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25 July 2006 : Column 1398W—continued
Valuation Office Agency
Mr. Hands: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer from which public sector organisations the Valuation Office Agency obtains data; and with which it shares data. [88072]
Dawn Primarolo: VOA obtains or shares data in accordance with its statutorily authorised activities across a very wide range of public sector organisations in central and local government. A comprehensive list could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Vehicle Excise Duty
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many cars in each vehicle excise duty band are (a) leased to and (b) owned by (i) HM Treasury and (ii) its agencies. [83581]
John Healey: Details of the Treasury and its agencies are as follows.
| Chancellor's Department | Owns | VED/CO 2 Band | Leases | VED/CO 2 Band |
Veredus
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer which appointments in his Department have been made using the recruitment agency Veredus; what the date was of each appointment; and how much was paid to Veredus in respect of each. [83577]
John Healey: The Head of Business Delivery for the Debt Management Office, an executive agency of HM Treasury, was recruited using Veredus in August 2005. It would not be appropriate on grounds of commercial confidentiality to disclose how much was paid to Veredus.
Welsh Speakers
Malcolm Bruce: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many Welsh speakers there are in Wales; and what proportion this is of the Welsh population. [88376]
John Healey: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician, who has been asked to reply.
Letter from Stephen Penneck, dated 25 July 2006:
The National Statistician and Registrar General for England and Wales has been asked to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question asking how many Welsh speakers there are in Wales; and what proportion this is of the Welsh population. I am replying in her absence. (88376)
The most recent information available on Welsh speakers is from the 2001 Census. The table below shows that on Census day (29 April 2001) there were 582,368 people living in Wales who reported that they were able to speak Welsh, which is 20.8 per cent. of the Welsh population. The figure has been extracted from Table T39 on the CD supplement to the Census 2001 National report for England and Wales, which is available in the House of Commons Library.
| Welsh speakers in Wales, 29 April 2001 | |
| All people aged 3 and over | |
| Note: In line with standard Census reports on language skills children under 3 have been excluded from the table. Source: Table T39 in the Census 2001 National report for England and Wales | |
Winter Deaths
Mr. Burstow: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many excess winter deaths there were in each London borough in 2005. [88550]
John Healey: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician, who has been asked to reply.
Letter from Stephen Penneck, dated 25 July 2006:
The National Statistician has been asked to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question asking how many excess winter deaths there were in London borough in 2005. I am replying in her absence. (88550)
The latest available figures on excess winter deaths (the excess number of deaths each winter compared to the average during other months of the year) for local authorities are for 2003/2004. Figures for London boroughs were given in a Written Answer on 17(th) Novemebr2005 (Hansard Column 1574W), in response to a previous question of yours.
Estimates for 2004/5 are expected to be published in November 2006.
Written Answers to Questions
Tuesday 25 July 2006
Northern Ireland
Abortion
Mrs. Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what guidance has been provided to health professionals on advice to be provided to women seeking abortions. [87978]
Paul Goggins: The Department of Health and Social Services and Public Safety has set up a Working Group with representatives from a wide range of professional and specialty backgrounds including nursing and midwifery, obstetrics and gynaecology, public health, psychiatry, clinical genetics, Family Planning doctors and General Practitioners to develop guidance on abortion in Northern Ireland.
It is proposed to issue the draft “Guidance on Termination of Pregnancy in Northern Ireland” to interested parties for consultation in September. The completed guidance will be published early next year along with supporting leaflets for public use.
Mrs. Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what the outcome was of the survey conducted in September 2005 of health professionals on advice for females seeking abortions. [87979]
Paul Goggins: The Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety set up a working group to inquire into the adequacy of termination of pregnancy services provided in Northern Ireland (including aftercare); and following such inquiry, and after appropriate consultation with concerned organisations, to issue appropriate guidance.
The Working Group developed a suite of questionnaires in consultation with Obstetricians and GPs. The responses from these questionnaires have been used to inform the drafting of “Guidance on Termination of Pregnancy in Northern Ireland”. It is anticipated the guidance will be released for consultation with interested parties in early September 2006.
It is intended that the completed guidance will be issued early next year along with supporting leaflets for public use.
Adult Community Learning
Mark Durkan: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what budget has been allocated to adult community learning by each education and library board in each of the last five years. [85438]
Maria Eagle:
The Education and Library Boards are not responsible for Adult Community Learning
therefore no budget has been allocated to Education and Library Boards for adult community learning in the last five years.
Ambulance Service
Mark Durkan: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what estimate he has made of (a) current mileage levels for Omagh ambulance crews and (b) mileage levels prior to the acute services status change at Tyrone county hospital. [87279]
Paul Goggins: The mileage recorded by the Northern Ireland Ambulance Service for its emergency A and E ambulances and non-emergency patient care service vehicles based in Omagh during the most recent quarter following the changes to acute services at Tyrone county hospital and the equivalent quarter in the previous year are shown in the tables as follows:
| A and E ambulances | |||
| 2005 | 2006 | Percentage change | |
| PCS vehicles | |||
| 2005 | 2006 | Percentage change | |
Mark Durkan: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what the outcome was of the review of the effectiveness of the Ambulance Service’s arrangements for ambulance cover at the Northland Road Fire and Rescue Service Station. [87280]
Paul Goggins: The Northern Ireland Ambulance Service’s review has confirmed that its performance has improved significantly in the area covered by the Northland Road ambulance deployment point, which opened in May 2006. Almost 62 per cent. of life threatening emergency calls received in June 2006 were responded to within the national eight minute response target compared to 53.1 per cent. in April.
Breast Cancer
Dr. Alasdair McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what plans his Department has (a) to review the training and (b) conduct retraining of consultant radiologists in relation to breast cancer; what funding is available for this initiative; and what assessment he has made of the findings of the inquiry into the conduct of radiology in Antrim hospital. [86579]
Paul Goggins:
The independent review by the Regulation and Quality and Improvement Authority (RQIA) into the conduct of radiology did not identify
problems with training in breast radiology locally. However, staff shortages in the specialty were considered by the RQIA a contributory factor. The RQIA review recommended the promotion of the sub-speciality of breast radiology to medical trainees and also encouragement of the development of various models of service provision through a range of skill mix options as outlined in the NHS Breast Screening Programme. The Department is currently considering the detailed recommendations of the RQIA review and is exploring with the Northern Ireland Medical and Dental Training Agency the feasibility of increasing the number of specialist trainees in breast radiology.
Charity Fraud
Mr. Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many charities are under investigation in Northern Ireland regarding possible fraudulent transactions. [87129]
Paul Goggins: It is not normal policy for the PSNI to comment on on-going investigations as this may prejudice inquiries.
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