Mr. Stephen O'Brien:
To ask the hon. Member for South West Devon, representing the Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission what recent assessment the Electoral Commission has made of voting behaviour at elections. [289569]
Mr. Streeter:
The Electoral Commission informs me that it considers voter turnout and the take up of postal voting at elections as part of its annual election reports. However, it makes no assessment of voter intentions or behaviour in terms of support for political parties.
The Commission will publish its reports on the 2009 European parliamentary elections and local elections in England in October 2009. Reports on previous elections are available on the Commission's website:
Dr. McCrea:
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland (1) when he last met representatives of the Northern Ireland Fire Service to discuss attacks on their staff whilst on duty; [289265]
(2) when he last met with senior Ambulance Service officials to discuss attacks on their staff whilst on duty in Northern Ireland. [289266]
Paul Goggins:
The PSNI is committed to bringing to justice those who carry out these abhorrent attacks. I have not met with senior officials or representatives from Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service and Northern Ireland Ambulance Service recently. However, the Health Minister for Northern Ireland is aware of my continued concern for the well-being of emergency services staff
Arrests: Civil Disorder
Dr. McCrea:
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many people were arrested during rioting in Ardoyne in North Belfast on 13 July 2009. [289284]
Paul Goggins:
As this is an operational matter for the Chief Constable I have asked him to reply directly to the hon. Gentleman, and will arrange for a copy of the letter to be placed in the Library of the House.
Aviation: Meetings
Dr. McCrea:
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland when he last met Northern Ireland Executive Ministers to discuss a regional aviation strategy for Northern Ireland. [289264]
Paul Goggins:
I have had no requests from Northern Ireland Executive Ministers for such a meeting. Civil aviation is a reserved matter and is the responsibility of my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Transport.
Bomb Disposal
Dr. McCrea:
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many bomb devices have been defused by the Army Bomb Disposal Squad in Northern Ireland in the last (a) six and (b) 12 months. [289263]
Paul Goggins:
Over the past (a) six and (b) 12 months Army Explosive Ordnance Disposal personnel (EOD) have defused 23 and 56 live bomb devices respectively.
Departmental Advertising
Pete Wishart:
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how much his Department spent on newspaper advertising by publication in the latest year for which figures are available. [289478]
Mr. Woodward:
The finance system of the Northern Ireland Office (NIO) does not break down advertising expenditure in the detail requested; therefore these figures could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
12 Oct 2009 : Column 12W
Departmental Recycling
Stewart Hosie:
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what proportion of his Department's waste was recycled in the latest period for which figures are available. [289668]
Mr. Woodward:
Complete data on what proportion of waste was recycled are not available. However, all buildings are involved in recycling. A cross-departmental recycling scheme on the Stormont estate, which covers a large proportion of Northern Ireland Office staff, shows an average recycling rate from June 2008 to May 2009 of 45 per cent.
We are constantly looking at ways to improve recycling rates, for example by providing recycling bins in each office, and new contracts are being put in place to extend the scope of recycling.
The latest assessment of Government's performance against these targets was published by the Sustainable Development Commission on 12 December 2008:
Mr. Brady:
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland which Minister in his Department has been assigned responsibility for overseeing the delivery of value for money in his Department; whether his Department has established a public sector reform team to implement service reforms; and if he will make a statement. [289735]
Mr. Woodward:
My right hon. Friend the Minister of State for Northern Ireland (Paul Goggins) has been assigned responsibility for overseeing the delivery of value for money in the Northern Ireland Office.
The Northern Ireland Office is committed to reforming public services to improve services for the citizen and the Department has established a Business Performance Review Team (BPRT) to implement reforms. BPRT is working closely with colleagues in the centre of Government on this important agenda.
Mr. Crabb:
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland for which non-departmental public bodies and executive agencies he will continue to have responsibility in circumstances in which responsibility for policing is devolved to the Northern Ireland Assembly. [291457]
Mr. Woodward:
Those public bodies and their status which will be retained by the NIO at the point of devolution are as set out in the following table. While it is anticipated that parading will not devolve immediately, its future will be determined by the outcome of the Strategic Review of Parades chaired by Lord Ashdown.
Body
Status
Crown Solicitor's Office
Legal Office
Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission
Executive NDPB
Boundary Commission for Northern Ireland
Advisory NDPB
Sentence Review Commissioners
Independent Office Holders
12 Oct 2009 : Column 13W
Remission of Sentences Act Commissioners
Independent Office Holders
The Chief Electoral Officer
Independent Office Holder
The Civil Service Commissioners
Independent Office Holder
Independent Monitoring Commission
International Body
Independent International Commission on Decommissioning
International Body
Bloody Sunday Inquiry
Inquiry
Hamill Inquiry
Inquiry
Wright Inquiry
Inquiry
Nelson Inquiry
Inquiry
Office of the Surveillance Commissioner
Misc
Parades Commission
Executive NDPB
Reviewer of police and military powers under the Justice and Security (Northern Ireland) Act 2007
Independent Office Holder (NB Not yet appointed)
Independent Commission for the Location of Victims' Remains
International Body
Departmental Training
John Mason:
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many external training courses were attended by staff of his Department in the last 12 months; and what the cost was of each course. [289679]
Paul Goggins:
The following table details external training courses attended by staff in the Northern Ireland Office in the last 12 months; and the associated cost for each course:
External training courses attended in 2008-09
External course
Cost (£)
Accelerated SQL Server 2005
439
Acrobat Introduction
185
Advanced SAP System Monitoring-ADM106
1,800
Advanced Writing
775
Advocacy Course
1,100
AEP Net Technical Training
5,200
Analysis and Use of Evidence for Senior Managers
895
Anti Money Laundering
70
Basic Consultation Processes
305
Business Case Appraisal
900
CCTV User Group Seminar (x2 Staff)
938
CIPD
119
Civil Contingencies
411
Civil Procedure in the County Court
70
Communications and Marketing
500
CommVault v7 Training
2,373
Concepts in Accreditation
1,800
Contentious Costs
823
Contracts of Employment
20
Conveyance Workshop
70
CPD Technical Update
60
CPD Training
1,694
Crypto Custodian Course
395
Crystal Reports XI Level 1
439
Current Developments in Administrative Law
374
Customer Service Excellence
59
Data Protection Certificate
2,330
Deaf Awareness Training
500
Dealing with Conflict in the Workplace
1,512
Dealing with Negative Attitudes
228
Deaths in Hospitals
80
12 Oct 2009 : Column 14W
Delivering Project Excellence Seminar
80
Dell San Course Combo
8,000
Developing Applications using Visual Basic
396
Developing Future Managers
1,200
Disability Discrimination
20
Dods Parliamentary Communications
454
Drafting Statutory Instruments
865
Effective Briefing
1,365
Effective Manager 1
1,725
Effective Ministerial Correspondence
755
Effective Presentations for Senior Managers
1,620
Effective Speech Writing
1,350
Effective Writing
1,550
Effectively Tackle Reoffending
811
Employment Law in NI
70
Equality Law Update
907
Essential Media Skills
825
Ethical Hacking and Penetration Testing
1,680
Executive PA Conference
2,026
Finance for Non-Financial Managers
1,414
First Aid Course
190
Gateway Review Team Member to Leader Workshop
400
Health and Safety
200
Helpdesk phone system course
550
High Court Litigation Seminar
60
How can we most effectively tackle reoffending
276
How Parliament Works
530
IFRS Prepare the shadow accounts
1,840
Immigration Law in Northern Ireland
375
Impact Assessment-Equality/Diversity in Policy Making and Service Delivery
440
Implementing the Taylor Reforms
734
Industrial Tribunal Case Law
40
Institute of Internal Auditors-MIIA Advanced Case Study Paper 4
1,069
Institute of Internal Auditors-MIIA revision workshop
588
Introduction to Audit
450
Introduction to Central Gov Finance
475
Introduction to Civil Protection
1,137
Introduction to Infosec
2,725
Introduction to Project Management
430
ISEB Foundation Certificate in Software Testing
1,752
IT Training
382
ITIL Foundation Course
1,590
ITIL Practitioner in Service Level Management
1,100
Land Law Reform Project
65
Lateral Thinking
156
Leadership and Team Building
293
Leadership Challenges for Women in Middle Management
1,145
Leadership Presence
1,395
Legal Professional Training
494
Legal Research On-Line Workshop
140
Libel and Defamation
70
M2261 Course
1,191
M2261 Win XP Ops System
857
M2262 Course
891
M2262 Win XP Ops System
569
M2273 Managing and Maintaining MS Windows Server
876
M2279 Planning, Implementing and Maintaining MS Server Active Directory
876
M2543 Core Web App Tech with M/S Visual Studio
876
12 Oct 2009 : Column 15W
M2547 Adv Windows Forms with MS Visual Studio
796
M2667 Intro to Programming
597
M2780 Maintaining MS SQL Server 2005 DB
3,104
M5047 Implementing and Managing MS Exchange 2007
1,752
Major Trauma and Drug Abuse
20
Management of Risk
1,940
Managing Operational Contracts
695
Managing Successful Programmes Foundation
960
Managing the passage of legislation
430
Managing time
410
Manual Handling Instructors' and Assessors'
1,029
Mental Health Law
315
Mental Health Law and Offender Patients
210
Microsoft Word
100
MIIA Distance learning study course
368
Mind Mapping
1,366
Minute Taking Course
1,330
Mortgage Fraud
90
Mortgage Repossessions
70
MS Access
592
MS Excel
200
MS Excel Intermediate
200
MS Project introduction
412
MS Word
100
MSE2K7 Exchange 2007 Accelerated Workshop
876
New Standards New Challenges
95
ORACLE database 10g administration workshop 2
2,321
Overview of Legislation
315
Parliament Government and the Civil Service
2,500
Parliamentary Questions
430
Personal Development for Disabled People
3,510
Personal Injury Litigation
90
PFI on-depth
224
Piloting your Bill through Parliament
240
Policing, Partnership and Accountability
1,102
Policy, Management and Research in the Historic House Sector
