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26 Apr 2006 : Column 1180W—continued

Victims Commissioner

14. Mr. Ian Austin: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland whether he plans to appoint a permanent Victims Commissioner when the current interim appointment comes to an end. [64537]

Angela E. Smith: The Government will bring forward legislation to establish the post of Commissioner for Victims and Survivors. The appointment of the Commissioner will be made as soon as practicable after the legislation comes into force. The appointment will be subject to the public appointment process.

Ageing Initiative

David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what his assessment is of the effectiveness to date of the ageing in an inclusive society initiative. [65330]

Angela E. Smith: The older people's strategy, ''Ageing in an Inclusive Society", which was launched in March 2005, includes an implementation plan for 2005–06
 
26 Apr 2006 : Column 1181W
 
which identifies actions for Northern Ireland Government Departments aimed at, amongst other things, improving the services of older people.

Good progress has been made throughout the year on implementing these actions and a mid-year progress report was placed in the Libraries of the House. The Office of the First Minister and Deputy First Minister is carrying out an end of year review and will publish a report on the Department's website. Copies of the report will also be placed in the Libraries of the House.

Avian Influenza

Lady Hermon: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many dead (a) wild and (b) domesticated birds have been tested for avian influenza in Northern Ireland in each of the past 12 months. [64978]

Angela E. Smith: For the period April 2005 to March 2006 the figures requested are as follows:

Year/month	Number of dead wild birds tested	Number of dead domesticated birds tested
2005
April	0	0
May	0	0
June	0	49
July	1	28
August	7	29
September	0	23
October	2	20
November	44	14
December	21	46
2006
January	8	3
February	31	14
March	9	10

All test results were negative for avian influenza.

Civil Servants (Welfare Rating)

David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many civil servants have been given a welfare rating on transfer lists in each Department in Northern Ireland in each of the last five years. [63451]

Angela E. Smith: The information requested is set out in the following table:

Department	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005
DHSSPS	0	1	2	4	3
DETI	0	1	0	4	2
DCAL	0	1	1	0	2
DE	2	3	1	1	4
DOE	2	3	6	16	7
DARD	4	12	17	15	20
DEL	6	1	8	6	12
DRD	3	6	12	9	6
DSD	7	9	3	12	19
DFP	1	8	9	4	2
NIO	3	7	8	5	2

Notes:
The figures relate to staff whose names are currently held on the Central Transfer List, together with the years in which they were awarded their respective welfare ratings. Records are not held for those staff who were awarded such ratings and whose transfer requests were subsequently accommodated.





 
26 Apr 2006 : Column 1182W
 

Craigavon Divisional Planning Office

Mr. McGrady: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what steps are being taken by his Department to assist staff dealing with the applications backlog at Craigavon Divisional Planning Office. [64193]

Angela E. Smith: The Planning Service as a whole has been facing unprecedented operational pressures due to a growth in the number of planning applications received. However, steps are being taken to address those pressures in the short, medium and long-term through the Modernisation and Reform programme.

Since the introduction of revised council consultation procedures last October, across the Agency the number of deferred cases has dropped significantly (by 47 per cent.) and this has released staff time to tackle the live caseload (down by 11 per cent.) and to issue decisions, up 11 per cent. on the same period last year. (Up-dated to the end of February 2006)

In addition, a new procedure to return all invalid planning applications was introduced in Craigavon Divisional Planning Office on 27 February 2006. The new procedure is aimed at improving the quality of applications being made and to help ensure that applications progress smoothly through the system without delay. This will be rolled out across the Agency over coming months.

Mr. McGrady: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland when staff vacancies at Craigavon divisional planning office will be filled. [64194]

Angela E. Smith: There are currently two substantive vacancies within the Craigavon divisional planning office and it is anticipated that these will be filled within the next four to six weeks. The planning service management board will continue to monitor the situation and take whatever action is possible to ensure that the Craigavon office has adequate resources to deal with the volume of applications it receives.

Disabled People

Mr. Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what estimate he has made of the number of households in Northern Ireland which have at least one adult with a disability living in the home. [65410]

Angela E. Smith: For the financial year 2004–05 the proportion of households with at least one adult with a limiting long-standing illness was 38 per cent.

Domestic Rates

Mr. Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many people in Northern Ireland receive a reduction in their domestic rates assessment on account of their disability; and how this assessment is arrived at. [65409]

 
26 Apr 2006 : Column 1183W
 

Angela E. Smith: During 2005–06 just over 8,000 domestic rate payers in Northern Ireland were awarded disabled persons allowance reducing their rates.

Entitlement to disabled persons allowance depends upon how much the property has been altered or adapted to meet the disabled persons needs, that the disabled person lives in the property and that they are a person to whom section 1 of the Chronically Sick and Disabled Persons (Northern Ireland) Act 1978 applies.

Properties are inspected to assess the extent of any alternations or adaptations made and to confirm that they are for the benefit of the disabled person. The rateable valuation of such property in the valuation list is reduced accordingly thereby reducing the rate liability.

Driver and Vehicle Testing Agency

Andrew Mackinlay: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what the (a) costs and (b) receipts were of the driver and vehicle testing agency in each of the last five years. [64190]

 
26 Apr 2006 : Column 1184W
 

Angela E. Smith: The following table details (a) costs and (b) receipts for the Driver and Vehicle Testing Agency in each of the last five years.
£000

	Income	Costs
2000–01	11,261	12,240
2001–02	13,285	12,933
2002–03	18,006	16,816
2003–04	21,454	20,276
2004–05	20,526	21,299

Education and Library Boards

Sammy Wilson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how much has been allocated by each education and library board in Northern Ireland in each of the last five years. [63386]

Angela E. Smith: The following tables show the funding (recurrent and capital) allocated to each of the education and library boards by the three funding Departments, Department of Education (DE), Department of Culture Arts and Leisure (DCAL) and Department for Employment and Learning (DEL) in the last five financial years i.e. 2001–02 to 2005–06 inclusive.
2005–06 (Final allocation)

£ million
	BELB	NEELB	SEELB	SELB	WELB	Total
Recurrent	220.2	281.2	250.5	296.1	299.9	1,347.9
Capital	10.0	16.7	21.7	16.2	12.7	77.3
Total	230.2	297.9	272.2	312.3	312.6	1425.2

2004–05 (Final allocation)

£ million
	BELB	NEELB	SEELB	SELB	WELB	Total
Recurrent	208.2	261.2	235.3	274.5	284.8	1,264.0
Capital	7.7	14.6	25.8	16.0	21.9	86.0
Total	215.9	275.8	261.1	290.5	306.7	1,350.0

2003–04 (Final allocation)

£ million
	BELB	NEELB	SEELB	SELB	WELB	Total
Recurrent	211.4	265.4	232.9	271.5	258.4	1,239.6
Capital	12.5	13.9	14.3	11.6	13.3	65.6
Total	223.9	279.3	247.2	283.1	271.7	1,305.2

2002–03 (Final allocation)

£ million
	BELB	NEELB	SEELB	SELB	WELB	Total
Recurrent	202.3	246.2	222.5	252.6	234.6	1,158.2
Capital	8.0	12.8	17.8	9.1	12.5	60.2
Total	210.3	259.0	240.3	261.7	247.1	1,218.4

2001–02 (Final allocation)

£ million
	BELB	NEELB	SEELB	SELB	WELB	Total
Recurrent	186.4	222.2	201.9	233.1	220.9	1,064.5
Capital	4.6	10.2	18.2	10.4	7.0	50.4
Total	191.0	232.4	220.1	243.5	227.9	1114.9

 
26 Apr 2006 : Column 1185W
 

Mr. Donaldson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many staff are employed centrally by each of the education and library boards in Northern Ireland in (a) human resources, payroll and finance, (b) procurement, (c) ICT, (d) legal services and (e) other roles. [65931]

Angela E. Smith: The following table shows the
 
26 Apr 2006 : Column 1186W
 
numbers of staff employed centrally by each of the education and library boards in the functions requested. Figures given have been provided by the boards and relate to full-time equivalent staff employed in headquarters administration (central) functions. They do not therefore include staff employed in the direct provision of education and youth services or staff employed in schools.
Number

	Human resources, payroll and finance	Procurement	ICT	Legal services	Other
BELB	71.5	7.8	10.8	2.6	109.1
NEELB	89	9.6	14.3	6	75.6
SELB	108.3	16.7	13.5	4	118.6
SEELB	82	7	7	3	96
WELB	49	11.6	8	5	73.5

Note:
These figures include staff employed by a lead board to carry out services on behalf of all five boards.

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