| Previous Section | Index | Home Page |
2 May 2007 : Column 1695W—continued
Medical Training Application Service
Mr. Dodds: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland when he expects the outcome of the first round of Medical Training Application Service interviews in Northern Ireland to be known. [134955]
Paul Goggins: The last date of speciality interviews is 31 May. All job offers for speciality training programmes and fixed term speciality training appointments will be made by 7 June 2007.
Mr. Dodds: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what steps he will take to provide assistance to junior doctors in Northern Ireland who are not successful in the round 1 Medical Training Application Service interviews. [134956]
Paul Goggins: Career advice and support will be offered to all candidates not successful in round 1.
Mr. Dodds: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland (1) whether doctors in Northern Ireland who have completed a 12-month fixed term specialty training appointment at year 1 may apply for a specialist training year 1 post in the same specialty in August 2008; [134958]
(2) what estimate he has made of the percentage of doctors appointed to a fixed term specialty training appointment year 1 post in August 2007 in Northern Ireland who are expected to progress to a specialist training year 2 post in the same specialty and unit of application in August 2008. [134959]
Paul Goggins: Doctors who are appointed to fixed term training appointments from August 2007 will be able to apply for speciality training programmes where vacancies occur and in keeping with the 2008 person specification.
Opportunities to progress will be determined by posts becoming available either through vacancies or a reconfiguration of training opportunities.
Mr. Dodds: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what estimate he has made of the proportion of junior doctors’ time which has been used for (a) activities related to modernising medical careers and (b) providing a service for patients in the last 12 months. [134960]
Paul Goggins: A series of workshops were organised to advise experienced SHOs and foundation trainees about MMC and the new recruitment process. These were run outside normal working hours to ensure least disruption to the service. Year 2 foundation trainees are required to attend a 10 day regional generic skills programme, which is deducted from their study leave entitlement.
Trainees are entitled to study leave and annual leave in accordance with the terms and conditions of service and consistent with maintaining essential services. On-site training of doctors and the provision of a service to patients are inextricably linked therefore it is not possible to extract this information.
Mr. Dodds: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland (1) what criteria other than interview performance are used in Northern Ireland to select doctors for run through training to become consultants; [134963]
(2) what the average duration has been of Medical Training Application Service round 1 interviews in each speciality in Northern Ireland; [134964]
(3) whether candidates’ Medical Training Application Service application forms will be taken into account when selecting individuals for speciality training and fixed term speciality training appointments for August 2007. [134965]
Paul Goggins: For selection to the run through training programme, candidates complete a 30 minute interview, in addition to providing copies of references, a training portfolio and evidence of acquired clinical and academic skills. Panel members will have access to all relevant documentation including the candidate’s application form.
Mr. Dodds: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what steps were taken to ensure that applicants in Northern Ireland would not be aware of clinical scenarios raised in the first round of Medical Training Application Service interviews prior to their interview in March. [134977]
Paul Goggins: All interview questions and clinical scenarios were kept secure and confidential by panel members and the small number of deanery staff involved in the interview process.
Out-Patients: Attendance
Sammy Wilson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many missed (a) hospital and (b) general practitioner appointments there were in each of the health boards in Northern Ireland in each of the last five years. [135351]
Paul Goggins: The total number of missed hospital appointments in each financial year 2001-02 to 2005-06 is provided in the following table. These figures represent the number of outpatient appointments where a patient did not attend and failed to give advanced warning to the hospital.
| Health board | 2001-02 | 2002-03 | 2003-04 | 2004-05 | 2005-06 |
| Note: Data for the financial year 2006-07 will be published in July 2007. Data are disaggregated by Health Board of provider Trust. Source: Departmental Return KH09. | |||||
The Department does not hold information on missed appointments at GP surgeries. This could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
Pension Credit
Mr. McGrady: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many applications for pension credit were made in Northern Ireland between 1 April 2004 and 31 March 2007; how many have been processed; and how many are outstanding. [135341]
Mr. Hanson: The Pension Service received 18,335 claims for pension credit between 1 April 2005 and 31 March 2007. A separate figure for pension credit claims for the period 1 April 2004 to 31 March 2005 is not available. Management information systems were not available at this time.
The Pension Service processed 19,088 applications between 1 April 2005 and 31 March 2007. This figure includes some applications, which were carried forward from the previous year. A separate figure for pension credit claims processed for the period 1 April 2004 to 31 March 2005 is not available. Management information systems were not available at this time.
At 30 April 2007 the total number of pension credit claims outstanding was 1,854. This includes claims which have to be previewed to check all information has been received, those where we have asked customers for further information and those with all the required information to enable a decision to be taken.
Pensions
David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what his estimate is of the number of people in Northern Ireland making (a) no provision and (b) insufficient provision for retirement pension; and what percentage of the workforce these figures represent. [134812]
Mr. Hanson: Results from the Family Resources Survey 2005-06 show that 28,500 people (4.2 per cent. of the Northern Ireland work force) have no provision for state pension, 337,500 people (49.4 per cent. of the work force) have no provision for private pensions and 21,500 people (3.1 per cent. of the work force) have no provision for either state pension or private pensions.
The figures to enable an estimate to be made of the percentage of the work force in Northern Ireland making insufficient provision for retirement pension are not available and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
Notes:
1. Figures refer to persons from working age 20 to state pension age who are either full or part-time employed (whether employees or self-employed) and do not include those not working.
2. Estimates are taken from the Family Resources Survey 2005-06 which is the latest year for which data are available. The estimates of numbers are less robust than the estimates of percentages.
3. Members who are contributing to a private pension scheme include those who are building up rights within a salary related scheme, those who are currently contributing to a scheme or whose employer makes a contribution on their behalf. Private pension refers to an occupational, personal or stakeholder pension scheme.
4. Individuals who contribute to both occupational and personal schemes are counted only once in these estimates.
Pensions: Information Services
Mr. McGrady: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of work undertaken by Social Security Agency pension advisers; if he will take steps to retain the pension advisers employed by the Social Security Agency; and if he will make a statement. [135340]
Mr. Hanson: While no formal assessment has been undertaken of the Social Security Agency's pension advisers, they successfully met their performance targets for 2006-07. The agency is currently assessing the resources required to ensure that the needs of older people are met.
The agency recognises that older people are a vulnerable customer group and that pension advisers play an important role in meeting their needs. The agency remains committed to ensuring that older people can access information and advice on benefit related issues and will continue to offer a pension adviser service.
Schools: Crimes of Violence
Sammy Wilson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many attacks on school teachers there were in schools in each education and library board area of Northern Ireland in each of the last five years. [135352]
Maria Eagle: The Department does not collect the information requested.
However, from the 2002-03 school year, statistics on the reasons for suspension have been gathered annually from each education and library board and relate to the number of individual suspensions, not to the number of pupils suspended.
The following table details the number of suspensions(1) for physical attacks on staff, in each education and library board, in the 2002-03—2004-05 school years.
(1)( )The count of occasions is based on each incidence of suspension, where an incident is defined as a count from the first day a pupil was suspended until the last day suspended. Prior to 2004-05, the count of occasions was based on each record of suspension identified by the education and library boards, and in some instances longer periods of suspension may have had more than one record. This change is due to an improvement in the data collection systems for suspensions in the education and library boards, which has enabled better analysis of the data. As a result, the number of occasions pupils were suspended in 2004-05 has decreased from previous years. However, care should be taken when comparing the number of occasions in 2004-05 with the number of occasions in previous years.
| Physical attacks on staff | |||
| Education and library b oard | 2002-03 | 2003-04 | 2004-05 |
Reasons for expulsion were first collected in 2003-04. The numbers involved are relatively small and are
not disaggregated between education and library boards because of the risk that a school/pupil may be identifiable.
The following table shows the total number of pupils expelled for physical attacks on staff for the 2003-04 and 2004-05 school years.
| Physical attacks on staff | |
| Number | |
The suspension and expulsions statistics for 2005-06 school year are currently being analysed by our statistics branch and will be placed on the DE website when this has been completed.
Sewage
Mr. Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what steps are being taken to ensure that the spillage of raw sewage on to the main Londonderry to Limavady road close to BallyKelly Primary School will not recur. [135149]
David Cairns: The Water and Sewerage Services (NI) Order 2006 transferred responsibility for the delivery of water and sewerage services from the Department’s Water Service Agency to a statutory water and sewerage undertaker. A Government-owned company, Northern Ireland Water (NIW) has been appointed as the undertaker and the issue raised is an operational matter for it. I have asked the chief executive of NIW (Mrs. Katharine Bryan) to write to the hon. Gentleman in response to this question.
Sexually Transmitted Diseases
David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many cases of (a) HIV, (b) chlamydia, (c) gonorrhoea, (d) syphilis, (e) genital warts and (f) genital herpes there have been in Northern Ireland in the last 12 months. [134890]
Paul Goggins: The number of cases of sexually transmitted diseases in Northern Ireland in the past 12 months is not available. However, the number of new episodes of sexually transmitted diseases that were recorded at Genito-Urinary Medicine clinics across Northern Ireland during 2006 is presented in the following table.
| Condition | Number of new episodes |
| Notes: 1. Figures relate to the period 1 January 2006 to 31 December 2006. The figures are currently provisional and may subsequently change. 2. These figures relate to episodes of diagnosis and/or treatment of infection or disease and not individual people. Thus one individual may contribute to more than one episode. Source: Communicable Disease Surveillance Centre Northern Ireland (CDSC (NI)). | |
| Next Section | Index | Home Page |