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4 July 2006 : Column 940W—continued
I hope this information is helpful.
Civil Servants
Mr. Peter Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many staff there are in the Northern Ireland civil service. [77352]
Mr. Hanson: The number of staff (permanent and temporary) working in the 11 Northern Ireland Departments and the NIO, including agencies, at 1 April 2006 was as follows:
| Permanent | Temporary | Total | |
| (1) NIO figures exclude home civil service staff, PSNI, Youth Justice Agency non-admin staff, and uniformed Prison Service staff. | |||
Consultants
Mr. Lidington: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will list the consultancy contracts entered into by the Central Procurement Directorate on behalf of public bodies in Northern Ireland during (a) 2004-05 and (b) 2005-06; what the (i) purpose and (ii) cost to public funds was of each contract; and if he will make a statement. [76788]
Mr. Hanson: Details of consultancy contracts entered into by the Central Procurement Directorate (CPD) on behalf of public bodies in Northern Ireland, including their purpose and cost, during (a) 2004-05 and (b) 2005-06 will be placed in the Library of the House.
Departmental Expenditure
Mr. Peter Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what websites come under his Department's responsibility; and what the (a) cost and (b) number of visitors to those sites was in the last three years for which figures are available. [78775]
Mr. Hain: The core Northern Ireland Office (NIO) is responsible for three websites, the NIO website, Organised Crime Task Force (OCTF) website, and the Criminal Justice Services Northern Ireland (CJSNI) website. Associated costs, hits and visitors to each website for the years 2003-04, 2004-05 and 2005-06 are as follows:
| Unique visitors( 2) | ||||
| Costs (£) | January to December | Number | Hits | |
| (1 )Includes design costs for new websites in the indicated year. (2 )For clarification, unique visitors are defined as those who are counted only once no matter how many times they visit the site in a calendar month. | ||||
Departmental Finance Directors
Chris Huhne: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what the (a) name, (b) professional and academic qualifications and (c) relevant experience are of the finance director of his Department. [80081]
Mr. Hain: The information is as follows:
(a) Paul Priestly is the Director of Resources (equivalent of finance director) for the Northern Ireland Office. The director of resources role covers finance, human resources, information technology, procurement, accommodation, transport and travel etc.
(b) BA hons. Paul Priestly does not hold a professional accountancy qualification, but the Assistant Director, Financial Services, is a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Ireland (ICAI).
(c) He was appointed in January 2004. He was previously head of the NIO's Criminal Justice Reform Division and was Principal Private Secretary to the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland.
Departmental Publications
Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will list the draft Bills produced by his Department since October 2005; how many were examined or are planned to be examined by (a) a departmental Select Committee or a combination of Select Committees and (b) a Joint Committee of both Houses of Parliament; and if he will make a statement. [81636]
Mr. Hain: There have been no such draft Bills relating to Northern Ireland.
Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will list the unnumbered Command Papers produced by his Department in each session since 1976; how (a) hon. Members and (b) members of the public can (i) inspect and (ii) obtain copies; and if he will make a statement. [81638]
Mr. Hain: My Department does not keep records of unnumbered Command Papers. The content of such papers are brought to the attention of Members and members of the public through the issue of written ministerial statements. Copies are placed in the Library and can be inspected and obtained from there.
Disabled SmartPasses
Mr. Peter Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will take steps to enable Disabled SmartPasses to be used for identification purposes for voting in elections in Northern Ireland. [20535]
Mr. Hanson: I should like to apologize for the delay in replying to this question, which was due to an administrative error.
The Government have no plans to increase the number of specified documents used for electoral identity purposes. The Electoral Identity Card was introduced with the express purpose of allowing all eligible individuals access to appropriately secure photographic identification for voting purposes. The application process for the card is straightforward: the applicant is required to complete a form supplied by the Electoral Office and then return the completed form by post, together with a photograph. The details on the form are then cross-referenced with the relevant individual’s registration details before the card is issued.
I have been assured by the chief electoral officer that there are no accessibility issues that would make it difficult for a disabled person to attain the card.
In addition to the Electoral Identity Card, three other types of document—a passport, the Senior Citizen SmartPass and a photographic driving licence—are valid forms of voter identification. However, the application process for the Disabled SmartPass is currently less secure than any of the other documents used for electoral identification purposes.
Ex-prisoners
Mr. Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many people who have been released from prison after serving a sentence for a violent or sexual crime in Northern Ireland who are still living there are regarded as at high risk of re-offending. [80749]
Mr. Hanson:
PBNI are currently supervising 15 offenders in the community following release from custody for a violent crime who have been assessed as posing a high risk of re-offending. There are a further 15 offenders managed in the community under the multi-agency sex offenders risk assessment and management (MASRAM) procedures following release
from custody for a sexual crime who have been assessed as posing a high risk of re-offending.
Fuel Prices
Mr. Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what assessment he has made of the likely impact of the recent price increase on solid fuel in Northern Ireland on fuel poverty among elderly people. [81856]
Mr. Hanson: While the number of elderly households who rely on solid fuel to heat their homes has reduced significantly in recent times, the 6.4 per cent. price increase will have an impact on those who rely on this type of fuel. The Department for Social Development and the Northern Ireland Housing Executive will continue to take action to mitigate the impact on elderly people through the provision of insulation measures and energy efficient central heating systems under the Warm Homes Plus Scheme and by providing financial assistance through the benefits system and the winter fuel payments scheme and by the Housing Executive’s heating replacement programme.
Housing
Mark Durkan: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many vulnerable people in Northern Ireland live in homes that fall below the decent homes standard. [80951]
Mr. Hanson: The decent homes standard applies to social houses. Government have set a target that all social housing should meet the standard by 2010. While data are not readily available on a household basis, the 2004 Interim House Condition Survey indicated that the overall number of social houses failing to meet the target was 32,000 having reduced from 59,000 in 2001.
Mark Durkan: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland (1) what steps he (a) is taking and (b) plans to take to ensure that social housing in Northern Ireland is allocated to Catholics and Protestants equally according to need; [80969]
(2) whether he has plans to address religious differentials in the allocation of public housing. [80971]
Mr. Hanson:
All allocations by the Housing Executive and registered housing associations are made on the basis of need as determined by the points awarded under the Common Selection Scheme—a
scheme that was equality proofed and subject to detailed and widespread consultation.
The Housing Executive is recognised by all sections of the community as being extremely fair in its allocations policies. However, applicants for social housing have a choice of where they wish to live and as a result less than 10 per cent. of social housing is integrated, the majority of people preferring to live in areas where they felt comfortable. The choice of where to live therefore impacts significantly on the number of allocations that can be made in specific areas, as this depends on the availability of social housing, whether through new building or re-letting of existing stock. In some areas demand is greater than supply, while in others, the opposite is true and allocations cannot therefore be made at the same ratio for all areas. This does mean that some people will have to consider other areas in order to be re-housed or have to wait longer before they are re-housed. To make allocations on the basis of religious belief would be illegal under the Northern Ireland Act 1998 and the Fair Employment and Treatment (Northern Ireland) Order 1998.
The Northern Ireland Housing Executive formulates plans and programmes for additional new social housing taking account of demography, current and anticipated supply as well as current and projected demand. This effectively targets additional supply on areas with the greatest demand ensuring that assessed need is met.
Mark Durkan: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what the average length of time spent waiting for public housing was by (a) all those on the waiting list, (b) those of a Catholic community background and (c) those of a Protestant community background in each of the last five years. [80985]
Mr. Hanson: The information is not available in the form requested as complete records prior to June 2002 are not held. However the following tables detail the information that can be provided but are subject to the following caveats:
These data do not include allocations made by housing associations within Northern Ireland nor transfers between Northern Ireland Housing Executive properties.
The religious composition of households is based on ‘self reported’ answers to the question held within the general housing application form. The religion of the applicant is assumed to be the same for all individuals within the household.
The Northern Ireland Housing Executive’s Equality Unit is currently unable to readily identify ‘mixed’ religion households although we are aware that a number of households currently described as ‘Roman Catholic’ or ‘Protestant’ would clearly fall into a ‘Mixed’ category.
| Table 1: Breakdown of mean average months on the waiting list before allocation by religion of applicants, rehoused by NIHE in Northern Ireland (excluding transfers) | |||
| Rehoused by NIHE | 1 April 2003 to 31 March 2004 | 1 April 2004 to 31 March 2005 | 1 April 2005 to 31 December 2005 |
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