HC Deb 17 November 1997 vol 301 cc27-9W
Mr. John D. Taylor

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland which schools teaching in the medium of the Irish language(a) are and (b) are not under the management of the Council for Catholic Maintained Schools. [15613]

disclosed in their annual financial accounts. The format of these statements was revised in 1995–96. Prior to this the information requested was not separately identified on the financial returns and is therefore not available for every HSS Trust/HPSS board.

Chiropody and podiatry expenditure for Northern Ireland 1994–95 to 1995–96
Year Chiropody and podiatry £
1994–95 3,297,279
1995–96 3,569,148
1996–97 Not available
1. The information for 1994–95 was provided by the Health and Social Services Trusts and Health and Social Services Boards' Directly Managed Units with the exception of North Down and Ards Trust who are unable to provide the information.
2. The information for 1995–96 has been extracted from the analysis of expenditure reported in the Financial Return Statements (FR22) for the Health and Social Services Trusts and Health and Social Services Boards' Directly Managed Units.

Angela Smith

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if she will list the budget for each health authority or health board allocated for spending on chiropody and podiatry services in(a) 1997–98, (b) 1996–97 and (c) 1995–96. [15375]

Mr. Worthington

Health and Social Services Boards' general allocations are not hypothecated and it is for individual Boards and general practitioner fundholders to use their funds to best meet the health needs of their local regulations. Spending on specific services can only be determined accurately in retrospect once a Board and Health and Social Security Trust accounts have been completed.

Angela Smith

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what are the staffing and personnel figures by all NHS grades and whole-time equivalent staff for chiropody and podiatry for the years(a) 1996–97, (b) 1995–96 and (c) 1994–95. [15368]

Mr. Worthington

The information requested is set out in the table.

Mr. Worthington

No schools are managed by the Council for Catholic Maintained Schools. Eight grant-aided Irish-medium schools are managed by Boards of Governors and five registered independent Irish-medium schools are managed by their proprietors. In addition there is one Irish-medium unit in a maintained primary school.

Mr. John D. Taylor

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what steps she is taking to ensure that Irish-medium teacher training courses are not located in venues associated with only one religious denomination. [15614]

Mr. Worthington

There are no plans to use other venues as the one grant-aided provider of Irish-medium teacher training for those intending to teach in Irish-medium schools is sufficient to meet needs.