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6 Mar 2007 : Column 1866W—continued

6 Mar 2007 : Column 1867W

6 Mar 2007 : Column 1868W

	North Down		South Antrim		South Down		Strangford		Upper Bann		West Tyrone
	Nil	Partial	Nil	Partial	Nil	Partial	Nil	Partial	Nil	Partial	Nil	Partial
August 2005	151	47	190	68	171	62	193	86	207	124	129	53
September 2005	157	76	210	94	187	87	201	107	228	161	133	66
October 2005	141	59	201	64	175	77	200	80	205	115	128	36
November 2005	149	58	204	63	194	63	213	94	219	116	130	43
December 2005	165	81	227	91	215	100	228	129	241	187	139	91
January 2006	153	38	205	58	187	68	219	75	247	89	127	31
February 2006	182	43	223	58	218	57	239	74	277	104	154	47
March 2006	154	83	208	95	185	90	212	134	246	158	139	74
April 2006	172	48	214	62	194	70	218	80	262	105	147	41
May 2006	163	77	196	91	193	101	213	112	251	117	144	72
June 2006	166	92	213	113	189	117	220	119	237	164	143	90
July 2006	184	57	226	62	210	71	214	95	252	109	152	58
August 2006	182	58	197	88	212	71	216	89	249	96	172	54
September 2006	185	92	221	112	219	109	238	115	261	143	182	75
October 2006	179	59	221	89	213	89	230	88	249	119	170	44
November 2006	175	68	217	96	224	70	218	83	276	84	161	51
December 2006	204	85	230	128	225	131	243	136	292	142	172	86
January 2007	191	63	221	86	228	93	236	90	279	101	168	49

Housing: Standards

Lady Hermon: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what plans he has to extend the Decent Homes Scheme to Northern Ireland; what research has been undertaken by his Department to ascertain how many homes in Northern Ireland fall below the Decent Homes Scheme standard; and if he will make a statement. [125020]

Mr. Hanson: The Decent Homes Standard was introduced to the social housing sector in Northern Ireland in 2004.

A Decent Home is defined as a home that is warm, weatherproof and has reasonably modern facilities. Government aim to bring all social housing to the Decent Homes standard by 2010.

The 2004 Interim House Condition Survey showed that approximately 32,000 social households failed to meet the Decent Homes Standard, a reduction of 27,000 from the 2001 House Condition Survey. It is anticipated that the 2006 Housing Condition Survey will show a farther reduction.

Identity Cards

Lady Hermon: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what discussions he has had with the Home Office in relation to the operation of the national identity card scheme in Northern Ireland; and what estimate he has made of the resources needed to operate the scheme in Northern Ireland. [123505]

Mr. Hain: I have not made any assessment of the likely cost of implementing the scheme in Northern Ireland because the cost of issuing ID cards along with passports is, as an excepted matter, a matter for my right hon. Friend the Home Secretary. The Northern Ireland Office and the Office of the First Minister and deputy First Minister are represented at official level on interdepartmental groups convened by the Home Office to look at identity issues and, in particular, the role of ID cards. The decision about whether, and if so how, ID cards are to be used in the provisions of services in Northern Ireland will be a matter for a future Northern Ireland Executive following restoration.

Ministerial Duties

Mr. Andrew Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland on which dates in the last month he (a) attended his Department’s offices (i) in London and (ii) in Belfast, (b) dealt with departmental business (i) in the House and (ii) elsewhere and (c) undertook other engagements in his official capacity. [107248]

Mr. Hain: I apologise for the lateness of this answer due to an administrative oversight.

During November 2006 I attended my departmental offices on the following dates:

	Dates
London Office	1, 2, 6, 8, 9, 15, 20, 21, 22 and 30 November
Belfast Office	7, 13, 14, 23, 24, 27 and 30 November

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