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28 Nov 2006 : Column 579W—continued
Illegal Waste Dumping
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many complaints of the illegal dumping of waste the Environment and Heritage Service received in each year since 2003-04. [104124]
David Cairns: Since 2003-04, EHS has received a total of 4,007 complaints of illegal dumping; 167 in 2003-04, 1,260 in 2004-05, 1,339 in 2005-06 and 1,241 to date in 2006-07.
Invest Northern Ireland
Mr. Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many visits have been made under the auspices of Invest Northern Ireland by potential inward investors to the East Londonderry constituency; and how many jobs have been created in the constituency in the last 12 months. [103290]
Maria Eagle: During the last 12 months there have been no visits by potential inward investors to the constituency.
Invest NI reports on jobs promoted rather than jobs created. Over the past 12 months they have supported externally-owned companies to safeguard 787 jobs in the East Londonderry constituency, and assisted almost 200 new locally-owned business starts which are expected to promote in the region of 260 jobs.
Knockbracken Health Care Park
Mrs. Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what plans there are (a) to close and (b) to amalgamate psychiatry wards at Knockbracken Health Care Park. [103424]
Paul Goggins: Knockbracken Health Care Park is being modernised and developed into a specialist facility appropriate for the 21st century. In the future, it is envisaged that there will be fewer beds and that more individuals who require continuing care will be managed in the community. Over the next six months, the trust will carry out a process of closing a continuing care ward. This will allow improvements in the hospital environment for those remaining as inpatients. Relatives and carers will be involved in the closure process.
Limavady Central Car Park
Mr. Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many pay and display machines located in Limavady Central car park were out of order on each day between 13 October and 17 November. [104185]
David Cairns: The Chief Executive of Roads Service (Dr. Malcolm McKibbin) has been asked to written to the hon. Gentleman in response to this question.
Letter from Dr. Malcolm McKibbin, dated 28 November 2006:
You recently asked the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland a Parliamentary Question regarding how many pay and display machines located in Limavady Central car park were out of order on a daily basis between 13 October and 17 November. As this issues fall within my responsibility as Chief Executive of Roads Service I have been asked to reply.
As you are aware Roads Service transferred responsibility for the operation of pay and display car parks to the private contractor, National Car Parks (NCP) on 30 October 2006. Prior to the transfer, Roads Service conducted twice weekly inspections / cash collections at the three pay and display machines in the Central car park, Limavady.
The table below details the number of pay and display machines working on each date Roads Service conducted an inspection/cash collection.
| Date | Number of pay and display machines working |
The table below details the number of pay and display machines working on each date NCP conducted an inspection.
| Date | Number of pay and display machines working |
Since the new operation started on the 30 October 2006 NCP has experienced some difficulties in relation to machine maintenance and this has resulted in some machines being out of order for longer than we would like. This is in part due to the huge task of transferring the management of maintenance and replacement of all parking equipment in Northern Ireland to one central control point. The pay and display machines currently operating in Limavady Central car park are relatively old and are soon to be replaced. A computer monitoring system, linked to the new pay and display machines will enable faults to be detected as soon as they occur. It is hoped this improved system will reduce the time machines are out of order.
Local Government Finance
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what estimate he has made of the (a) number and (b) proportion of households not on housing benefit who will pay (a) more and (b) less under the new discrete capital values system of local taxation. [104112]
Mr. Hanson: Address information on the households which are entitled to housing benefit is not available to the Department. However, benefit claimants will not all live in houses with lower rate liability under the new system.
Including those on benefit it is estimated that 55 per cent. of houses (approximately 385,000 households) will pay less under the system and 45 per cent. (315,000 households) pay more.
Northern Ireland Executive (Tenant Debt)
Mr. Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what the average amount of outstanding debt owed by (a) tenants and (b) past tenants of the Northern Ireland Executive was at the end of 2005, broken down by district council. [104010]
Mr. Hanson: The information is not available in the form requested. The following table details current and past tenants’ debt by Housing Executive District Office at financial year end March 2006. The figures include housing benefit overpayments raised before April 2004 as well as rent and rates arrears. It is not possible to separate out these figures.
| Current and past tenants debt at 31 March 2006 | ||
| £ | ||
| Average tenant debt | Average past tenant debt | |
Parliamentary Questions
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland whether his Department has a traffic light system in place for processing parliamentary questions, where questions are categorised using a colour code. [103164]
Mr. Hain: My Department has no such system in place.
Physiotherapy
Mrs. Iris Robinson:
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many people graduated in Northern Ireland in physiotherapy in each of the last 10 years; and how many of these (a) are and (b) are
not employed in full-time permanent physiotherapy posts in Northern Ireland. [103446]
Paul Goggins: The number of physiotherapy student who graduated in Northern Ireland in the last 10 years is presented as follows:
| The number of Physiotherapy Graduates from 1996 to 2006 | |
| Number of graduates | |
| Source: University of Ulster | |
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