| Previous Section | Index | Home Page |
5 July 2006 : Column 1181W—continued
Olympics
Mr. Andy Reed: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland which officials in his Department (a) are responsible for Olympics-related activity and (b) sit on the Inter-Departmental Steering Group for the Olympics. [81570]
Maria Eagle: Paul Sweeney, permanent secretary in the Department for Culture, Arts and Leisure (DCAL) has responsibility for Olympics-related activity and Edgar Jardine, DCAL deputy secretary, sits on the Olympics Inter-Departmental Steering Group (IDG) for the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic games.
Pensions
Mark Durkan:
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what advice he has received on future
public expenditure implications arising from possible shortfalls in public service pension funds. [79972]
Mr. Hanson: The main public sector pension schemes are unfunded or ‘pay as you go’. This is the case for the principal civil service pension scheme (Northern Ireland); the health service superannuation scheme; the fire service superannuation scheme; the police pension scheme and the teachers’ superannuation scheme.
The local government officers’ pension scheme (NI) is a fully funded scheme and any deficit would be met by an increase in contributions from scheme employers.
Mark Durkan: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what recent assessments have been made of the ability of Northern Ireland’s public service pension funds to meet their liabilities. [79973]
Mr. Hanson: All public sector pension schemes are subject to regular actuarial valuation.
The main purposes of the actuarial valuation are:
to assess the value of the liabilities accrued under the scheme up to the valuation date;
to compare the value of the liabilities with the value of the assets deemed to be applicable for assessing funding levels, and
to make a recommendation on the contributions to be paid to scheme participants.
The resource accounts for the schemes are produced in accordance with Treasury guidelines on resource accounting, and contain a report on the scheme liabilities, with the exception of NILGOS, whose accounts are incorporated into their annual report. Copies of the accounts are published and placed in the Library. Library References are included in the following table.
The table shows the date at which the last full actuarial valuation for each of the Northern Ireland public sector pension schemes was carried out and the date at which the next valuation is due.
| Pension scheme | Date at which last actuarial valuation was carried out | Date at which next actuarial valuation is due | House of Commons Library Reference for Accounts/Annual Report |
Police Officers
Mr. Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how much has been spent on the advertising campaign for part-time police officers in (a) Moyle, (b) Ballymoney, (c) Foyle, (d) Newry and Mourn and (e) South Belfast. [81857]
Paul Goggins:
I have been advised by PSNI that the total amount spent on the advertising campaign for the
current police officer part-time recruitment campaign is £104,000. This spend cannot be broken down by region/district.
Positive Parenting
Mark Durkan: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how much the Department for Education spent on the promotion of positive parenting in the last period for which figures are available; and what this figure represents per child in Northern Ireland. [82017]
Maria Eagle: The Department of Education’s earmarked budget for parenting initiatives is currently £250,000 per annum and is allocated entirely to the education and library boards. It is primarily a matter for each board to determine how these earmarked resources should be used and they are also free to supplement this funding by allocating further resources from within their overall block grant.
Funding has recently been made available to 471 schools from the Children and Young People Funding Package for the Extended Schools Programme. This will enable schools to develop initiatives some of which may involve parents. In addition, a further £10 million has recently been issued directly to all schools and it is open to schools to determine whether some of this additional funding should be used to support parenting initiatives.
Based specifically on the earmarked funding allocated by the Department to the boards for parenting initiatives the figure represents £0.78 per pupil attending grant-aided schools in Northern Ireland. However, this figure is clearly not a true reflection of the actual resources spent on promoting positive parenting within the education sector.
Public Pensions (Transferability)
Anne Milton: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what measures the Department has put in place to assist pension transferability of public pensions for personnel working in Northern Ireland departments and agencies. [79769]
Mr. Hanson: The Principal Civil Service Pension Scheme (Northern Ireland) [PCSPS(NI)] provides pensions for all personnel working in Northern Ireland departments and agencies. The PCSPS(NI), in parity with GB public service schemes, pays cash-equivalent transfer values to other pension schemes in compliance with pension law. Members of public service schemes can transfer accrued pension rights by way of the Public Sector Transfer Club. The Club is a network of public and private sector occupational pension schemes which makes it easier for employees who move between employers covered by separate participating schemes to transfer their accrued pension rights. There is also a requirement under the Fair Deal for Staff Pensions to transfer pension rights when employments are transferred to the public sector under Public Private Partnerships/Public Finance Initiatives or under Machinery of Government movements and subsequent transfers for former public servants.
Racial Equality
Mr. Donaldson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what resources have been put in place by each Northern Ireland Department to implement the Racial Equality Action Plan. [82379]
Mr. Hanson: Northern Ireland Departments, the Northern Ireland Office and the Police Service for Northern Ireland will spend at least £7.5 million per annum (£6 million in programme expenditure) in support of the key aims of the Racial Equality Strategy for Northern Ireland.
Some of the key actions from the Racial Equality Strategy Implementation Action Plan include: £3.2 million towards supporting English as an additional language; almost £1.1 million across all Departments to support Irish Travellers; and £0.7 million per annum to encourage capacity building within minority ethnic communities and to assist integration.
This remaining costs figure includes where Departments have allocated staff resource to implementing the strategy. The staff estimate includes those staff processing migrant worker national insurance applications and where each Department has appointed a “Racial Equality Champion” from within their senior managers to direct the implementation of the strategy within their respective Departments including actions contained in the Racial Equality Implementation Action Plan.
Recycling
Mark Durkan: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what controls are in place to ensure that waste intended for recycling is not deposited in landfill sites. [80944]
David Cairns: I refer my hon. Friend to the reply I gave the hon. Member for North Down (Lady Hermon) on 27 June 2006, Official Report, column 367W.
Ritalin
Mrs. Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many young children and young adults in the Province are on Ritalin; and what alternative treatments are being offered. [82102]
Paul Goggins: The Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety does not hold age specific data on the prescribing of Ritalin. A young person should have a full assessment and ideally, prior to prescription of medication, should have tried some behavioural management techniques, parental support and advice and possibly dietary advice. This would be provided through community paediatrics or child psychiatry.
School Trips
Mrs. Iris Robinson:
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many post-primary school
children from the (a) Catholic and (b) Protestant communities have participated in trips to America funded by the (i) Government and (ii) EU in the last five years, broken down by education and library board area; and if he will make a statement. [80116]
Maria Eagle: No post-primary school children have participated in trips to America funded by the EU. The following have had a small Government contribution, about £60 per child, through the Youth Service Community Relations Support Scheme for cross-community trips.
| 2001-02 | 2002-03 | 2003-04 | 2004-05 | 2005-06 | |
Senior Citizens
Mr. Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what steps are being taken to offer senior citizens in Northern Ireland more security in their homes. [53075]
Mr. Hanson: Statistically older people in Northern Ireland are still the least likely group of citizens to become a victim of crime. However over the past couple of years there has been a disproportional increase in domestic burglaries committed against those aged 65 years and over as a proportion of the population. It is also recognised that the fear of crime among older people is significant.
The Community Safety Unit of the Northern Ireland Office has developed and funds the Lock Out Crime Scheme (LOCs) which supplies and installs free of charge additional home security in the form of door and window locks, door chains and viewers, and external front and rear door lighting to the homes of all those aged 65 and over who are in receipt of housing benefit or a rate rebate.
| Next Section | Index | Home Page |