§ Mr. William RossTo ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many dwellings are owned by the Northern Ireland Housing Executive in(a) each housing executive district, (b) each council area and (c) each housing executive region.
§ Mr. AtkinsI am advised by the chief executive of the Northern Ireland Housing Executive that at 1 March 1993, the number of dwellings owned by the housing executive in each housing executive district, region and council area was as follows:
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Northern Ireland housing executive Housing stock as at 1 March 1993 District Gross stock District council Total Belfast 1 3,941 Belfast 37,324 Belfast 2 5,656 Belfast 3 5,156 Belfast 4 5,088 Belfast 5 5,947 Belfast 6 5,155 Belfast 7 6,381 Belfast Region 37,324 Bangor 4,111 North Down 4,111 Newtownards 1 3,963 Ards 5,995 Newtownards 2 2,032 Castlereagh 1 3,719 Castlereagh 6,411 Castlereagh 2 6,411 Lisburn 1 4,850 Lisburn 10,708 Lisburn 2 2,630 Lisburn 3 3,228 Downpatrick 4,451 Down 4,451 South East Region 31,676 Banbridge 3,082 Banbridge 3,082 Newry 1 3,246 Newry and Mourne 7,043 Newry 2 3,797 Armagh 3,914 Armagh 3,914 Brownlow 2,035 Craigavon 7,836 Lurgan 2,978 Portadown 2,823 South Region 21,875 Ballymena 5,421 Ballymena 5,421 Antrim 5,017 Antrim 5,017 Newtownabbey 1 3,986 Newtownabbey 7,669 Newtownabbey 2 3,683
District Gross stock District council Total Carrickfergus 3,527 Carrickfergus 3,527 Larne 2,626 Larne 2,626 Ballycastle 1,519 Moyle 1,519 Ballymoney 2,776 Ballymoney 2,776 Coleraine 5,481 Coleraine 5,481 North East Region 34,036 Londonderry 1 4,219 Derry 12,378 Londonderry 2 4,266 Londonderry 3 3,893 Limavady 2,820 Limavady 2,820 Magherafelt 2,658 Magherafelt 2,658 Strabane 3,998 Strabane 3,998 Omagh 3,410 Omagh 3,410 Cookstown 2,105 Cookstown 2,105 Dungannon 3,426 Dungannon 3,426 Fermanagh 3,943 Fermanagh 3,943 West Region 34,738 Northern Ireland Total 159,649
§ Mr. HumeTo ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what estimate he has made of the costs of closing the Housing Executive's direct labour organisation this year and the total number of jobs which would be lost by district.
§ Mr. AtkinsThis is a matter for the Northern Ireland housing executive, but I understand from the chief executive that the net cost of closing the direct labour organisation after taking account of anticipated receipts from the realisation of assets and the disposal of depots is £2.2 million. The number of job losses, by depot, based on employees, permanent and temporary, in post at the end of January 1993 is:
Number Central unit 22 Belfast 250 Craigavon 54 Ballyclare 164 Coleraine 52 Derry 90 Omagh 102 Support services 15 The Housing Executive hopes that some of the salaried staff included in the above can be redeployed. It should also be noted that the Housing Executive had intended to scale down the DLO labour force from around 750 at present to about 250 to 300 by the end of 1993–94.
§ Mr. HumeTo ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will list by district the total number of Housing Executive contract modules per category for which the executive's DLO tendered, the number of contracts which the DLO actually won and the number in which it came second.
§ Mr. AtkinsThis is a matter for the Northern Ireland Housing Executive, but I understand from the chief executive that the information, by Housing Executive region, is as follows:
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COT Electrical Building Plumbing Grounds Maintenance A C B A B C A B C A B C A B C Belfast 17 3 2 20 1 2 20 7 3 20 3 4 7 14 1 South East 6 2 1 18 0 1 21 4 5 19 3 0 6 14 0 South 1 0 0 1 0 0 1 1 0 1 1 0 6 0 1 North East 9 0 2 30 2 3 30 5 1 30 2 3 9 5 0 West 8 1 2 18 0 3 26 3 4 26 3 10 8 16 1 Total 41 6 7 87 3 9 98 20 13 96 12 17 36 19 3 1 The Housing Executive has questioned the viability of a number of these tenders. Notes:
COT = Cchange of Tenancy.
A =Number of modules competed for.
B = Number of modules won by DLO.
C= Number of modules in which DLO came second.
§ Mr. HumeTo ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will make a statement giving details of the criteria for commercial viability applied by the Housing Executive to its DLO; and what consultation took place with the DOE regarding the establishment, interpretation and implementation of these criteria.
§ Mr. AtkinsThe criteria were that all work undertaken from April 1993 had to be won following competition with the private sector and that from the same date no deficit financing would be available to cover trading losses. This followed discussion between the Department and the Housing Executive in the light of trading losses of some £4.5 million in 1991–92 and a projected loss of £3 million in 1992–93. There was regular discussion between the Housing Executive and the Department on the interpretation and implementation of these criteria.
§ Mr. HumeTo ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what is the total value of contracts won be each DLO district of the Housing Executive for the next year and the projected profits or losses.
§ Mr. AtkinsThis is a matter for the Northern Ireland Housing Executive, but I understand from the chief executive that the information is as follows:
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A. Building maintmance Depot Valuations of contracts won Trading account projections for 1993–94 £ £ Belfast 1,561,942 1155,000 Loss Ballyclare 308,713 2— Coleraine 445,777 35,000 Loss Pennyburn 168,388 2— Omagh 294,896 2— 1 This figure relates to combining Belfast and Ballyclare into a single operation. 2 The tenders won by these depots represented such a small fraction of the turnover required to support the existing Depot structures that the Housing Executive considered it impossible to conduct meaningful projected trading accounts with prospects of future viability.
B. Grounds maintenance Depot Valuations of contracts won Projected profit-loss 1993–94 before application of overheads and running costs £ £ Belfast 473,994 41,000 Loss Ballyclare 306,671 35,000 Profit Coleraine 142,695 17,000 Profit Pennyburn 498,500 1,000 Loss Omagh 110,920 14,000 Loss Note:
An attempt to aggregate the Ballyclare and Coleraine operations with the most viable tenders won by other depots into a single operational unit (to reduce overheads and running costs to a minimum) produced a projected trading account net loss of £54,000.
§ Mr. HumeTo ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what profits were made by each section of the Housing Executive's DLO over the past year.
§ Mr. AtkinsThis is a matter for the Northern Ireland Housing Executive, but I understand from the, chief executive that provisional accounts for the 11 months to 28 February 1993 are as follows:
Depot Building maintenance Grounds maintenance Total (£) (£) (£) Belfast (571,000) (235,000) (806,000) Carn (816,000) (75,000) (891,000) Ballyclare (224,000) 39,000 (185,000) Coleraine 45,000 5,000 50,000 Pennyburn (147,000) 36,000 (111,000) Omagh (713,000) (75,000) (788,000) Total loss (2,426,000) (305,000) (2,731,000) Note: Figures in brackets indicate a loss.
The Carn depot building maintenance operation was terminated at the end of October 1992. The estimated total DLO trading loss for the full year to 31 March 1993 is presently estimated at £3 million.