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Continuous Positive Airways Pressure Machines

Mark Durkan: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many patients are using continuous positive airways pressure machines in each health board area. [54259]

Mr. Woodward: The number of continuous positive airway pressure machines supplied by each health board
 
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area in Northern Ireland as at 31 January 2006 is shown in the following table.

Health board area	Number of continuous airway pressure machines
Northern	20
Eastern	(26)637
Southern	78
Western	102

⁽²⁶⁾ Eastern health and social services board figure includes an approximation of 500 from Belfast city hospital using continuous positive airways pressure machines.
Source:
Health and social service boards.

Donaghadee Wastewater Works

Lady Hermon: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what revised plans have been made for the proposed wastewater treatment works at Donaghadee in County Down; and what factors influenced the decision to revise those plans. [54312]

Mr. Woodward: No revised plans have been made. The proposed works will be constructed in accordance with the Crown Development approval received in April 2005. As announced in August 2003, the works is being procured under Water Service's Public Private Partnership Project. Construction has commenced and completion is scheduled for December 2007.

Lady Hermon: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will meet a delegation of North Down residents to discuss the proposed siting of a wastewater treatment works in Donaghadee. [54313]

Mr. Woodward: New wastewater treatment facilities are required for the Bangor, Donaghadee and Millisle areas in order to comply with the Urban Wastewater Treatment Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1995, to protect the environment and the local beaches, and to provide for the development needs of the areas for the next 20 years.

The decision to site the treatment works at Donaghadee was taken in February 2002 by the then Minister for Regional Development, Peter Robinson MP MLA, following a rigorous site selection and evaluation process. The site adjacent to the carpet factory was identified as the Best Practicable Environmental Option. The Crown Development application was approved by Planning Service in April 2005. The new £42 million works is being constructed under Water Service's Omega Wastewater Public Private Partnership Project. Work has just commenced and completion is scheduled for December 2007.

I recognise the many concerns which have been expressed by residents of Donaghadee and their public representatives about the siting of the works. However, there has already been an unprecedented level of consultation with the local community, their views have been fully considered and their concerns been addressed where possible. In the circumstances, I feel that a further meeting with residents would not be appropriate at this stage.
 
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Efficiency Gains

Mrs. Villiers: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what baseline figures he is using for assessing progress on his Department's targets to reduce (a) the total number of civil service posts by 128 in the core department and (b) the number of public sector posts by 1,446; what progress has been made towards these targets to date; and what the total efficiency savings achieved to date are for these targets. [52939]

Mr. Hain: The information required is as follows:

	(a) Civil servants	(b) Public servants
Baselines at April 2004	5,336	16,873
Staff in post December 2005	5,035	16,295
Difference	-301	-578

It should be noted that there is no direct correlation between efficiency savings and headcount reductions, for example, a project that comes to an end might result in headcount reductions but this cannot necessarily be claimed as efficiency. The efficiency savings identified in the NIO that arise from gross headcount reductions are as follows:
£ million

	Forecast by March 2008	Savings to December 2005
Civil servants	6.2	4.1
Public servants	39.8	15.9

Local Government Finance

Mr. Donaldson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will ensure that arrangements are put in place to enable Orange Halls and other halls used for community purposes to apply for de-rating in time for the commencement of the 2006–07 rating year. [53437]

Angela E. Smith: The legislation, which will enable all community halls to apply for full exemption from rates liability, is currently at debate stage and is not, therefore, on the statute books at present.

In anticipation, however, of this legislation being passed soon and coming into effect on 1 April 2006, VLA is putting in place proactive and responsive procedures.

It is VLA's intention to issue a Form of Return to all community halls, advising occupiers of the new legislation and inviting them to apply for full exemption immediately the legislation is passed. Hopefully this will make the process as rapid, straightforward and helpful as possible.

VLA will endeavour to deal with responses as promptly and efficiently as possible and RCA will delay issuing bills at 1 April 2006 for a short period, pending the receipt of valid applications. In any event successful applications will be backdated to 1 April 2006.

Mains Electricity Supplies

Mr. Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland on how many occasions mains
 
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electricity supply in the Carrowclare Road area of Limavady, Co. Londonderry has been interrupted in the past two years; and what redress is available to consumers for the loss of supply. [53489]

Angela E. Smith: Northern Ireland Electricity (NIE) has advised that the electricity supply to the Carrowclare Road area of Limavady was interrupted on 16 occasions in the two years ended 31 January 2006.

The Electricity (Standards of Performance) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1993, as amended by the Electricity (Standards of Performance) (Amendment No. 3) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1999, require NIE to make a payment of £50 to each domestic customer and a payment of £125 to each non-domestic customer whose electricity supply is interrupted for a continuous period of 24 hours. They also require the company to make a further payment of £25 to any customer for each continuous 12 hours their supply remains interrupted following the first 24 hours.

Parades

David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how much public money has been made available to support (a) Twelfth of July demonstrations, (b) Royal Black Perceptory demonstrations, (c) Apprentice Boys of Derry parades and (d) the Sham Fight in Scarva in each of the last 10 years. [53146]

Mr. Hanson: A total of £36,705 has been made available since 2004 to support the Twelfth of July demonstrations. No funding has been made to support Royal Black Perceptory demonstrations, Apprentice Boys of Derry parades, or the Sham Fight in Scarva. Details of funding by financial year are illustrated in the following table.
£

		2004–05	2005–06
(a)	Twelfth of July	2,000	34,705
(b)	Royal Black Perceptory	—	—
(c)	Apprentice Boys of Derry	—	—
(d)	Sham Fight in Scarva	—	—

Police

Lady Hermon: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many arrests have been made by the Police Service of Northern Ireland in each district command unit since 2000; and how many successful prosecutions resulted from the arrests. [51047]

Mr. Woodward: Information has been placed in the Library. However, it is not held by DCU.

Arrested persons are detained in any of 22 designated police stations, and records are kept on that basis. The closest available information is contained in table 1 and relates to the number of persons detained at designated police stations in Northern Ireland since April 2002 (2002 being the most recent year for which statistics are available).
 
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Table 2 details the number of cases which have resulted in a conviction during the calendar years 2000 to 2003 (data beyond 2003 is currently unavailable).

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