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21 Mar 2006 : Column 210W—continued
Northern Ireland Assembly Ombudsman
Mr. Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many cases the Northern Ireland Assembly Ombudsman has investigated in each of the last three years; and in what percentage of cases there was a finding in favour of the complainant in each year. [56355]
Angela E. Smith:
I understand that the Northern Ireland Ombudsman has written to the hon. Gentleman. A copy of the letter has been placed in the Library.
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Public Appointments
Mr. Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many people appointed to non-departmental public bodies in Northern Ireland had their membership of such bodies suspended or terminated between 2000 and 2005. [56142]
Angela E. Smith: In the period from 1 January 2000 to 31 December 2005, 12 individuals had their appointment to non-departmental public bodies terminated. There were no suspensions of appointment in this period.
Secondary Schools (East Londonderry)
Mr. Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland (1) how many secondary schools in the East Londonderry constituency are based in premises over 50-years-old; [59606]
(2) how many secondary schools in East Londonderry constituency are based in premises over 50-years-old. [59875]
Angela E. Smith: There are four secondary schools in the East Londonderry constituency that are based in premises over 50-years-old. These are:
Sexual Assaults
Sammy Wilson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many sexual assaults have been reported in Northern Ireland in each of the last five years, broken down by constituency; and how many convictions there were for such assaults in each year, in each constituency. [59472]
Mr. Woodward: Reporting data in respect of sexual assaults is only available by District Command Unit. Statistics in relation to this type of offence are available on the PSNI website: www.psni.police.uk The following table provides statistics on the number of convictions for sexual assaults by District Command Unit during the period 2000 to 2003 (2003 being the most up-to-date data currently available). Data for 1999 has not been included as it is not comparable with the 2000–03 data.
Notes:
1.Table 1 is based on the PSNI District Command Unit in which an offender's address falls. The structure of police District Command Units became operational in April 2001. However, for the purposes of comparability, calendar year 2000 data are also disaggregated by DCU, rather than police division. It is not possible to disaggregate data by DCU for 1999.
2.Figures include convictions for the offences of assault with intent to rape", indecent assault on female", indecent assault on male", indecent assault on female child" and indecent assault onmale child".
3.Missing" data includes those convictions for which DCU information is not available.
4. Data is collated on the principal offence rule, thus only the most serious offence for which an offender is charged is included.
5.At present there is no means of tracking an offence from when it was reported to the police to whether there was a conviction for the offence, thus the conviction figures included should not be compared with the number of sexual assaults reported.
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Shootings and Assaults
Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what recent assessment he has made of the level of (a) Loyalist and (b) Republican shootings and assaults; and if he will make a statement. [58321]
Mr. Woodward: PSNI statistics are as follows:
| 2006(7) | 2005(7) | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Loyalist | Republican | Total | Loyalist | Republican | Total | |
| Shootings | 10 | — | 10 | 12 | 5 | 17 |
| Assaults | 7 | 4 | 11 | 13 | 10 | 23 |
| Total | 17 | 4 | 21 | 25 | 15 | 40 |
(7)12 March.
Paramilitary style shootings and attacks continue on a downward trend.
Small Firms
Mr. Prisk: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what definition the Department uses of a small firm. [59278]
Mr. Hanson:
The precision with which terms such as 'small firm' and 'SME' (small and medium-sized enterprise) are used by the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment (DETI) depend on the context. There is no single definition of a small firm. Definitions
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commonly used are those of the European Union (EU) and the Companies Act 1985. The EU defines a small firm as one with:
Maximum percentage owned by one or jointly owned by several enterprises not satisfying the same criteria 25 per cent.
The Companies Act 1985 states that a company is 'small' if it satisfies at least two of the following criteria:
Special Needs Provision
Sammy Wilson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many pupils in (a) schools and (b) special needs education in Northern Ireland are assessed as (i) partially-sighted and (ii) totally blind. [60611]
Angela E. Smith: In the 2005–06 school census return, there were 60 pupils with special educational needs who were recorded as blind. Of these, 40 were in special schools.
There were 542 children with special educational needs recorded as partially sighted. Of these, 203 were in special schools.
Ulster Scots Culture
Mr. Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will establish a liaison group of education authorities in Northern Ireland to pursue with their counterparts in Scotland the promotion and understanding of the Ulster-Scots cultural outlook. [59520]
Mr. Hanson: Government have no plans to establish such a liaison group. It believes that the Ulster Scots Agency is well placed to pursue the promotion and understanding of Ulster-Scots culture in Northern Ireland.
EDUCATION AND SKILLS
Academic Year
Mr. Lancaster: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills whether a publicly-funded further education provider has discretion to set the length of an academic year. [58912]
Bill Rammell: Further education (FE) colleges are independent institutions incorporated under the 1992 Further and Higher Education Act and, as such, are themselves responsible for setting the dates for their terms and academic year. However, in practice, colleges align their academic year with the traditional academic year followed by schools and universities.
The funding and accounting year for FE colleges is set by the Learning and Skills Council at 1 August to 31 July, to coincide with the traditional academic year.
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The length of the academic year may depend to some extent on the dates for the duration and completion of individual courses. However, this will depend on the requirements of the relevant qualification awarding bodies, on the types of qualification delivered and on the mode of delivery.
Colleges will, of course, also provide the courses which do not follow the pattern of a traditional academic year to meet the needs of employers and learners.
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