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18 Apr 2006 : Column 485W—continued

Independent Monitoring Commission

David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland pursuant to the answer of 14 March 2006, Official Report, column 2152W, on the Independent Monitoring Commission (IMC), whether he has discussed with the IMC the definition it uses of criminality. [63581]

Mr. Woodward: At meetings with the Commissioners, the Secretary of State has discussed a range of matters connected with the remit of the Independent Monitoring Commission (IMC), as defined in the Agreement that established the IMC.
 
18 Apr 2006 : Column 486W
 

Housing

David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland pursuant to the answer of 21 March 2006, Official Report, column 208W, on housing, how many households this represents in each case; and what percentage of the total number of Housing Executive households this represents in each district. [63473]

Mr. Hanson: The information is not available for the period requested. The following table details the numbers of Housing Executive debtors, by district office area for the seven year period 1999–2005. This includes households who are no longer Housing Executive tenants.
Debtors by NIHE district office area⁽²¹⁶⁾

	March 1999		March 2000		March 2001		March 2002
	Total debtors	Percentage	Total debtors	Percentage	Total debtors	Percentage	Total debtors	Percentage
Belfast 1	526	0.4	527	0.4	559	0.5	575	0.5
Belfast 2	767	0.6	730	0.6	852	0.7	879	0.8
Belfast 3	577	0.4	565	0.4	574	0.5	513	0.4
Belfast 4	743	0.6	726	0.6	831	0.7	880	0.8
Belfast 5	764	0.6	759	0.6	918	0.7	905	0.8
Belfast 6	630	0.5	627	0.5	649	0.5	625	0.5
Belfast 7	895	0.7	960	0.7	982	0.8	953	0.8
Total	4,902	3.7	4,894	3.8	5,365	4.4	5,330	4.6
Bangor	637	0.5	656	0.5	772	0.6	826	0.7
N'ards	868	0.6	927	0.7	980	0.8	996	0.9
C'reagh	867	0.6	879	0.7	969	0.8	978	0.8
Lisburn	872	0.6	1,047	0.8	1,112	0.9	1,187	1.0
Lisburn D/F	441	0.3	460	0.4	431	0.4	450	0.4
Down	587	0.4	578	0.4	591	0.5	577	0.5
Total	4,272	3.2	4,547	3.5	4,855	4.0	5,014	4.3
Banbridge	384	0.3	473	0.4	477	0.4	494	0.4
Newry	523	0.4	514	0.4	580	0.5	540	0.5
Armagh	345	0.3	354	0.3	355	0.3	413	0.4
Lur/Brown	434	0.3	455	0.4	528	0.4	491	0.4
P'down	279	0.2	256	0.2	297	0.2	334	0.3
Dungannon	242	0.2	290	0.2	315	0.3	366	0.3
Fermanagh	260	0.2	294	0.2	312	0.3	331	0.3
Total	2,467	1.8	2,636	2.0	2,864	2.3	2,969	2.6
Ballymena	471	0.4	488	0.4	474	0.4	497	0.4
Antrim	667	0.5	695	0.5	645	0.5	650	0.6
N'abbey 1	613	0.5	603	0.5	552	0.4	621	0.5
N'abbey 2	717	0.5	718	0.6	669	0.5	658	0.6
Carrick	619	0.5	631	0.5	545	0.4	490	0.4
Larne	474	0.4	514	0.4	543	0.4	517	0.4
B'castle	142	0.1	148	0.1	125	0.1	125	0.1
B'money	247	0.2	271	0.2	224	0.2	217	0.2
Coleraine	611	0.5	675	0.5	657	0.5	647	0.6
Total	4,561	3.4	4,743	3.7	4,434	3.6	4,422	3.8
Waterloo	516	0.4	538	0.4	587	0.5	522	0.4
Waterside	592	0.4	629	0.5	700	0.6	713	0.6
Collon	413	0.3	400	0.3	486	0.4	522	0.4
Limavady	317	0.2	379	0.3	342	0.3	361	0.3
M'felt	256	0.2	309	0.2	308	0.3	365	0.3
Strabane	393	0.3	494	0.4	489	0.4	546	0.5
Omagh	291	0.2	291	0.2	284	0.2	339	0.3
C'town	248	0.2	248	0.2	229	0.2	214	0.2
Total	3,026	2.3	3,288	2.6	3,425	2.8	3,582	3.1
NI total	19,228	14.3	20,108	15.6	20,943	17.0	21,317	18.3
Housing stock	134,220		128,622		122,875		116,431

	March 2003		March 2004		March 2005
	Total debtors	Percentage	Total debtors	Percentage	Total debtors	Percentage
Belfast 1	572	0.5	496	0.5	445	0.5
Belfast 2	894	0.8	790	0.8	713	0.7
Belfast 3	475	0.4	410	0.4	377	0.4
Belfast 4	778	0.7	848	0.8	788	0.8
Belfast 5	897	0.8	870	0.8	847	0.9
Belfast 6	629	0.6	648	0.6	571	0.6
Belfast 7	967	0.9	1,072	1.0	892	0.9
Total	5,212	4.7	5,134	5.0	4,633	4.7
Bangor	777	0.7	723	0.7	625	0.6
N'ards	1,005	0.9	958	0.9	792	0.8
C'reagh	940	0.9	968	0.9	948	1.0
Lisburn	1,043	1.0	990	1.0	931	0.9
Lisburn D/F	387	0.4	422	0.4	340	0.3
Down	506	0.5	497	0.5	453	0.5
Total	4,658	4.2	4,558	4.4	4,089	4.2
Banbridge	426	0.4	394	0.4	379	0.4
Newry	479	0.4	476	0.5	451	0.5
Armagh	327	0.3	305	0.3	286	0.3
Lur/Brown	447	0.4	461	0.4	466	0.5
P'down	300	0.3	323	0.3	306	0.3
Dungannon	328	0.3	331	0.3	291	0.3
Fermanagh	265	0.2	269	0.3	257	0.3
Total	2,572	2.3	2,559	2.5	2,436	2.5
Ballymena	462	0.4	436	0.4	389	0.4
Antrim	495	0.5	492	0.5	429	0.4
N'abbey 1	512	0.5	479	0.5	445	0.5
N'abbey 2	569	0.5	509	0.5	450	0.5
Carrick	413	0.4	416	0.4	372	0.4
Larne	424	0.4	391	0.4	343	0.3
B'castle	117	0.1	126	0.1	113	0.1
B'money	205	0.2	212	0.2	215	0.2
Coleraine	560	0.5	564	0.5	553	0.6
Total	3,757	3.4	3,625	3.5	3,309	3.4
Waterloo	458	0.4	400	0.4	320	0.3
Waterside	611	0.6	590	0.6	571	0.6
Collon	493	0.4	503	0.5	446	0.5
Limavady	299	0.3	321	0.3	282	0.3
M'felt	330	0.3	350	0.3	265	0.3
Strabane	426	0.4	421	0.4	403	0.4
Omagh	316	0.3	314	0.3	300	0.3
C'town	151	0.1	182	0.2	166	0.2
Total	3,084	2.8	3,081	3.0	2,753	2.8
NI total	19,283	17.6	18,957	18.4	17,220	17.5
Housing stock	109,742		102,850		98,287

⁽²¹⁶⁾ The figures quoted are at the end of the financial year ie 31 March and include debtors from previous years.



 
18 Apr 2006 : Column 487W
 

David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland pursuant to the answer, of 21 March 2006, Official Report, column 208W, on housing, how much and what percentage of the unpaid Housing Executive rent arrears in each district were as a result of deliberate non-payment; and what percentage of the total number of Housing Executive households this represents in each case. [63583]

Mr. Hanson: The figures provided in respect of tenant debt include the total annual amounts for tenant rent and rates debt through non-payment, and also public sector housing benefit overpayments, which resulted from the tenants supplying incorrect information for the housing benefit assessment.

Illegal Firearms

Mr. Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland on how many occasions since 26 September 2005 the Police Service Northern Ireland have been called on to deal with cases of suspected illegal activity involving the use or possession of illegal firearms. [60070]

Mr. Woodward: The Chief Constable has advised me that during the time period 26 September 2005 to 28 February 2006 there have been 349 crimes recorded
 
18 Apr 2006 : Column 488W
 
by the police where a firearm has, or is alleged to have been involved in the incident. This figure includes all crime types, from possession of firearm to robbery assisted by the use of a firearm or an alleged firearm. It is not always possible to determine whether a firearm used was illegal, for example if a firearm is not recovered at the scene.

Integrated Education Fund

Mrs. Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland (1) how much has been distributed by the Integrated Education Fund in each year since its inception; [62050]

(2) if he will list the projects supported by the Integrated Education Fund in each year since its inception. [62052]

Angela E. Smith: The Integrated Education Fund is an independent charitable body and as such, the projects it supports, and how much funding it provides, is entirely the responsibility of the Board of Governors of the fund except where the Department of Education has placed stipulations on funding it has provided.

The Department has stipulated that the fund must keep £l million as a restricted reserve with the purpose of providing interest free loans for capital building
 
18 Apr 2006 : Column 489W
 
works at schools that have been approved by the Department for recurrent grant. In January 2005 the Department provided funding of £1,331.67 for the preparation of a report on the operation of the Club Bank. In March 2006 the Department made a donation of £750,000 for the delivery of an agreed plan to provide enhanced support for transformation, exploring opportunities for collaborative work between schools, and an expansion of its Promoting A Culture of Tolerance (PACT) programme.

Mrs. Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how much the Government has allocated to the Integrated Education Fund in each year since its inception. [62051]

Angela E. Smith: The Department of Education has made the following donations to the Integrated Education Fund since its establishment:
£

Year of grant	Amount
1992–93	750,000
1994–95	2,000,000
1999–2000	750,000
2003–04	50,000
2004–05	1,331.67
2005–06	750,000
Total	4,301,331.67

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