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19 Dec 2006 : Column 1836W—continued
CCTV: Diamond, Portstewart
Mr. Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland when the contract was awarded for the installation of CCTV cameras at the Diamond in Portstewart; and when the decision was taken to tender for the contract. [109823]
Mr. Hanson:
The installation of cameras at the Diamond in Portstewart is part of the wider CCTV Challenge Fund competition for the expansion of town centre CCTV schemes. The award of the contract for installation of the cameras was conducted as a two stage process. The first stage was to ask for expressions of interest. This was followed by a shortlisting exercise. On 15 March 2006 those successful at shortlisting were then invited to submit tenders. The closing date for tender applications was 10 April 2006 with the successful applicant being awarded the contract on 27 July 2006. A second contract to provide the fibre
optical cabling was awarded. This contract was not subject to a tendering process as technical advice was that there was only one supplier with the capacity to meet the specification requirements across Northern Ireland. All decisions throughout the CCTV Challenge Fund Competition have been guided by expert technical advice from PSNI.
Child Sex Offenders
Mr. Milburn: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many child sex offenders were convicted in Northern Ireland in each of the last10 years. [107957]
Mr. Hanson: Northern Ireland court proceedings and sentencing data sources do not include victim information in relation to the commission of an offence. It is therefore possible only to provide the number of convictions for those offences which, by their definition, identify a child as the victim, (for example, gross indecency with child), figures for which are given in the following table.
Data cover the calendar years 1995 to 2004, the latter being the most up-to-date available at present. It should be noted that data are collated on the principal offence rule; thus only the most serious offence with which an offender is charged is included.
Community Support Officers
Dr. McCrea: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many community support officers he expects to be recruited in Northern Ireland in each of the next five years. [110090]
Paul Goggins: I am advised that the PSNI intends to recruit approximately 400 police community support officers over the next four years. It is anticipated that approximately 100 will be recruited and trained per annum.
The introduction of PCSOs to policing in Northern Ireland will help build on the existing commitment of the PSNI to making communities safer throughthe delivery of community policing and effective neighbourhood policing plans. PCSOs will play an important role within the wider policing family and will build on the work to date.
PCSOs will be an additional resource to complement and support police officers by addressing many of the quality of life issues that affect our communities that do not require the powers or experience of regular officers.
Departmental Energy Policy
Mr. Jenkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what plans he has to ensure that his Department becomes carbon neutral. [105705]
Mr. Hain: The Government set a target in the NI Sustainable Development Strategy of carbon neutrality for the government estate by 2015.
At the end of November I announced the publication of a Sustainable Development Implementation Plan, ‘A Positive Step’. A copy can be downloaded at:
http://www.ofmdfmni.gov.uk/economic-policy-and-effectiveness.htm
The plan sets out the key actions for achieving carbon neutrality including; reducing the size of the government estate through the Workplace 2010 Project; reductions in carbon emissions through investment in renewable energy sources, again through the Workplace 2010 Project; increased use of electricity generated from green sources; and investing in energy efficiency through the Central Energy Efficiency Fund.
The NIO occupies a number of buildings on agreement from the Department of Finance and Personnel. We will be working with colleagues in DFP and across the Northern Ireland Departments to ensure we play our part in achieving this target. In addition we are currently working on the installation of biomass heating and solar panels at Hillsborough Castle, the only building we own and occupy.
The NIO are also participating in the DEFRA run Government Carbon Offsetting Fund. All central Government ministerial and official air travel is being offset from 1 April 2006. Departmental aviation emissions are calculated on an annual basis and subsequently offset through payments to a central fund. The fund purchases Certified Emissions Reductions credits from energy efficiency and renewable energy projects with sustainable development benefits, located in developing countries.
Departmental Expenditure
Mr. Lidington: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how much was spent by each Northern Ireland Department on (a) press, public relations, publicity and communications work and (b) advertising during (i) 2003-04, (ii) 2004-05 and (iii) 2005-06; and what the planned expenditure is in each category for 2006-07. [105469]
Mr. Hanson: The Departments do not hold the information in the format requested. Listed, as follows, are the Departments’ expenditure on their press offices and any other communications business areas including staff and general administration costs; and expenditure on activities such as printing of departmental publications and production of marketing material, media monitoring, facilitation of media briefings, event management, provision of photography of Government initiatives to media outlets and development of departmental websites.
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