HC Deb 20 July 1998 vol 316 c364W
Mr. McNamara

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many of those organisations replying to the White Paper, "Partnership for Equality"(a) explicitly supported the establishment of a single Equality Commission and (b) did not mention it in their submission. [51308]

Mr. Worthington

In total there were 123 responses to the White Paper "Partnership for Equality" and of those 29 or 23 per cent. supported the establishment of a single Equality Commission and 24 or 20 per cent. did not mention it.

Mr. McNamara

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what are the current annual costs and manpower of those bodies which it is intended to absorb into the Equality Commission. [51309]

Mr. Ingram

The current annual cost of the Fair Employment Commission, the Equal Opportunities Commission for Northern Ireland and the Commission for Racial Equality for Northern Ireland is £4.8m. The staffing complement of these bodies is 117 full-time equivalents. The Northern Ireland Disability Council has an annual cost of £100,000 and no staff.