarian Cancer
Mrs. Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what the average time was that patients in the Province waited for treatment for ovarian cancer in (a) 1999 and (b) the last 12 months for which figures are available. [20066]
Mr. Woodward: Information on waiting times for cancer treatment is not collected centrally.
Police Officer Numbers
Mr. Peter Robinson:
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many police officers there were in
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Northern Ireland on 1 September (a) 1997, (b) 1998 and (c) 2005, broken down by (i) regular, (ii) full-time reserve and (iii) part-time reserve. [19554]
Mr. Woodward: The relevant figures are listed in the following table. The figures for regulars do not include secondments, but do include student officers.
| Date | Regulars | Full-time reserve | Part-time reserve and constables part-time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 30 September 1997 | 8,470 | 2,975 | 1,362 |
| 30 September 1998 | 8,446 | 2,980 | 1,255 |
| 30 September 2005 | 7,461 | 1,173 | 902 |
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