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2 May 2006 : Column 1497W—continued

Sex Offenders Register

Lady Hermon: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will bring forward additional powers for monitoring sex offenders whose names appear on the sex offenders register on their release from prison; and if he will make a statement. [66633]

Mr. Hanson: I believe it is important that we continually review and develop how we manage offenders in the community. This is why I intend introducing legislation later this year which will strengthen the current sex offender management arrangements in Northern Ireland by placing these on a statutory footing and extending the arrangements to include the management of non-sexual violent offenders.

The recent consultation on the sentencing framework in Northern Ireland included a wide range of possible sentencing disposals which would provide for: increased public protection through tougher sentences and post-release supervision; a reduction in crime; and improved rehabilitation of offenders in Northern Ireland. Central to that process was consideration of the issue of protection of the public from dangerous violent and sexual offenders through extended sentences underpinned by robust risk assessment and management.
 
2 May 2006 : Column 1498W
 

I will carefully examine all the options, taking into account recent developments and experience in the rest of the UK, and will of course ensure we have the most comprehensive and effective framework for protecting the public in Northern Ireland from the risk posed by dangerous offenders.

Smoking

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State forNorthern Ireland what actions he has taken to ensure that the smoking ban in public places will be enforced. [67057]

Mr. Woodward: The draft Smoking (Northern Ireland) Order 2006 is currently the subject of a public consultation exercise. This exercise, which ends on 5 May, seeks views on a number of key areas, including enforcement.

Statemented Children

Mark Durkan: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many children are waiting to be statemented in each education and library board area; and what the longest waiting time was for assessment in each education and library board area in the last five years. [65894]

Angela E. Smith: The following table shows the total number of children at Stage 4 of the Code of Practice. This is where the ELB considers the need for a statutory assessment and if appropriate makes a multi-disciplinary assessment. The table also shows the number of children whose parents have been notified of a proposal to make a statutory assessment, but for whom the assessment process has not yet started. These figures were collated at November 2005.

Education and Library Board	Number of children at Stage 4	Number of children whose parents have been notified of a proposed assessment, but the process has not yet started
Belfast Education and Library Board	220	0
North Eastern Education and Library Board	164	6
South Eastern Education and Library Board	570	60
Southern Education and Library Board	281	25

Teacher Training

Sammy Wilson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many teacher training places were available at (a) Stranmillis College and (b) St. Mary's College in each of the last five years; how many students applied to each college in each year; what the religious background of students at each college was in each year; and how many teacher training students there were at (i) undergraduate and (ii) postgraduate level at each college in each year. [65836]

Angela E. Smith: The information requested is as follows:
Initial teacher training places at St. Mary's and Stranmillis University Colleges 2001/02 to 2004/05

Academic year	St. Mary's University College	Stranmillis University College
2001/02	230	210
2002/03	235	216
2003/04	240	216
2004/05	240	210
2005/06	230	196

Source:
Department of Education





Applications received for initial teacher training courses at St Mary's and Stranmillis University Colleges 2001/02 to 2004/05

Academic year	St. Mary's University College	Stranmillis University College
2001/02	946	1,410
2002/03	945	1,688
2003/04	2,181	1,893
2004/05	2,462	2,170
2005/06	2,077	1,517

Source:
St. Mary's University College, Stranmillis University College.
Note:
From 2003/04 to 2005/06, St. Mary's University College used the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service to process course applications. Please note that a student may apply for more than one course or to both institutions and may therefore be included more than once.




 
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Religious background of all students enrolled at St. Mary's and Stranmillis University Colleges 2001/02 to 2004/05

Academic year	St. Mary's University College
	Protestant	Roman Catholic	Other	Not known	Total
2001/02	20	601	—	*	1,020
2002/03	26	819	0	290	1,135
2003/04	28	845	—	*	1,155
2004/05	25	819	0	289	1,133

Academic year	Stranmillis University College
	Protestant	Roman Catholic	Other	Not known	Total
2001/02	863	163	23	335	1,384
2002/03	930	188	30	243	1,391
2003/04	939	190	34	208	1,371
2004/05	984	205	38	234	1,461

Note:
To prevent the identification of individuals, figures less than 5 have been suppressed and are denoted by —. Figures which could allow those figures to be calculated have been replaced by *.
Source:
Higher Education Statistics Agency




Student enrolments on initial teacher training courses at St. Mary's and Stranmillis University Colleges by level of study2001/02 to 2004/05

Academic year	St. Mary's University College
	Undergraduate	Postgraduate	Total
2001/02	706	14	720
2002/03	753	17	770
2003/04	790	16	806
2004/05	786	20	806

Academic year	Stranmillis University College
	Undergraduate	Postgraduate	Total
2001/02	710	35	745
2002/03	741	41	782
2003/04	762	40	802
2004/05	789	42	831

Source:
Higher Education Statistics Agency.
HESA data for the 2005/06 academic year is not yet available.

Teachers

Mr. Donaldson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many teachers in Northern Ireland have taken early retirement enhanced packages in each of the last five years in the (a) controlled sector, (b) maintained sector, (c) integrated sector, (d) Irish language medium sector and (e) independent sector. [67582]

Angela E. Smith: The information requested is shown in the following table:
Teacher premature retirements 1 April 2001 to 31 March 2006

Sector	2001–02	2002–03	2003–04	2004–05	2005–06
Controlled	109	122	121	158	254
Maintained	154	172	184	180	253
Integrated	1	2	2	5	4
Irish Language Medium	0	0	0	1	0
Independent(48)	145	129	128	70	98
Total	409	425	435	414	609

⁽⁴⁸⁾ Includes FE Colleges, Voluntary Grammar Schools and certain Outside Bodies.



 
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Mr. Donaldson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many full-time equivalent teachers have been employed in Northern Ireland in each of the last five years in the (a) controlled sector, (b) maintained sector, (c) integrated sector, (d) Irish language medium sector and (e) independent sector. [67586]

 
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Angela E. Smith: The number of full-time equivalent teachers employed in Northern Ireland in each of the last five years in the (a) controlled sector, (b) maintained sector, (c) integrated sector, (d) Irish Language medium sector is as follows:

	September
Sector	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005
Controlled	8,272	8,277	8,274	8,244	7,968
Maintained	7,040	6,939	6,929	6,832	6,677
Integrated	722	736	748	784	800
Irish Medium	63	75	81	80	91
Total	16,097	16,027	16,032	15,940	15,536

Note:
The Department does not hold any information on the number of teachers employed in the Independent sector.

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