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9 Feb 2009 : Column 1562W—continued
Departmental Buildings
Mr. Maude: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland with reference to the answer of 24 November 2008, Official Report, column 881W, on departmental buildings, what the cost of the works was before occupation. [250554]
Paul Goggins: The total cost of the works is shown in the following table.
| Office name | Size (sq m) | Total cost of works, excluding VAT (£) |
|
Foyle Chambers, 35 Limavady Road, Londonderry, County Londonderry | ||
| (1) Anticipated total cost. | ||
Departmental Disciplinary Proceedings
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many staff in his Department were disciplined for (a) bullying and (b) harassment of colleagues in each of the last three years. [254078]
Paul Goggins: The Northern Ireland Office (NIO) and its agencies have policies and procedures in place to deal with harassment and bullying. Staff in the NIO undergo mandatory training in equality and diversity, which includes guidance on appropriate behaviour in the workplace. The number of staff disciplined for bullying and/or harassment of work colleagues in each of the years requested is as follows:
| Bullying | Harassment | Bullying and harassment | |
Departmental ICT
Jenny Willott:
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what the (a) original expected cost, (b) original expected delivery date, (c) actual cost incurred and (d) actual delivery date was of each ICT project undertaken and completed by his Department
in each year since 1997; who the contractors for each project were; what the (i) initial estimated and (ii) outturn payment to each contractor was; and if he will make a statement. [251143]
Paul Goggins:
The majority of ICT projects are relatively small and are developed in-house with minimum cost.
To compile information to support all projects would be at disproportionate cost. Therefore the information contained in the following table relates only to projects costing in excess of £1 million.
Departmental Official Residences
Mr. Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland with reference to the answer to the hon. Member for Rochford and Southend East of 6 October 2008, Official Report, columns 86-87W, on departmental official residences, who pays the council tax bills for the mainland Britain residential accommodation. [253641]
Mr. Woodward: My Department pays the council tax bills for residential accommodation used by staff based in London who are required to work away from their appointed office in Belfast.
Departmental Training
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland which external organisations his Department has engaged to provide training for fast stream civil service staff in the last three years; and how many civil servants in his Department have participated in the provision of training for external organisations in that period. [252218]
Mr. Woodward: The following list gives the external organisations engaged by the Northern Ireland Office to provide training for fast stream staff in the past three years.
National School of Government
Eglinton
During the past three years, 29 staff from Northern Ireland Office have participated in the provision of training to external organisations.
Drugs: Smuggling
Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many Irish nationals were convicted of drug trafficking offences in Northern Ireland in the last 12 months. [255015]
Paul Goggins: In 2006 (the latest year for which data are available), 14 persons with Irish nationality were convicted of drug trafficking offences.
Data are collated on the principal offence rule; so only the most serious offence with which an offender is charged is included.
Mass Media
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what the cost of his Department’s contracts with press monitoring services was in each of the last five years. [251197]
Mr. Woodward: The following table details the Northern Ireland Office’s expenditure, excluding agencies and Executive NDPBs, on contracts with press monitoring services in the last five years.
| Financial year | Expenditure (£) |
Offensive Weapons
Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many people were convicted of knife crimes in Northern Ireland in the last 12 months. [254938]
Paul Goggins: The information is not available in the format requested as it is not possible to separately identify the number of convictions for certain offences, for example murder, in which a knife was involved. It is only possible to provide conviction statistics for those offences which, in their definition, refer to an ‘offensive weapon’ (of which knives will be one sub-category) or ‘article with blade or point’. These are:
Armed with offensive weapon with intent to commit offence;
Possessing offensive weapon in public place;
Possessing article with blade or point in public place;
Possessing instrument with intent to commit an offence;
Possessing article with blade or point on school premises;
Possessing offensive weapon on school premises.
In 2006 (the latest year for which data are available), there were 242 such convictions.
Data are collated on the principal offence rule; so only the most serious offence with which an offender is charged is included.
Prison Sentences
Lady Hermon: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what assessment he has made of the likely effects of sentences of imprisonment for public protection on levels of discipline among the prison population in Northern Ireland. [255446]
Paul Goggins: Our assessment, based on analysis of experience in other jurisdictions, would indicate that in many cases prisoners subject to public protection sentences are more likely to co-operate with the sentencing planning process in order to demonstrate risk reduction. NIPS do not anticipate that the new sentencing arrangements will have any impact on levels of discipline among the prison population in Northern Ireland.
Foreign and Commonwealth Office
Arms Trade
Mr. Moore: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what representations he has made to his US counterpart on the US Administration’s support for the Arms Trade treaty process; and if he will make a statement. [254030]
Bill Rammell: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 25 November 2008, Official Report, column 1194W.
Although the US voted against the resolution at the UN General Assembly vote in December 2008, the US delegation took part in the UN meeting in New York on 23 January 2009 preparing for the Opening Ended Working Group, which starts in March 2009. This is an encouraging sign, and shows that the US remains engaged in discussions on this issue.
We will be raising the Arms Trade treaty, alongside a wide range of other subjects with the new US Administration over the next few weeks, as both senior appointees and officials take up their new positions.
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