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13 Jun 2006 : Column 1088W—continued
Cattle Identification Offences
David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many people in Northern Ireland have been charged under cattle identification legislation in each of the last five years; and how much was recovered by way of fines in each year. [77095]
David Cairns: The Department referred 65 individuals to the Public Prosecution Service (PPS) during the period 1 April 2001 to 31 March 2006. Total fines imposed by the courts during the period—£72,005.
| Number of people charged under cattle identification legislation | ||
| April to March | Number | Total fines (£) |
Cross-border Arrangements
Mark Durkan: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what assessment he has made of the proposed EU legal instrument for cross-border institutional arrangements. [75422]
Mr. Hanson: The EU Commission has proposed a legal instrument, European Grouping of Territorial Cooperation (EGTC), to allow public bodies from different member states to create or join an EGTC with the objective of facilitating and promoting cross border, transnational and interregional co-operation in order to strengthen economic and social cohesion. No new powers are confirmed on public bodies by joining an EGTC and member states can withhold their approval of an EGTC if it considers it to be contrary to the public policy of the member state.
Other corporate and European structures can also facilitate such co-operation and the EGTC instrument would offer one more option for cross border co-operation to those arrangements that already exist. This may have operational benefits and can be welcomed. The institutions created under the Northern Ireland Act 1998 and the North South Cooperation (Implementation Bodies) (Northern Ireland) Order 1999 already facilitate work across the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. The current Ireland/Northern Ireland PEACE and INTERREG IIIA programmes are managed by the Special EU Programmes Body (SEUPB) and these structures have performed well.
Door-to-door Bus Services
Mrs. Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will make a statement on the delivery of the door-to-door bus service (a) for Comber and (b) elsewhere in Strangford constituency. [75472]
David Cairns: The Department for Regional Development is currently evaluating tenders for the provision of door-to-door transport services in a number of urban areas and would hope that services would start on a phased basis in September 2006. As part of this scheme Comber is linked with Newtownards and Dundonald as a single contract area.
Through the Rural Transport Fund, the Department for Regional Development provides support to two rural community transport partnerships operating door-to-door services within the Strangford constituency. These are Down Community Transport based in Downpatrick (which also operates in the South Down constituency) and Peninsula Community Transport based in Kircubbin.
Equal Opportunities
Mr. Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what steps are being taken to ensure that women are more equally represented in the civil service in Northern Ireland. [76322]
Mr. Hanson: Significant progress has been made in ensuring that women are properly represented, particularly at senior grades, in the Northern Ireland civil service, and this has been reflected in changing compositional figures.
Before advertising a vacancy in the civil service, an assessment is made of the gender balance and where this shows women to be under-represented a statement welcoming applications from women is included in the advertisement. In the period January 2005 to May 2006, welcoming statements were included in 125 advertisements.
The civil service is anxious to make further progress to increase the diversity of the work force in order to make it more reflective of the community it serves. To this end an outreach programme is being devised and in relation to gender an emphasis will be on encouraging more women into occupations that traditionally have been carried out by men.
Forum for Local Government and the Arts
Mr. Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many times the Forum for Local Government and the Arts in Northern Ireland met in 2005; and where each meeting took place. [76648]
Maria Eagle: The Forum for Local Government and the Arts in Northern Ireland met once in 2005, on 6 December at the Sean Holywood Centre, Newry.
Household Condition Survey
Mark Durkan: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will (a) increase the number of households included in the Northern Ireland Household Condition Survey, (b) add energy and income datasets to the Northern Ireland census and (c) include energy and income datasets in surveying for community planning under new local government arrangements. [75588]
Mr. Hanson: The information requested is as follows:
(a) For the 2006 Northern Ireland House Condition Survey the Housing Executive increased the sample size to 7,250 dwellings (compared to 3,000 in the interim House Condition Survey of 2004), making it broadly comparable to the sample used in the full survey of 2001.
(b) No decisions on question topics and content for the 2011 census have yet been taken. Proposals for the 2011 census will be brought forward in a White Paper, probably in 2008, drawing on consultation with users, testing of options and the balancing of competing requirements. The issues of energy and income were raised by users during recent consultation on the content of the next census. A planned census test in 2007 will include a question on income.
(c) Strategic Community Planning Partnerships within the new councils will seek to utilise all available relevant information, data and research to inform how the situation within their localities can be improved for the benefit of all citizens.
Knife Amnesty
Lady Hermon: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many items have been surrendered to date in each district council area in Northern Ireland since the commencement of the knife amnesty. [76440]
Mr. Hanson: The police have estimated that at 31 May, a total of 320 items were surrendered since the commencement of the knife amnesty and put on show on Wednesday 7 June a number of the items deposited. A definitive count will be made shortly after the amnesty finishes and information will be available in the week commencing 19 June.
Lady Hermon: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what plans he has to extend the knife amnesty in Northern Ireland in accordance with the amnesty operating in England and Wales. [76444]
Mr. Hanson: The current knife amnesty will not be extended beyond 14 June, but I do plan to re-run the amnesty later this year. This would give an opportunity for the year-long public information campaign to begin to make an impact of changing attitudes.
Playgroups
Sammy Wilson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many children were not able to obtain a place in the playgroup of their first choice in each of the five education and library boards in each of the last three years. [75543]
Maria Eagle: The requested information is as follows.
| 2004-05 | 2005-06 | 2006-07 | |
The WELB is not able to supply the figures in respect of the 2004-05 and 2005-06 school years.
Promotion Boards
David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what promotion boards have been held in (a) each Northern Ireland Department and (b) the Northern Ireland Office in each of the last five years. [70454]
Mr. Hanson: The following are details of general service promotion competitions which have been held in each Northern Ireland Department and the Northern Ireland Office during the period 2001 until 2005.
| Promotion board held | |
|
Grade7/A, Staff Officer/B2, Executive Officer 1, Executive Officer 11/Band C, Administrative Officer/Grade 1 | |
The following list provides details of all other departmental promotion boards held in each of the last five years ie 2001 until 2005.
DSD (including SSA and CSA) and DEL did not hold any promotion boards in each of the last five years other than general service promotion competitions as shown above.
HPTO Civil Engineering Assistant
Principal Statistician
Programmer Analyst
Senior Valuer
Senior Systems Analyst
District Valuer
Valuer 1
Drilling Rig Supervisor
DP Statistician
Assistant Solicitors
Senior Law Clerk
G6 Economist
Service Wide Personal Secretary
Principal Economist
Senior Principal Statistician
Valuer 2
PPTO Civil Engineering
HPTO Mechanical and Electrical Engineers
SPTO Civil Engineer
PPTO Mechanical and Electrical Engineers
DP Statistician
HPTO Mechanical Engineer
Principal Statistician
Principal Economist
SPTO Mechanical Engineer
HPTO Quantity Surveyor
District Valuer
Senior Valuer
DP Economist
PPTO Architect
Principal Economist
Senior Principal Statistician
SPTO Architect
HPTO Architect
SPTO Structural Engineer
HPTO Mechanical Engineer
HPTO Quantity Surveyor
PPTO Quantity Surveyor
HPTO Supplies Officer
HPTO Electrical Engineer
Inspector Grade II
Deputy Chief Agricultural Officer
Principal Professional Technical Officer.
Senior Professional Technical Officer
Higher Professional Technical Officer
Inspector Grade I
Scientific Officer (Chemistry)
Scientific Officer (Microbiology)
Scientific Officer (Biology)
Senior Principal Veterinary Officer
Divisional Veterinary Officer
Higher Professional Technical Officer
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