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30 Oct 2007 : Column 1200W—continued
Written Questions: Costs
Danny Alexander: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate he has made of the cost of answering question 143343 on IT contracts, tabled by the hon. Member for Yeovil (Mr. Laws) on 13 June. [161275]
Angela Eagle: The information to answer the question is not held centrally.
Prior to 2006 HMT procurement was undertaken by HMRC under a service level agreement with HMT. Details of HMT contracts since 2006 are now held on a central database, however that database does not
record the level of detail on competitive tendering and the numbers invited to tender required to answer the question.
Therefore, the time and resource required to identify all relevant information was assessed to exceed the disproportionate cost threshold of £700.
Northern Ireland
Bail
Mr. Dodds: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what progress is being made on bail reform in Northern Ireland. [161701]
Mr. Woodward: In the past few years a number of reforms have been made to bail legislation. New powers include the creation of an offence of breach of bail and a police power of entry for actual or likely breaches; police powers to grant ‘street bail’ and to attach conditions to bail after charge; and improved laws to allow police and court bail to operate more smoothly and continuously. It is also my intention to bring forward powers relating to police bail in the next criminal Justice Order, which will be announced shortly.
Children: Protection
Sammy Wilson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what the average length of time taken to complete a protection of children and vulnerable adults check by the Police Service of Northern Ireland was in the latest period for which figures are available. [161043]
Paul Goggins: The PSNI Child/Vulnerable Adult Access Vetting Unit currently receives around 5,000 requests for vetting each week.
Random checks show that vetting checks received are being returned to registered bodies on average within five to six weeks.
Sammy Wilson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many protection of children and vulnerable adults check requests the Police Service of Northern Ireland received in each of the last three years. [161044]
Paul Goggins: The figures for each of the last three years are approximately:
| Number | |
The 2007 figure is a projection based on the year to date figure.
Sammy Wilson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many protection of children and vulnerable adults checks are outstanding in Northern Ireland. [161045]
Paul Goggins:
There are currently 6,095 vetting checks being processed by PSNI Child/Vulnerable Adult Access Vetting Unit. Figures on the number of checks processed per month are not routinely collected. However, a manual check of records shows that the
Unit processed 16,145 checks during the last full calendar month (September 2007).
Included in the figure are those vetting checks that have been forwarded to other police services—for example, Scotland, Isle of Man, the Channel Islands and An Garda Siochana for their input.
Departments: Assets
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what departmental assets are planned to be sold in each financial year from 2007-08 to 2010-11; what the (a) description and (b) book value of each such asset is; and what the expected revenue from each such sale is. [160356]
Mr. Woodward: The following table illustrates the Northern Ireland Office's assets (excluding its agencies and Executive NDPBs) which are planned to be sold in each financial year from 2007-08 to 2010-11.
| £000 | |||
| Description of asset | Current net book value (NBV) | 2007-08 Actual/expected revenue | 2008-09 to 2010-11 (3) expected revenue |
| (1) The addresses of residential properties have not been provided for security reasons. (2) The expected revenue of residential properties disposed of in 2007-08 is based on the proceeds received to date, plus the forecast receipts for the remainder of the year. (3) For the planned disposals in the years 2008-09 to 2010-11 it is assumed that assets will be sold at their net book value. The Department is still finalising details of the actual year each property will be sold in, but further details will be provided in the Department's CSR07 Asset management Strategy which is due to be published in December 2007. | |||
Departments: Cost Effectiveness
Mr. Philip Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will place in the Library a breakdown of his Department’s efficiency savings in relation to its Spending Review 2004 (SR04) targets, including (a) the efficiency projects in the Department, (b) the date on which they were initiated and (c) how much each was predicted to contribute to the SR04 target. [160544]
Mr. Woodward: Details of the Northern Ireland Office’s efficiency savings in relation to Spending Review 2004 can be seen in the Department’s Efficiency Technical Note. A copy has also been placed in the Library.
Departments: Disabled
Danny Alexander: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland which buildings occupied by his Department (a) are and (b) are not fully accessible to disabled people; and if he will make a statement. [161163]
Mr. Woodward: With the exception of upper floors of Stormont House, which are used to provide overnight accommodation in lieu of hotel rooms for Ministers and officials, all NIO buildings are accessible to disabled people. Should a Minister or official with an ambulant disability be posted to Northern Ireland then reasonable adjustment will be made to Stormont House. Professional advisors are currently assessing whether it is possible to provide a means of access to the upper floors for ambulant disabled people.
Departments: Ministerial Policy Advisers
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland whether any of his Department's special advisers have declared a conflict of interest. [160779]
Mr. Woodward: Special advisers are appointed under terms and conditions set out in the Model Contract For Special Advisers. Copies of the Model Contract are available in the Libraries of the House.
Departments: Older Workers
Andrew Selous: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many employees in (a) his Department and (b) each executive agency funded by his Department applied to continue to work beyond state retirement age in the latest year or part thereof for which figures are available; and how many of those applications were successful. [161280]
Paul Goggins: Civil servants who joined prior to 30 July 2007 are allowed to retire at age 60 but have the right to remain in post until age 65, without having to apply to do so. Civil servants who joined after 30 July 2007 are allowed to retire at age 65. At age 65 all staff have the right, under the Employment Equality (Age) Regulations 2006, to apply to continue working.
Until the future Northern Ireland Office policy on the age of retirement has been formally agreed, staff reaching the age of 65 can apply to continue working and will obtain approval on the basis of a six month extension from their 65(th) birthday.
To date the Northern Ireland Office have seven staff aged beyond 65 and a further 11 staff between the ages of 60 and 65 have applied to continue working beyond the age of 65.
Departments: Written Questions
Mr. Harper: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many and what percentage of questions tabled for answer on a named day received a substantive reply on the day named in the last 12 months for which figures are available. [161341]
Mr. Woodward: From 1 November 2006 to date, the Northern Ireland Office received 297 named day parliamentary questions, of which 51 per cent. (151) received a substantive reply on the day named.
Fireworks
Mr. Dodds: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many licence applications were (a) received and (b) granted under the Explosives (Fireworks) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2002 in each of the years since the Regulations came into operation. [161697]
Paul Goggins: The figures requested are shown in the following table.
| Total issued | |
| (1) The figures for 2002 are from May 2002 to 31 December 2002 (2) The figures for 2007 are from 1 January 2007 to 30 October 2007 | |
Exact figures are not available for applications refused in each year, although the numbers are minimal.
Mr. Dodds: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many people in Northern Ireland were (a) charged with and (b) convicted of illegal use of fireworks in each year since 2002. [161698]
Paul Goggins: The number of people charged with offences relating to illegal use of fireworks is not collected centrally. The number of people prosecuted and subsequently convicted of relevant offences is collected and is set out in the following table.
Data cover the calendar years 2002 to 2005 (the latest available year) and are collated on the principal offence rule; therefore only the most serious offence with which an offender is charged is included.
| Prosecutions and convictions for the illegal use of fireworks by offence 2002-05( 1) | ||||||||
| 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | |||||
| Prosecuted | Convicted | Prosecuted | Convicted | Prosecuted | Convicted | Prosecuted | Convicted | |
| (1) data do not include: purchasing fireworks without a licence; unlawfully keeping fireworks for sale, and; failing to keep proper records of fireworks sales. | ||||||||
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