House of Commons Hansard Written Answers for 25 July 2006 (pt 0051)

25 July 2006 : Column 1416W—continued

Plagiocephaly

Mrs. Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what estimate he has made of the number of children in the Province who have plagiocephaly. [88169]

Paul Goggins: The number of children in the Province with plagiocephaly is not known.

However it is possible to provide the number of children admitted to hospital with a primary or secondary diagnosis of plagiocephaly. Data have been provided for the last three years.

Number of admissions^{( 1)} to a hospital in Northern Ireland for children^{( 2)} with a primary or secondary diagnosis of plagiocephaly^{( 3)} for the years 2002-03 to 2004-05
	Number
2002-03	26
2003-04	28
2004-05	34
⁽¹⁾ Deaths and Discharges are used as an approximation for admissions. ⁽²⁾ Children have been defined as under 16. ⁽³⁾ Plagiocephaly has been defined using ICD10 (International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision) code Q67.3. Source: Hospital Inpatients System.

25 July 2006 : Column 1417W

Population Growth Rates

David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what his estimate is (a) of the population growth rate for Northern Ireland and (b) of the total population in Northern Ireland for (i) 2011, (ii) 2021 and (iii) 2031. [88254]

Mr. Hanson: The following table gives the 2005 estimate of the Northern Ireland resident population, and the observed average annual rate of population growth since 2001. The table also shows population projections for the years 2011, 2021, and 2031 and the projected average annual growth rate in population for each time period.

Population	Northern Ireland population	Average annual growth rate in time period (Percentage)
2005⁽¹⁾	1,724,400	0.5 (2001-05)
2011⁽²⁾	1,767,500	0.4 (2005-11)
2021⁽²⁾	1,830,000	0.3 (2011-21)
2031⁽²⁾	1,860,200	0.2 (2021-31)
⁽¹⁾ Estimate ⁽²⁾ Projection

Private Rented Accommodation

Mark Durkan: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what action his Department is taking to increase the (a) availability and (b) affordability of accommodation in the private rented sector in Northern Ireland. [87284]

Mr. Hanson: The Department for Social Development and the Northern Ireland Housing Executive published their joint strategy for the private rented sector entitled “Renting Privately—A Strategic Framework” in May 2004. The overall aim of the strategy is to promote and sustain a healthy private rented sector, which offers choice and flexibility by influencing supply and securing a better quality, managed sector.

The first stage of the strategy was to introduce new legislation to address inequities in the private rented sector and target unfitness. The Private Tenancies (Northern Ireland) Order was made on 7 June 2006 and will be operative in early 2007.

The desired outcome of the strategy is to ensure more effective alignment of the private rented sector with demand and to realise the potential for the sector to assist in meeting housing need. The action points and activities to achieve this objective, by increasing awareness of and improving access to the sector, are being carried out and monitored by the Department and the Northern Ireland Housing Executive in partnership.

As private rented sector stock increases it should follow that rents will decrease as landlords keep rents affordable to attract tenants who would now have more properties to choose from.

In addition to the actions detailed in the strategy help is available with the payment of rent in the private rented sector to those on low incomes through the housing benefit system which is administered by the Housing Executive.

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Pupil Statistics

Dr. Alasdair McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many children whose country of origin is outside Northern Ireland and whose first language is other than English are enrolled in (a) primary and (b) secondary schools in each education and library board area, broken down by country of origin. [86563]

Maria Eagle: Information relating to children whose country of origin is outside Northern Ireland is not collected. The figures available relate to the first language of children who were born in a non-English speaking country and for whom English is not their first language.

Pupils with English as an additional language and born in a non-English speaking country at primary and post primary schools in Northern Ireland 2005-06
	Belfast	Western	North Eastern	South Eastern	Southern	NI Total
Primary Schools
Cantonese	32	8	36	51	11	138
Mandarin	⁽¹⁾—	⁽¹⁾—	6	⁽¹⁾—	⁽¹⁾—	12
Vietnamese	⁽¹⁾—	⁽¹⁾—	⁽¹⁾—	⁽¹⁾—	⁽¹⁾—	⁽¹⁾—
Hindi	⁽¹⁾—	⁽¹⁾—	⁽¹⁾—	⁽¹⁾—	⁽¹⁾—	13
Urdu	⁽¹⁾—	⁽¹⁾—	⁽¹⁾—	9	16	30
Gujarati	⁽¹⁾—	⁽¹⁾—	⁽¹⁾—	⁽¹⁾—	⁽¹⁾—	⁽¹⁾—
Bengali	9	⁽¹⁾—	⁽¹⁾—	14	⁽¹⁾—	26
Punjabi	⁽¹⁾—	⁽¹⁾—	11	⁽¹⁾—	5	25
Others	30	8	25	46	17	126
Total	77	29	85	130	54	375

Post Primary Schools
Cantonese	22	⁽¹⁾—	16	⁽²⁾—	13	66
Mandarin	⁽¹⁾—	⁽¹⁾—	⁽¹⁾—	⁽¹⁾—	⁽¹⁾—	6
Hindi	5	⁽¹⁾—	5	⁽¹⁾—	⁽¹⁾—	10
Urdu	⁽¹⁾—	⁽¹⁾—	⁽¹⁾—	⁽¹⁾—	⁽¹⁾—	8
Bengali	8	⁽¹⁾—	⁽¹⁾—	⁽¹⁾—	⁽¹⁾—	12
Punjabi	⁽¹⁾—	⁽¹⁾—	⁽¹⁾—	⁽¹⁾—	⁽¹⁾—	5
Others	29	18	15	15	43	120
Total	67	20	46	31	63	227
^{(1 )}Relates to less than 5 pupils ⁽²⁾ Means figure has not been given under rules of disclosure Notes: 1. Figures for primary schools include children in nursery, reception and Year 1—Year 7 classes. 2. Pupils whose first language is Irish are not included. Source: NI school census

Rates

Mr. Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what percentage of householders are expected to pay (a) more and (b) less under the new rating system in Northern Ireland; and what the average (i) increase and (ii) decrease is expected to be. [87128]

Mr. Hanson: The percentage of householders which are expected to pay more under the new rating system, compared to what they would have paid under the existing system, is 45 per cent., with 55 per cent. paying less. For those expected to pay more, the average increase is estimated at £166. The average decrease in bill for those paying less is estimated at £99.

25 July 2006 : Column 1419W

These figures have been arrived at through comparing actual rate bills under the current NAV system in 2006-07 with estimates of what rate bills would have been in 2006-07, had the new capital value based system been in place. Any change in rate bill highlighted is therefore due only to the impact of the revaluation.

None of the estimates take into account those households which may qualify for housing benefit or the new rate relief scheme. They also ignore the impact of the transitional relief scheme.

Road Safety

Mark Durkan: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many convictions there were for speeding in Northern Ireland in each year since 2000; and what the average penalty was in each year. [85368]

Mr. Hanson: Figures have been provided for the calendar years 2000 to 2004. In each of these years the vast majority of those convicted of speeding offences were given a fine as the main disposal. Table 1, therefore, provides the total number convicted of speeding offences, the number fined and the average fine amount given in each year.

It should be noted that, while penalty points or disqualification may also often be imposed by the courts for speeding offences in conjunction with a fine, current data systems are not designed to capture this additional detail.

Data are collated on the principal offence rule, thus only the most serious offence with which an offender is charged is included.

Table 1: Number of persons convicted for speeding offences^{( 1)} , number fined and the average amount of fine given 2000-04
	Number convicted	Number given fine	Average amount of fine^{( 2)} (£)
2000	3,847	3,801	84
2001	3,769	3,727	84
2002	3,336	3,310	87
2003	3,191	3,166	90
2004	3,248	n/a	n/a
⁽¹⁾ Includes convictions for the offences of ‘excess speed’, ‘exceeding special speed limit’, ‘‘L’ driver exceeding 45 mph’, ‘‘R’ driver exceeding 45 mph’. ⁽²⁾ The amount of fine has been rounded to the nearest £. Sentencing data for 2004 is not yet available.

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