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MRI Scans
Mr. McGrady: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what measures are being taken to reduce waiting times for MRI scans at the Royal Victoria Hospital. [81617]
Paul Goggins: A range of service improvements have been implemented by the Royal Group of Hospitals HSS Trust to reduce waiting times for MRI scans at the Royal Victoria Hospital. The current MRI scanner is operated for 49 hours each week; nine of these are evening sessions funded by the Eastern Health and Social Services Board as part of a waiting list initiative. Since April 2006 an additional eight hours have been resourced to facilitate access to emergency scanning at weekends.
A computerised information system has been introduced to optimise management of the waiting list. This includes patient validation, data cleansing and regular monitoring. A partial booking system has also been implemented with an associated reduction in ‘Did Not Attend’ rates to 1 per cent.
A second MRI scanner has been procured for the new Imaging Centre at the Royal and is likely to become operational in spring 2007. This will have the potential to double current activity.
Northern Ireland Police Fund
David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many members of staff at the Northern Ireland Police Fund are employed by his Department. [80979]
Paul Goggins: Three members of staff at the Northern Ireland Police Fund are employed by the NIO.
David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what the names are of each (a) director and (b) former director of the Northern Ireland Police Fund. [80983]
Paul Goggins: I have been advised by the Northern Ireland Police Fund that the names of (a) the current directors of the Northern Ireland Police Fund areMr. D. McClurg, Mrs. C. Carlisle, Mr. I. Clarke,Dr. J. Galway, Mr. C. Jenkins, Mr. R. Miller, ACC McCausland, Ms G. Rice, Mr. T. Spence and (b) the former directors of the Northern Ireland PoliceFund are Ms A. Paisley, Mrs. F. Reid, Lord Rogan,Mr. R. Wilson and Sir John Semple.
David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what meetings have been held at which the alleged 2003 security breach in the Northern Ireland Police Fund was discussed. [80984]
Paul Goggins: One meeting has been held at which the alleged security breach in the Northern Ireland Police Fund was discussed.
David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland whether Mr. Colin Ashe is an employee of the Northern Ireland Office. [80987]
Paul Goggins: Mr. Colin Ashe is an employee of the Northern Ireland Office.
David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many (a) serving and (b) former members of the Police Service of Northern Ireland have been forced to move house as a result of the 2003 alleged security breach at the Northern Ireland Police Fund. [80988]
Paul Goggins: I have been advised by PSNI that no serving or former officers of the PSNI have been forced to move house as a result of the 2003 alleged security breach at the Northern Ireland Police Fund.
David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland to whom the directors of the Northern Ireland Police Fund report; by whom they were appointed; what the appointment process was; how often the directors meet; and how many have resigned since July 2003. [80992]
Paul Goggins: The directors of the Northern Ireland Police Fund are accountable to the Secretary of State. To facilitate the setting-up of the Fund, the Secretary of State put in place the first Board of Directors; subsequent appointments of directors, the associated processes and the frequency of meetings have all been matters for the Fund. A total of five directors have resigned since July 2003.
David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland from what budget the Northern Ireland Police Fund is funded. [81007]
Paul Goggins: The Northern Ireland Police Fund is funded by the Northern Ireland Office.
David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of Statefor Northern Ireland whether the appointment of (a) Mr. Desmond Clayton and (b) Mr. Thomas Hale to the Northern Ireland Police Fund was conducted under the auspices of the Northern Ireland Office. [81008]
Paul Goggins: The appointment of staff to the Northern Ireland Police Fund is a matter for the Fund.
David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland on what date Mr. Colin Ashe was appointed as acting Chief Executive of the Northern Ireland Police Fund. [81009]
Paul Goggins: Mr. Colin Ashe was appointed as acting Chief Executive on 5 July 2004.
David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many (a) serving and (b) former members of the Police Service of Northern Ireland have written to ask about their personal details being handed over to the Provisional IRA following the 2003 alleged security breach at the Northern Ireland Police Fund. [81010]
Paul Goggins: Representations have been made to Ministers on behalf of three members of the PSNI to inquire if their personal details have been compromised following the alleged security breach at the Northern Ireland Police Fund. It has not been possible to ascertain if they were serving or former members.
Mr. Donaldson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how much has been paid out in grants by the Northern Ireland Police Fund in each year since its foundation. [82380]
Paul Goggins: I have been advised by the Northern Ireland Police Fund that the following amount has been paid out in grants.
| Grants amount (£000) | |
This excludes the additional payments allocated by NIO to the pre 1982 widows.
Spend in the current year on grants up to 30 June is £326,000.
Mr. Donaldson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what funding has been allocated to the Northern Ireland Police Fund in each year since its foundation. [82381]
Paul Goggins: The budget allocation for the Northern Ireland Police Fund was as follows:
| Budget allocation (£000) | |
| (1)
The budget allocation for 2005-06 included a carryover of
£250,000 from the previous
year | |
Nurses and Midwives
Mark Durkan: To ask the Secretary of Statefor Northern Ireland how many redundancies of (a) nurses and (b) midwives there have been in each health board area in Northern Ireland in each of the last five years. [80942]
Paul Goggins: In the last five years no nurses or midwives have been made redundant in the HPSS.
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 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, 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.
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