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7 Nov 2006 : Column 1224W—continued
Hospital Hygiene
Mrs. Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what steps have been taken to encourage hand washing in hospitals in Northern Ireland. [99791]
Paul Goggins: The Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety, as part of its “Changing the Culture” action plan published in March 2006, has provided health and social services boards in this financial year, with £400,000 for the hand hygiene and mandatory staff training elements of the plan. With this funding acute hospital trusts are being encouraged, especially during the winter, to mount hand hygiene initiatives across all work areas and to engage staff, patients and the public in these initiatives. Special campaigns led by infection control teams are under consideration this winter in all acute hospital trusts.
Mrs. Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what his most recent estimate is of the costs resulting from health care-acquired infections in the Province. [99792]
Paul Goggins: The Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety estimates the cost of health care associated infections in the Northern Ireland Health Service to be £30 million per annum. This is based on the National Audit Office estimate published in June 2004 of £1 billion for the UK as a whole.
Hospital Waiting Lists
Sammy Wilson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many people in Northern Ireland are on the waiting list (a) for ophthalmology procedures and (b) to see a consultant in relation to cataract treatment. [91346]
Paul Goggins: The information is as follows:
(a) At 30 June 2006, there were 3,750 people in Northern Ireland, awaiting in-patient admission to hospital in the ophthalmology specialty. 1,920 were awaiting in-patient admission specifically for cataract surgery.
(b) Waiting list information is collected at specialty level. It is therefore not possible to determine how many people were waiting to see a consultant in relation to cataract treatment. However, at 30 June 2006, there were 19,221 people in Northern Ireland waiting for a first out-patient appointment with an ophthalmology consultant.
Mark Durkan: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland whether he plans to widen the scope of the service delivery units working to bring down patient waiting lists to include waiting lists for (a) speech and language therapy and (b) other allied health professional services. [92176]
Paul Goggins: The Service Delivery Unit at this juncture is specifically targeted at improving the response of the acute sector, but the skills mix of its staffing complement will be kept under review. A major reform programme for community services is in train, including a number of service improvement initiatives, such as integrated multi-disciplinary team working, designed to reduce waiting times for AHP services. Within available funding, priorities for service delivery are determined locally in response to local need.
Human Trafficking
Mrs. Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many people have been charged for illegal trafficking of females for prostitution from EU countries to Northern Ireland since records of such crimes have been collected. [94122]
Paul Goggins: No individuals have been charged with illegal trafficking of females specifically from EU countries to Northern Ireland for the purposes of prostitution since records of such crimes were recorded.
All law enforcement agencies in Northern Ireland will continue to monitor the situation closely and take appropriate action should they discover any evidence of this particular crime.
Illegal Dumping
Sammy Wilson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many incidents of illegal dumping have been reported in Northern Ireland in each of the last five years. [92893]
David Cairns: The Environment and Heritage Service (EHS) assumed the powers to investigate incidents of illegal dumping in 2003. It does not hold records prior to that year, when the responsibility lay with district councils.
Since EHS assumed these powers in 2003, a total of 3,491 incidents of illegal dumping have been reported to the Agency; 167 in 2003, 1,209 in 2004, 1,156 in 2005, and 959 to date in 2006.
In-house Departmental Services
Mark Durkan: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland why the Central Procurement Directorate has instructed relevant officials to increase by 20 per cent. the estimated cost of in-house departmental service provision; and whether ministerial approval was given for this instruction. [87336]
Mr. Hanson: The Central Procurement Directorate of the Department of Finance and Personnel has not instructed relevant officials to increase by 20 per cent., or any other amount, the estimated cost of in-house departmental service provision.
IRA
Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of Statefor Northern Ireland what his policy is on the disbandment of the Provisional IRA. [99514]
Paul Goggins: The October IMC report stated that PIRA has taken further steps to run down its terrorist capability. It has disbanded “military” structure, including the general headquarters department responsible for procurement, engineering and training, and it has stood down volunteers and stopped allowances. It is now firmly set on a political strategy eschewing terrorism and other forms of crime.
IT Contracts/Projects
Mr. Weir: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what the value was of each IT contract awarded by his Department in each of the last five years; and who the contractor was in each case. [88982]
Paul Goggins: The following tables cover the NIO core Department, agencies and the Bloody Sunday Inquiry (BSI). The information relates only to contracts with a value of over £1 million up to the end of the financial year 2005-06.
| Bloody Sunday Inquiry—Londonderry and London | ||
| Purpose—implementation of IT systems to support the work of the inquiry | ||
| Contractor | Value of contract (£ million) | |
Mr. Prisk: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland (1) how much his Department has spent on (a) information technology projects and (b) web-facing information technology projects in each year since 2001, broken down by (i) expenditure on consultants and (ii) other costs; [98540]
(2) how many information technology projects his Department has undertaken in each year since 2001; how many of those projects were web-related; [98541]
(3) which non-web-related information technology projects cost his Department more than £1 million since 2001; how many qualified tender proposals there were for each project; and which company was awarded each contract; [98542]
(4) which web-related information technology projects cost his Department more than £50,000 since 2001; which companies submitted qualified tender proposals for each project; and which company was awarded each contract; [98543]
(5) how many and what percentage of information technology projects undertaken by or for his Department since 2001 have been delivered (a) over budget, (b) after their original deadline, (c) on budget, (d) under budget, (e) on their original deadline and (f) ahead of their original deadline. [98544]
Mr. Hain: It has not been possible to answer these questions before the end of the current parliamentary session.
Mr. Prisk: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what his Department’s five most expensive (a) web and (b) non-web information technology projects have been since 2001. [98922]
Mr. Hain: It has not been possible to answer this question before the end of the current parliamentary session.
Language Support
Dr. Alasdair McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what language support services were available to each college of further and higher education in each education and library board area in Northern Ireland in the last four academic years; and how much was allocated by each college to such services in each year. [86572]
Maria Eagle: Following incorporation in 1998, education and library boards relinquished their responsibility for further education colleges.
For the purposes of addressing this question, the term “language support services” has been defined as “translation and interpretation” costs.
Details of language support services available in each college of further and higher education over the last four academic years are presented in the following table.
| Cost of language support services (translation and interpretation) in academic year | ||||
| £ | ||||
| College name | 2002-03 | 2003-04 | 2004-05 | 2005-06 |
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