This publication contains the written answers to questions tabled by Members. The content of the responses is as received at the time from the relevant Minister or representative of the Assembly Commission and has not been subject to the official reporting process or changed in any way.

Friday 23 November 2007

Written Answers to Questions

Office of the First Minister and deputy First Minister
Agriculture and Rural Development
Culture, Arts and Leisure
Education
Employment and Learning
Enterprise, Trade and Investment
Environment
Finance and Personnel
Health, Social Services and Public Safety
Regional Development
Social Development

Office of the First Minister and deputy First Minister

Victims' Groups

Mr S Moutray asked the Office of the First Minister and deputy First Minister, pursuant to the answer to AQW 617/08, to detail what issues relating to victims of the Troubles were discussed during the deputy First Minister's meeting with the Disabled Police Officers' Association.

(AQW 1481/08)

The First Minister and deputy First Minister (Rt Hon I Paisley and Mr M McGuinness): The deputy First Minister met representatives of the Disabled Police Officers' Association on 21^st May 2007. This was their first meeting and as such was very much exploratory in nature. The meeting was constructive and the deputy First Minister offered to meet the group again in the future.

LGBT Funding

Mr J Wells asked the Office of the First Minister and deputy First Minister to detail all funding it has awarded to organisations working with the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community in each of the last five financial years.

(AQW 1512/08)

Rt Hon I Paisley and Mr M McGuinness: Details are as follows:

Year	Amount (£)
2003/2004	£1,000
2004/2005	£2,200
2005/2006	£3,500
2006/2007	£50,622.52
2007/2008 (to end October 2007)	£50,500

Former Secretary of State, Peter Hain, awarded a short-term financial package of £230,000 to the LGB sector to roll out over two years (06/07 and 07/08).

No new funding arrangement has been agreed.

Junior Ministers

Mr J Dallat asked the Office of the First Minister and deputy First Minister to detail whether or not the visits of the junior Minister to China and Zurich earlier this year were in an official capacity, or if these were private trips.

(AQW 1542/08)

Rt Hon I Paisley and Mr M McGuinness: Junior Ministers Paisley and Kelly have not made any official visits to China or Switzerland.

Draft Programme for Government 2008-11

Mrs N Long asked the Office of the First Minister and deputy First Minister to identify one key goal in the draft Programme for Government 2008-11, within each government department, that will promote good relations.

(AQW 1579/08)

Rt Hon I Paisley and Mr M McGuinness: The Programme for Government aims to provide a strategic framework and focus across Government to address the key challenges the Executive face and grasp the opportunities available to build a better future for everyone. Those challenges are cross-cutting and they can only be addressed by a joined-up and co-ordinated approach across Government, rather than a narrow focus on departmental areas of responsibility. Recognising this, the key goals outlined in the Programme for Government are not framed along departmental lines, but are goals for the entire Executive.

Every one of the priorities and key goals in the draft Programme for Government, will contribute to the Executive’s aim of building a peaceful, fair and prosperous society in Northern Ireland, with respect for the rule of law and where everyone can enjoy a better quality of life now and in years to come. The Executive’s priority is to promote tolerance, inclusion and health and wellbeing as set out in the Programme for Government.Every government department has a statutory duty to promote good relations under section 75(2) of the Northern Ireland Act 1998 and, as the deputy First Minister stated during oral answers to questions to the First Minister and deputy First Minister on 22 October, "we will bring forward detailed proposals for a programme of cohesion and integration". We will bring forward detailed plans early in the New Year.The Executive recognises that effectively promoting good relations requires action not only to promote tolerance, but also to address inequalities, disadvantage and exclusion both at a local and regional level, and ensure that everyone can contribute to and benefit from increased prosperity and live in sustainable, safe and attractive environments.This approach is reflected throughout the draft Programme for Government document and is directly addressed under a number of the key goals and the associated PSA framework. Delivery of the overall Programme for Government will therefore, contribute to the promotion of good relations.

Byron Review - Children and New Technology

Mr R Beggs asked the Office of the First Minister and deputy First Minister to detail whether or not it has been contacted by the Byron Review - Children and New Technology; and if it intends to respond to any such request.

(AQW 1675/08)

Rt Hon I Paisley and Mr M McGuinness: We are aware of the Byron Review looking at the risks to children and young people from exposure to potentially harmful or inappropriate material on the internet and in video games.

We are very supportive of Dr Byron’s review. However we have not been contacted by her and so we cannot say how we would respond until we have had sight of any request.

Pledge of Office

Mr D McNarry asked the Office of the First Minister and deputy First Minister what is its assessment of whether or not all members of the Executive are abiding by the terms of the Pledge of Office in relation to (i) commitment to non-violence and exclusively peaceful and democratic means; (ii) actively encouraging everyone in the community to co-operate fully with the PSNI in tackling crime in all areas; and (iii) actively supporting all the policing and criminal justice institutions.

(AQW 1798/08)

Rt Hon I Paisley and Mr M McGuinness: All members of the Executive affirmed the Pledge of Office on taking up their portfolios on 8 May 2007. All Ministers continue to abide by the terms of that pledge.

Agriculture and Rural Development

Community Facilities at Seskinore Forest, Co. Tyrone

Mr P Doherty asked the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development what plans she has to upgrade community facilities at Seskinore forest, Co. Tyrone.

(AQW 1382/08)

The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development (Ms M Gildernew): My Department has no plans to upgrade facilities at Seskinore Forest. The buildings are no longer required by Forest Service for operational purposes. Following an expression of interest competition, Forest Service has engaged with a local Community Group regarding its interest in the future use of the buildings and this remains on-going. In the meantime the Community Group secure permission on an ad hoc basis to use the facilities.

Forestry

Mr A Bresland asked the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development to detail the level of support available to farmers who are interested in forestry.

(AQW 1385/08)

Ms M Gildernew: Under the Rural Development Programme 2007-2013, my Department’s Forest Service can provide grant aid and advice to help farmers create new woodland and manage existing woodland.

Standard grants are available for creation of conventional woodland at £1,850 per hectare for broadleaves and £1,250 per hectare for conifers. Support for establishment of Short Rotation Coppice (SRC) willow is available, for up to 40% or 50% of eligible costs, up to a ceiling of £1,000 per hectare.

In addition, some farmers may be eligible for annual payments to compensate for agricultural income forgone by creating woodland. Payments are made for 15 years for broadleaf woodland and 10 years for conifer woodland. The payment rates for new applicants vary depending on their land category: Arable or improved land outside a Less Favoured Area (LFA) receives £270 per hectare, in a Disadvantaged Area (DA) it receives £220 per hectare and in a Severely Disadvantaged Area (SDA) it receives £160 per hectare. Unimproved land outside a LFA is ineligible for payments, in a DA it receives £60 per hectare, and in a SDA it receives £60 per ha hectare.

Support is also available for farmers with existing woodlands in the form of a Woodland Environment Grant which assists significant enhancement of biodiversity at 50% of agreed costs and a Sustainable Forestry Operations Grant which assists environmental improvements over a five year period.

Tourism on the Foyle River

Mr A Bresland asked the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development to outline the role of the Loughs Agency in promoting tourism on the Foyle river system.

(AQW 1392/08)

Ms M Gildernew: Part 6 of Annex 2 of The North/South Co-operation (Implementation Bodies) (Northern Ireland) Order 1999 provides the Loughs Agency with the following functions:

1. Promotion of development of Lough Foyle and Carlingford Lough for commercial and recreational purposes:

1.1 This function is restricted to marine, fishery and aquaculture matters and will include the preparation of a strategic plan for commercial and recreational development of the Foyle and Carlingford Areas, and the promotion (including grant aid) and co-ordination of the delivery of the development strategy;

2. Existing functions of the Foyle Fisheries Commission in regard to inland fisheries conservation, protection, management and development, and equivalent functions in respect of Carlingford Lough:

2.1 The Body will exercise the functions formerly exercised by the Foyle Fisheries Commission, which will be dissolved, and corresponding functions in relation to the Carlingford Area. Legislation will be introduced to provide for the exercise of an inland fisheries development function in relation to the Foyle and Carlingford Areas ….

3. Development and licensing of aquaculture;

4. Development of marine tourism:

4.1 This function will include the preparation of a strategic plan for marine tourism in the Foyle and Carlingford Areas and the promotion and marketing of those Areas (including grant aid) and co-ordination of the delivery of the development strategy.

In fulfilment of its functions the Loughs Agency has prepared, and is to deliver, a Marine Tourism Development Strategy in partnership with local authorities; port authorities; regional tourism bodies, the Northern Ireland Tourist Board; Board Failte and Tourism Ireland Ltd; yacht and power boat clubs; the Marine Coastguard Agency; the Environment and Heritage Service and the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds. The draft Strategy was consulted on in 2006. This Strategy makes provision for the strategic development of angling in the Foyle river system and is to be considered by the North South Ministerial Council at the next Sectoral meeting.

Agri-Food and Biosciences

Mr P J Bradley asked the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development to detail the exchanges that have taken place between her department and the Department of Agriculture in the Republic of Ireland on issues relating to agri-food and biosciences, since May 2007; and what plans she has to work towards the development of an all-island institute to deal with programmes common to Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.

(AQW 1411/08)

Ms M Gildernew: At this point in time, I have no plans to seek to develop an all-island institute in relation to agri-food and biosciences programmes, nor have there been any exchanges between my Department and the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food in Dublin since May 2007 on this.

However, the Agri-Food and Biosciences Institute (AFBI) is very active in maintaining and developing links with scientific bodies throughout Ireland in pursuit of mutually beneficial research and scientific opportunities.

Castlederg Nursery

Mr P Doherty asked the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development to outline her department's intentions in relation to future production at Castlederg nursery.

(AQW 1432/08)

Ms M Gildernew: My Department intends to cease plant production at Castlederg nursery by April 2008. The decision to cease plant production was taken in May 2006, and production has been progressively run down since then. The reasons for the decision included cost issues, improving efficiencies and increased operational flexibilities.

No redundancies were envisaged due to the scope to offer alternative forest work and this remains the case. An implementation plan dealing with the impacts of the closure has been developed and discussed in detail with all staff involved.

Construction of Gabions

Mr P Doherty asked the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development what plans her department has to construct gabions on Killyclogher Burn at the rear of Knockmore bungalows, to prevent the further erosion of properties at this location.

(AQW 1433/08)

Ms M Gildernew: The Department has no plans, at present, to construct gabions on the Killyclogher Burn as the erosion is not affecting dwellings and the level of expenditure to provide further bank protection to the properties at Knocknamoe Bunglows could not be deemed cost beneficial and therefore not justified.

Response to Correspondence

Mrs I Robinson asked the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development to detail the longest period of time her department has taken to provide a full response to a letter received from (i) a Member of Parliament; (ii) a Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly; (iii) a Councillor; and (iv) a member of the public, since March 2007.

(AQW 1483/08)

Ms M Gildernew: Our figures cover the period 8^th May 2007 to date. The figures stated are working days and cover the 4 categories mentioned above.

From	Days taken to Reply
MP	31
MLA	73
Councillor	36
Member of Public	59

Coastline Defences

Mr W Clarke asked the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development to state which agency within her department is responsible for identifying areas of land around the coastline of Northern Ireland that are susceptible to the impact of rising sea levels; and to detail the location of these areas.

(AQW 1565/08)

Ms M Gildernew: DARD Rivers Agency, acts as the drainage and flood defence authority for Northern Ireland with the primary aim of reducing risk to life and damage to property from flooding from rivers and the sea. The Agency is currently developing coastal flood risk maps in the context of the broader requirement for mapping all flood risk areas across Northern Ireland. The first series of maps will be at a strategic level denoting the undefended floodplains ie the areas at risk of flooding from the present day sea levels and in the absence of current sea defences. These maps are expected to be available in Spring 2008. A second series of maps will then be produced which will detail sea defences that provide a measure of protection from sea inundation.

Bovine Tuberculosis and Brucellosis

Mr M Storey asked the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development to give her assessment of the effectiveness of her department's strategy in combating bovine tuberculosis and brucellosis in the North Antrim constituency.

(AQW 1567/08)

Ms M Gildernew: The information in my response relates to my Department’s Coleraine and Ballymena Divisional Veterinary Office areas, as my Department does not hold information on a constituency basis.

The Bovine Tuberculosis (TB) programme in the North is based on the detection of diseased or high risk animals, the compulsory removal of these animals from their herd of origin to slaughter, and the restriction of movements of cattle from infected herds until they are tested clear. Generally, individual animals that test positive are removed rather than the whole herd.

Since 2002, there has been clear evidence of a significant decline in the incidence of TB here. The herd incidence peaked in 2002 at 9.93% and has now dropped to 5.23% as at the end of September. For the period September 2004 to September 2007, the overall herd incidence for TB has fallen by 48% across the Coleraine and Ballymena Divisions.

The brucellosis control programme in the North is based on the detection of diseased or high risk animals, compulsory removal of these animals for slaughter, removal of all in-contact animals, group or whole herd depopulation, and immediate restriction of all movements from or to infected herds until they are depopulated or tested clear. Generally whole herds are depopulated when infected animals are detected.

Over the last few years, there has been clear evidence of significant decline in the incidence of brucellosis from its peak at the start of 2002 when the herd incidence reached 1.43%. Overall, the trend remained downwards until 2006-07 when specific localised disease clusters halted the decline. This recent rise peaked in October 2006 at 0.6% but has since levelled off. The annual herd incidence for brucellosis at the end of September 2007 was 0.52%, and the incidence across the Coleraine and Ballymena Divisions was 0.24%.

Based on the current figures, my assessment is that overall my Department’s strategy has been effective in combating bovine TB and Brucellosis in the North Antrim area.

Tuberculosis and Brucellosis in Livestock

Mr M Storey asked the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development to detail the number of confirmed cases of tuberculosis or brucellosis in livestock in North Antrim in each of the last three years.

(AQW 1571/08)

Ms M Gildernew: The annual number of confirmed tuberculosis cases in North Antrim

2006-07 - 40

2005-06 – 61

2004-05 - 96

The annual number of confirmed brucellosis cases in North Antrim

2006-07 – 2

2005-06 – 0

2004-05 - 1

Culture, Arts and Leisure

National Memorial Committee

Mr R Newton asked the Minister of Culture, Arts and Leisure to give a timescale within which the National Memorial Committee will report.

(AQW 1371/08)

The Minister of Culture, Arts and Leisure (Mr E Poots): I will answer these three questions together. The National Memorial Committee was launched on 15 October 2003. It is a Committee which is independent of Government and as such is outside the remit of my Department. Questions relating to this committee should be directed to the committee chair, Mr David Campbell. Mr Campbell can be reached at National Memorial Committee, Room 10, Third Floor, Interpoint Building, 20-24 York St, Belfast, BT14 1AQ.

National Memorial Committee

Mr R Newton asked the Minister of Culture, Arts and Leisure to detail the terms of reference for the National Memorial Committee.

(AQW 1372/08)

Mr E Poots: I will answer these three questions together. The National Memorial Committee was launched on 15 October 2003. It is a Committee which is independent of Government and as such is outside the remit of my Department. Questions relating to this committee should be directed to the committee chair, Mr David Campbell. Mr Campbell can be reached at National Memorial Committee, Room 10, Third Floor, Interpoint Building, 20-24 York St, Belfast, BT14 1AQ.

National Memorial Committee

Mr R Newton asked the Minister of Culture, Arts and Leisure to detail the current membership of the National Memorial Committee.

(AQW 1373/08)

Comprehensive Spending Review

Ms A Lo asked the Minister of Culture, Arts and Leisure to detail his department's bids in relation to the Comprehensive Spending Review; and to report on what degree of funding has been allocated against them in the draft Budget 2008/11.

(AQW 1445/08)

Mr E Poots: I am aware that this Question was due for Answer on the 20th of November, and I apologise to the Member for the delay

The Department’s resource bids in relation to the Comprehensive Spending Review were as follows:

Table 1 : Resource Bids

Bid	Title	Resource amount required
		2008-09	2009-10	2010-11	Total
		£m	£m	£m	£m
Resource Consequentials*	Relates to ISNI 2 capital projects (inc PRONI non cash costs)	5.337	5.883	10.315	21.535
		5.337	5.883	10.315	21.535
Olympics 2012 & Sports Strategy	Sport Strategy (including Olympics)	11.825	21.323	25.447	58.595
		11.825	21.323	25.447	58.595
Culture and Linguistic Diversity and Waterways Programmes	Sign Language	0.500	0.500	0.500	1.500
	Ulster Scots Agency - St. Andrews Agreement	0.750	1.000	1.000	2.750
	Waterways Ireland	0.000	0.020	0.150	0.170
	Foras na Gaeilge	0.443	0.443	0.443	1.329
	Ulster Scots Agency	1.851	2.913	3.226	7.990
	ILBF - to increase provision to 100hrs per annum	1.000	2.305	4.000	7.305
	Irish Language Act - DCAL unit	0.141	0.185	0.000	0.326
		4.685	7.366	9.319	21.370
Creative Northern Ireland	Parity funding for Arts Council	6.731	7.017	7.258	21.006
	Creative Accreditation Scheme	0.120	0.240	0.420	0.780
	Cultural Production Fund	2.498	2.498	2.498	7.494
	Creative Industries Seed Fund	1.000	2.000	2.000	5.000
		10.349	11.755	12.176	34.280

Bid	Title	Resource amount required
		2008-09	2009-10	2010-11	Total
		£m	£m	£m	£m
Priority Funding
Skills and Science Children and Young People	Skills and Science (Armagh Observatory)	0.205	0.215	0.225	0.645
	Skills and Science (Armagh Planetarium)	0.200	0.200	0.200	0.600
	Skills and Science (W5)	0.824	0.848	0.874	2.546
	Libraries - Bookstart/Young Adults	2.000	2.000	2.000	6.000
	Schools Film Club	0.200	0.200	0.200	0.600
	Mainstream Creative Learning Centres	0.565	0.565	0.565	1.695
	Creative Youth Partnerships	1.000	1.000	1.000	3.000
	Children & Young People (Sport NI)	0.100	0.100	0.100	0.300
	Sound and Vision (W5)	0.100	0.100	0.100	0.300
		5.194	5.228	5.264	15.686
Accessing and Connecting Collections - Digitisation	Connecting Collections - Digitisation NMNI	0.600	0.880	0.920	2.400
	Digitisation - Libraries	0.500	0.500	0.500	1.500
	Annual Digitisation Exercise - PRONI	0.103	0.109	0.115	0.327
	New Accommodation - AWAKEN - PRONI	0.050	0.100	0.100	0.250
	E-CATNI write-off and IT res conseq - PRONI	0.226	0.220	0.213	0.659
	Front Line Services - PRONI	0.215	0.345	0.477	1.037
		1.694	2.154	2.325	6.173
RPA and Reform	Library Authority Start-up costs	6.150	6.300	2.310	14.760
	RPA bid - FCB into dept. incl receipts	0.755	0.783	0.813	2.351
	Shared Service Centre - Computer/ICT costs	0.000	0.350	0.350	0.700
	Digital Preservation Repository	0.162	0.184	0.206	0.552
	AOAP Non Cash Costs	0.511	0.493	0.466	1.470
	Admin Costs	0.168	-	-	0.168
		7.746	8.110	4.145	20.001
Salmon and Eel management	European Fisheries Fund	0.750	0.750	0.750	2.250
	Salmon and Eel management plans	0.475	1.337	1.625	3.437
	Public Angling Estate	0.075	0.083	0.091	0.249
		1.300	2.170	2.466	5.936
Lifelong Learning	Maximising Access to NI Library Service	4.700	4.100	4.300	13.100
Lifelong Learning		4.700	4.100	4.300	13.100

Overall Total		52.830	68.089	75.757	196.676

The Department’s capital bids in relation to the Comprehensive Spending Review were as follows:

Table 2 : Capital Bids

		Capital Amount Required			CSR
Bid	Title	2008/09	2009/10	2010/11	Total
		£m	£m	£m	£m
Libraries	Receipts	- 1.000	- 1.000	- 1.000	- 3.000
	Minor Capital	0.500	0.500	0.500	1.500
	Vehicle Replacement	-	0.260	0.280	0.540
	New Library Authority	8.913	15.442	15.791	40.146
	Belfast Central Library	-	-	11.500	11.500
		8.413	15.202	27.071	50.686
Arts & Creativity	Old Museum Arts Centre	3.737	3.949	-	7.686
	Gallery Provision	1.710	0.750	-	2.460
	Lyric Players Theatre	2.500	2.500	2.500	7.500
	Crescent Arts Centre	2.248	1.250	-	3.498
	Arts Council minor capital	0.041	0.031	0.031	0.103
	North West challenge	2.400	-	-	2.400
	Oh Yeah	1.000	-	-	1.000
	Arts Infrastructure	1.600	2.100	10.600	14.300
		15.236	10.580	13.131	38.947
Museums	Receipts	- 4.600	-	-	- 4.600
	Ulster Museum Refurb	3.135	-	-	3.135
	Minor Capital	0.050	0.250	0.250	0.550
	Armagh O&P Oper	0.050	0.050	0.050	0.150
	W5 Renewals	0.400	0.400	0.400	1.200
	Resurfacing car park	0.250	-	-	0.250
	Capital Maintenance	1.200	2.800	1.200	5.200
	Collections Resource Centre	-	1.000	11.600	12.600
	Cultra Manor	-	1.945	-	1.945
	Armagh Ob Library	-	1.500	1.500	3.000
	Accessing and Connecting Collections	0.080	0.040	-	0.120
	UM Redevelopment (Galleries)	1.500	1.500	-	3.000
	UFTM Visitor Centre	0.240	2.340	5.000	7.580
	UAFP - Visitor Centre (including gallery)	0.160	2.340	4.200	6.700
	New World Area	-	2.000	-	2.000
	Retail and Commercial Investment	-	1.255	-	1.255
		2.465	17.420	24.200	44.085

		Capital Amount Required			CSR
Bid	Title	2008/09	2009/10	2010/11	Total
		£m	£m	£m	£m
Sports	House of Sport Refurbishment	0.200	-	-	0.200
	Soccer Strategy	2.667	-	-	2.667
	Tollymore	3.270	0.707	-	3.977
	Multi-Sports Stadium	10.000	30.000	30.000	70.000
	50 m pool	7.500	6.500	1.000	15.000
	2012 Sports Facilities	7.500	12.500	18.000	38.000
	North Belfast Learning	-	0.152	-	0.152
	SCNI Capital	0.071	0.104	0.085	0.260
	Safe Sports Grounds	5.900	4.500	4.500	14.900
	Sports Strategy Implementation 2007 -17	5.000	7.000	12.000	24.000
	SINI Capital	4.000	0.250	0.250	4.500
		46.108	61.713	65.835	173.656
IWIF	Waterways Ireland HQ	2.400	0.200	-	2.600
	Waterways Ire Cap	1.027	1.027	1.027	3.081
	Recurring Fisheries	0.154	0.277	0.154	0.585
	Recurring Water Rec	0.123	0.123	0.123	0.369
	Movangher Bridge	0.205	-	-	0.205
	Canal Restoration	-	-	1.500	1.500
		3.909	1.627	2.804	8.340
PRONI	Digital Preservation repository	0.100	0.100	0.100	0.300
	New Accommodation	11.000	14.000	1.700	26.700
	Sale of Site (Balmoral)	-	-	- 6.500	- 6.500
	Gen Equip & IT refurb	0.200	0.200	0.200	0.600
	Accessing and Connecting Collections	0.025	0.025	0.025	0.075
		11.325	14.325	- 4.475	21.175
DCAL	DCAL Computers	0.045	-	-	0.045
		0.045	-	-	0.045
	Total Bids	87.501	120.867	128.566	336.934

COMMENT

The nature of the CSR settlement is such that DFP did not specifically approve or reject these bids but acknowledged that it was appropriate to increase the total funding available to the department to discharge its functions.

Additional funds were subsequently allocated across the objective and spending areas as detailed in the tables 3 and 4 below.

These allocations are based on Ministerial and Departmental priorities, some of which are described in the summary of the draft Programme for Government.

Table 3 : Current Resource allocation

	Resource Amount Required			Total
	2008-09	2009-10	2010-11
	£m	£m	£m	£m
Unit of Service
Sports	1.500	3.000	7.000	11.500
Culture and Language Diversity	0.800	1.100	1.350	3.250
Museums	1.361	1.704	2.800	5.865
Library Authority	1.250	3.000	4.000	8.250
Public Records Office (NI) (inc non cash costs)	0.500	1.434	3.200	5.134
Arts	1.000	1.500	4.250	6.750
Inland Fisheries and Inland Waterways	1.489	1.762	2.300	5.551
Total	7.90	13.50	24.90	46.30

Table 4 : Current Net Capital allocation

	Capital Amount Required			Total
	2008-09	2009-10	2010-11
	£m	£m	£m	£m
Unit of Service
Libraries	3.100	12.500	13.000	28.600
Arts	15.100	8.500	8.900	32.500
Museums	0.300	0.700	16.600	17.600
Sport	31.200	36.500	44.600	112.300
IWIF	3.500	1.600	1.300	6.400
PRONI	11.300	14.300	(4.500)	21.100
Total	64.500	74.100	79.900	218.500

I trust you find this information helpful.

LGBT Community Funding

Mr J Wells asked the Minister of Culture, Arts and Leisure to detail all funding awarded by (i) the Northern Ireland Events Company; and (ii) the Arts Council for Northern Ireland, to organisations working with the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community, since 1 April 2001.

(AQW 1511/08)

Mr E Poots: The table below details the support provided by the Northern Ireland Events Company; and the Arts Council for Northern Ireland, to organisations working with the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community, since 1 April 2001:

Source

Recipient

Year

Award

Northern Ireland Events Company

Belfast Pride Festival

Belfast Pride

2006

2007

£3,000

£6,110

Arts Council for Northern Ireland

Queer Space

Cara Friend

2005

2006

£7,500

£10,000

In addition the Arts Council has provided funding to the following organisations, who work with marginalised LGBT communities, as part of their programme activity: the Gasyard, Wheelworks and New Belfast Community Arts Initiative

Response to Correspondence

Mrs I Robinson asked the Minister of Culture, Arts and Leisure to detail the longest period of time his department has taken to provide a full response to a letter received from (i) a Member of Parliament; (ii) a Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly; (iii) a Councillor; and (iv) a member of the public, since March 2007.

(AQW 1604/08)

Mr E Poots: The longest period of time taken to provide a Ministerial reply is as follows:

a Member of Parliament – 24 working days

a Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly – 25 working days

a Councillor – 10 working days

a member of the public – 43 working days

Sport and Recreation Facilities

Mr P Butler asked the Minister of Culture, Arts and Leisure if he will provide information in relation to the provision of sport and recreation facilities in Northern Ireland, compared to the provision of such facilities in (i) Great Britain; and (ii) the Republic of Ireland.

(AQW 1614/08)

Mr E Poots: Sport Northern Ireland (SNI) has undertaken a comparison of the availability of sport and recreation facilities in Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK. The table below indicates the comparative shortfall in NI based on regions of the UK of similar population size and area. Figures for the Republic of Ireland are not yet available and no comparison can therefore be made currently.

Facility Type	Shortfall
Athletics Tracks	- 6
Athletics Tracks (with indoor training facilities)	- 1 to -2
Grass Pitches	- 225
Synthetic Pitches	- 100
Swimming Pools (25m)	- 20
Swimming Pools (50m)	- 1 to -2
Indoor Tennis Centres	- 4
Sports Halls (+12 court size)	- 1 to -2
Sports Halls (+ 3 court size)	- 50
Ski Slopes	- 4
Ice Rinks	- 1
Velodrome	- 1

Media Coverage of Gaelic Games

Mr D McKay asked the Minister of Culture, Arts and Leisure what steps he has taken, and will take in the future, to ensure that Gaelic games are given fair coverage on television and radio stations.

(AQW 1673/08)

Mr E Poots: I am aware that this question was due for answer on 16 November 2007 and I apologise to the Member for the delay.

I have met with the BBC’s Local Management Team and sought to encourage them to programme locally based material.

Media Coverage of Gaelic Games

Mr D McKay asked the Minister of Culture, Arts and Leisure if he will meet with the BBC to discuss the lack of coverage it gives to Gaelic games, when compared to the coverage of other sports.

(AQW 1674/08)

Mr E Poots: I am aware that this question was due for answer on 16 November 2007 and I apologise to the Member for the delay.

I have met with the BBC’s Local Management Team and sought to encourage them to programme locally based material.

Heath and Safety at Football Stadia

Mr J Shannon asked the Minister of Culture, Arts and Leisure to detail the reasons why the £20 million fund for improving heath and safety at football stadia was not used; and to state how much of this fund was surrendered.

(AQW 1857/08)

Mr E Poots: There is no £20 million fund for improving health and safety at football stadia in Northern Ireland. Rather, in 1998, it was estimated that the cost of bringing major sports grounds here (Soccer, Rugby and Gaelic Games) up to GB safety standards would be in the region of £20 million. No funding in respect of this matter has been surrendered.

Northern Ireland Events Company

Mr J Shannon asked the Minister of Culture, Arts and Leisure to detail the amount of money available for the Northern Ireland Events company for the next three years.

(AQW 1912/08)

Mr E Poots: It is proposed that the functions of the Northern Ireland Events Company will transfer to the Northern Ireland Tourist Board from 1 April 2008. The draft budget for 2008/2011 provides the following money for the promotion of events:

2008/09	2009/10	2010/11
£2.355m	£2.255m	£1.655m

Education

Wi-Fi Technology in Schools

Mr J Wells asked the Minister of Education what advice her department has sought regarding the possible health impact on children, prior to authorising the installation of wi-fi technology in primary schools.

(AQW 871/08)

The Minister of Education (Ms C Ruane): The Health Protection Agency (HPA), which has responsibility for providing advice to central government and devolved administrations on protecting people from radiation hazards, including exposure to electromagnetic fields, has consistently advised that it does not believe that there are health issues associated with the use of wireless computer networks. As a result, the British Educational Communications and Technology Agency (Becta) continues to recommend the deployment of wireless networks in schools. This reflects advice from international expert groups and is also consistent with advice issued by the World Health Organisation and an Expert Group established and funded by the Department of Communications, Marine and Natural Resources in the south of Ireland. The health and wellbeing of children and young people in our schools is always paramount, and my Department will keep the situation under constant review.

Educational Psychologists

Miss M McIlveen asked the Minister of Education to detail the number of children currently on the waiting list for assessment by an educational psychologist, in each Education and Library Board area.

(AQW 1308/08)

Ms C Ruane: I have been advised by the Chief Executives of the Education and Library Boards that the following numbers of children are waiting to see an educational psychologist.

BELB	361
NEELB	427
SEELB	382
SELB	244
WELB	189

These figures are in regard to children with a variety of need, including Stage 3 (non-statutory assessments) and Stage 4 (statutory assessments) of the Code of Practice on the Identification and Assessment of Special Educational Needs, reviews at Stage 3 and Stage 5 of the Code of Practice, special testing at transfer stage between primary and post-primary, pre-school and examination arrangements.

Special Needs Provision

Miss M McIlveen asked the Minister of Education to detail the amount of money allocated to each Education and Library Board for special needs provision; and to provide a breakdown of this allocation, for each of the last five years.

(AQW 1312/08)

Ms C Ruane: The table below shows how much funding has been reported by the Education and Library Boards (ELBs) in their accrued expenditure reports to the Department of Education as having been allocated to special needs education in the North of Ireland in each of the last five years. The response provided is rounded to the nearest million.

	BELB	NEELB	SEELB	SELB	WELB	TOTAL
2001/2002	19m	16m	23m	17m	16m	91m
2002/2003	21m	18m	27m	19m	18m	103m
2003/2004	26m	21m	32m	22m	23m	124m
2004/2005	28m	22m	31m	25m	27m	133m
2005/2006	27m	27m	35m	26m	27m	142m

Over the same five year period additional funding of approximately £17m has been allocated by the Department of Education to support statemented pupils in the voluntary grammar and grant-maintained integrated sectors.

School Transport

Mr S Wilson asked the Minister of Education to detail the cost of school transport for pupils attending (i) maintained; (ii) controlled; (iii) Irish-medium; (iv) integrated; and (v) voluntary grammar schools, for each of the last five years.

(AQW 1345/08)

Ms C Ruane: I would refer the Member to the reply I gave to his earlier question AQW 1272/08 which was published in the Official Record on 8^th November 2007.

Wi-Fi Technology in Schools

Mr J Wells asked the Minister of Education what action she is taking to advise parents of the installation of wi-fi units at primary schools attended by their children.

(AQW 1366/08)

Ms C Ruane: The Health Protection Agency (HPA), which has responsibility for providing advice on protecting people from radiation hazards, including exposure to electromagnetic fields, has consistently advised that it sees no reason why WiFi should not continue to be used in schools. This reflects advice from international expert groups and is also consistent with advice issued by the World Health Organisation and an Expert Group established and funded by the Department of Communications, Marine and Natural Resources in the south of Ireland. Within the EU, all countries follow a Council Recommendation of 1999, based on guidelines set by the International Commission on Non-Ionising Radiation Protection (ICNIRP) for limiting exposure to electromagnetic fields.

Primary schools are being offered WiFi connectivity to make the most effective use of the new equipment currently being provided. However, any school which does not wish to use WiFi has the option of declining it. My Department will continue to keep the position under review and will consider how information about WiFi can be made more accessible to parents.

Slemish College, Ballymena

Mr D McKay asked the Minister of Education what consideration she has given to providing a sports hall at Slemish College, Ballymena.

(AQW 1367/08)

Ms C Ruane: The school has also raised with the Department the lack of sports facilities on site and officials have visited the school and are considering the issues, and will keep the school informed.

At the request of Slemish College, my Department arranged for its professional advisers to visit the school to assess the condition of its accommodation. The buildings were found, in general, to be in a fair to good condition considering the various ages of the buildings and the temporary nature of the construction. Some roofing problems were identified and the school has been advised to make a minor works application to the Department to address the problems.

Slemish College, Ballymena

Mr D McKay asked the Minister of Education to detail what assurances Slemish College has been given, either by her department or the North Eastern Education and Library Board, that there would be an annual increase of ten, on the maximum number of pupils allowed to attend the school in each year.

(AQW 1368/08)

Ms C Ruane: In response to a written request from Slemish College, approval has been granted for an increase in the school’s 2008/09 enrolment number from 710 to 720. This brings the school up to its agreed long term enrolment figure. No further increases to the school’s enrolment number can be approved unless the long term enrolment position changes. There remains however the flexibility to approve temporary variations to the approved enrolment number in response to unavoidable in-year pressures.

Slemish College, Ballymena

Mr D McKay asked the Minister of Education what consideration she has given to replacing temporary buildings at Slemish College with a permanent building.

(AQW 1370/08)

Special Needs Assessment

Miss M McIlveen asked the Minister of Education to detail the stage of a child's education at which it is determined that a special needs assessment should be carried out.

(AQW 1378/08)

Ms C Ruane: Special education legislation does not prescribe a particular stage at which a school should determine that a special needs assessment is carried out. Ordinarily schools have a duty to identify and make special education provision for pupils with special educational needs.

Under the legislation Education and Library Boards, (ELBs), are responsible for identifying, assessing and, in appropriate cases, making special educational provision for children in their areas for whom they are responsible. Generally this applies when a child is a registered pupil at a grant-aided school, or has attained the age of 2 years, is not over compulsory school age and has been brought to the attention of the ELB as having, or probably having, special educational needs.

The Code of Practice on the Identification and Assessment of Special Educational Needs, issued by the Department of Education in 1998, and the Supplement to the Code of Practice, issued in September 2005, give detailed, practical guidance to schools and ELBs on how to identify, assess and, where appropriate, statement children with special educational needs. It sets out a 5-stage approach of which Stages 1-3 are school-based, although at Stage 3 support can be sought from outside the school. At Stage 4 the ELB considers the need for a statutory assessment. The Statement itself is provided at Stage 5.

Montessori Teaching Qualification

Mr P Doherty asked the Minister of Education if she intends to recognise Montessori teaching qualifications, in line with other European countries.

(AQW 1380/08)

Ms C Ruane: Montessori qualifications are currently regarded as not suitable for gaining approval to work as a qualified teacher in a grant-aided school in the North of Ireland. The same position applies in mainstream primary or post-primary schools in England, Scotland or Wales. The position in the South of Ireland is that the Teaching Council for Ireland recognises two Montessori Qualifications but the recognition is for the purposes of employment as a learning support or resource teacher, not as a qualified teacher in the mainstream primary or post-primary sector.

If someone with a Montessori qualification wishes to teach in the North of Ireland (or indeed in England, Scotland or Wales) they would not be granted recognition as a qualified teacher and could not be registered with the General Teaching Council for Northern Ireland (GTCNI) or other GTCs within Britain. Moreover, the EU Directive on mutual recognition of teaching qualifications would only offer such applicant recognition to work in the same capacity that they were currently recognised in elsewhere.

That the Montessori qualification is recognised in the South of Ireland raises the potential of a referral to the North South Ministerial Council (NSMC).

Centre of Excellence for Autism

Mr C Boylan asked the Minister of Education to give an update on the plans for a centre of excellence for autism at Middletown, Co. Armagh.

(AQW 1435/08)

Ms C Ruane: I refer the member to my answer given to Trevor Lunn, the member for Lagan Valley, published in the official records on 19^th October 2007.

Montessori Teaching Qualification

Mr P Doherty asked the Minister of Education if she will give recognition to the Montessori teaching qualification, for the purposes of employment as a learning support or resource/substitute teacher.

(AQW 1438/08)

Ms C Ruane: Montessori qualifications are not regarded as suitable for gaining approval to work as a qualified teacher in a grant-aided school in the north of Ireland. A person with a Montessori qualification does not meet the standard for a qualified teacher and therefore cannot substitute for a qualified teacher.

I understand that in the South of Ireland the Teaching Council for Ireland does recognise two Montessori Qualifications, which are delivered there, for the purposes of employment as a learning support or resource teacher, not as a qualified teacher in mainstream primary or post-primary.

Pre-School Children

Mrs D Kelly asked the Minister of Education to detail the number of additional places for pre-school children in the Upper Bann area that will be funded by her department in the next three financial years, broken down by each school and/or nursery in the constituency.

(AQW 1460/08)

Ms C Ruane: There is no indication at the moment if the number of funded places available for pre-school children in the Upper Bann area needs to be increased.

Creationism

Mr M Storey asked the Minister of Education, pursuant to her answer to AQW 633/08, to detail whether scientific evidence that points to an alternative scientific explanation for the origin and development of life on earth, other than Darwinian evolution, is classified by (i) her department; and (ii) the Council for the Curriculum, Examinations and Assessment as 'evidence based' or 'belief'.

(AQW 1471/08)

Ms C Ruane: I will reiterate the points I have explained in previous responses. The revised curriculum offers greater opportunities for alternatives to evolution views to be explored. It also provides the flexibility for teachers themselves to determine how to teach, using their professional judgement about the approaches to be used. Any issues regarding a school’s teaching should be raised in the first instance through representation to the Board of Governors.

The Council for Curriculum, Examinations and Assessment (CCEA) has a statutory duty to advise me on the school curriculum. In providing its advice, CCEA takes account of the views of interested parties. Its professional advice is that there must be a distinction between teaching an evidence based approach to scientific theories and knowledge in science lessons, and exploring other beliefs about how the world came into existence in other subjects such as RE. This aligns with professional advice provided to schools by the Association for Science Education (ASE).

Scientific Explanations of the Origin and Development of Life

Mr D Simpson asked the Minister of Education, pursuant to her answer to AQW 812/08, if she will confirm that the opportunities offered in the revised curriculum for exploration of alternatives to evolutionary views are not limited to classes in religious education, but will also cover scientific explanations for alternative views being taught in science-related classes.

(AQW 1472/08)

Pupils in Irish Language Schools

Mr M Storey asked the Minister of Education, pursuant to her answer to AQW 505/08, to detail the number of pupils enrolled in each (i) grant aided; and (ii) independent Irish-medium school in Northern Ireland.

(AQW 1473/08)

Ms C Ruane: The latest available school enrolment information relates to the 2006/07 academic year.

Pupils at Grant Aided Irish-medium schools 2006/07

School name	Pupils
Bunscoil Bheann Mhadagáin	134
Bunscoil Mhic Reachtain	65
Scoil an Droichid	89
Coláiste Feirste	489
Gaelscoil na Bhfál	213
Gaelscoil an Lonnáin	44
Gaelscoil na Móna	66
Bunscoil Phobal feírste	303
Gaelscoil an Damba	27
Bunscoil an Tsléibhe Dhuibh	176
Scoil na Fuiseoige	134
Bunscoil an Traonaigh	22
Gaelscoil Eadain Mhóir	116
Bunscoil Cholmcille	163
Gaelscoil na Speiríní	21
Gaelscoil uí Neíll	104
Bunscoil an Chastil	71
Bunscoil an Iuír	84
Bunscoil Bheanna Boirche	54
Gaelscoil na gCrann	38
Gaelscoil uí Dhocartaigh	117

Pupils at Independent Irish-medium schools 2006/07

School name	Pupils
Gaelscoil na Daróige	16
Gaelscoil Ghleann Darach	9

Source: NI School Census.Note:

Figures for primary schools include children in nursery, reception and Year 1 – 7 classes.

Scientific Explanations of the Origin and Development of Life

Mr D Simpson asked the Minister of Education, pursuant to her answer to AQW 812/08, to outline the advantages of presenting science-related matters in a religious education class, rather than in a science class.

(AQW 1477/08)

Scientific Explanations of the Origin and Development of Life

Mr D Simpson asked the Minister of Education, pursuant to her answer to AQW 812/08, if she will confirm that teachers are permitted to use their professional judgement in relation to presenting alternative scientific explanations for evolutionary views in science class, if (i) they choose to do so; or (ii) if requested to do so by a pupil or pupils in their class, under the flexibility offered by the revised curriculum.

(AQW 1479/08)

Creationism

Mr M Storey asked the Minister of Education, pursuant to her answer to AQW 635/08, if she will confirm that science teachers are permitted to use their professional judgement on whether or not alternative scientific theories of the origin and development of life, other than evolution, are sufficiently evidence-based to teach in their classes.

(AQW 1507/08)

Creationism

Mr M Storey asked the Minister of Education, pursuant to her answer to AQW 633/08, to detail what advice she has received from the Council for the Curriculum, Examinations and Assessment on the differentiation between 'evidence' and 'belief'.

(AQW 1509/08)

Creationism

Mr M Storey asked the Minister of Education, pursuant to her answer to AQW 635/08, to detail whether or not she has sought or received advice from the Council for the Curriculum, Examinations and Assessment on the definition of an 'evidence-based approach to scientific theories'.

(AQW 1514/08)

School Fees

Mr P Butler asked the Minister of Education to detail the annual fees for each pupil attending the Royal Belfast Academical Institution.

(AQW 1534/08)

Ms C Ruane: Details of the annual fees charged by the Board of Governors for preparatory department and secondary department pupils attending the school are as follows:

Education Phase	Annual Fee
Secondary Department (Years 8 – 14)	£736
Preparatory Department:
Years 1 – 3	£2,560
Years 4 – 7	£2,950

Preparatory School Funding

Mr P Butler asked the Minister of Education to detail (i) the amount of money allocated by her department to preparatory schools; and (ii) the percentage this funding represents of the total funding that those schools receive.

(AQW 1535/08)

Ms C Ruane: Under the Local Management of Schools Common Funding Formula (CFF) arrangements, part funding totalling £1.81m (0.18% of the total CFF budget) has been provided to preparatory departments (all of which are attached to grammar schools) during the current financial year (2007/08). As a proportion of the total budgets for schools with preparatory departments, the average was 2.71% of those schools’ total delegated budget distributed through the CFF in 2007/08.

Free School Meals

Mr P Butler asked the Minister of Education to detail the number of pupils at preparatory schools who are in receipt of free school meals.

(AQW 1536/08)

Ms C Ruane: Based on the October 2006 School Meals Census there was a total of two preparatory school children in receipt of free school meals in the year 2006/07.

School Travelling Expenses

Mr D O'Loan asked the Minister of Education, if a development proposal to close St. Aloysius High School in Cushendall is published, to detail whether or not she will allow immediate payment of travelling expenses to all those pupils not currently entitled to this payment under her department's transport to school rules, who will be required to travel to Cross and Passion College, Ballycastle.

(AQW 1539/08)

Ms C Ruane: The Department of Education must await the final outcome of the Development proposal process in relation to St Aloysius High School before the North-Eastern Education and Library Board can consider any alternative transport arrangements to other schools, including Cross and Passion College. The publication of a development proposal is not enough to warrant the introduction of alternative/interim arrangements.

School Leavers

Mr A Ross asked the Minister of Education to detail the number of school leavers aged 16 who have enrolled in further education courses, in each of the last five years.

(AQW 1595/08)

Ms C Ruane: The table below provides the details requested.

Destination of Year 12 school leavers⁽¹⁾ 2000/01 to 2005/06

	2000/01	2001/02	2002/03⁽³⁾	2003/04	2004/05	2005/06
Institution of Further Education	5206	5211	N/A	4919	5063	5158
Employment⁽²⁾	1997	1925	N/A	1697	1307	1416
Training	5072	4630	N/A	4370	4073	4094
Unemployment	726	803	N/A	670	738	489
Unknown	187	191	N/A	336	320	306
Total Year 12 Leavers	13188	12760	N/A	11992	11501	11463

The data excludes special and independent schools
Employment refers to full and part time employment
Data for 2002/3 are not available due to technical difficulties in schools.

School Leavers

Mr A Ross asked the Minister of Education to detail the number of school leavers aged 16 who have entered full-time employment, in each of the last five years.

(AQW 1596/08)

Ms C Ruane: The table below provides the details requested.

Destination of Year 12 school leavers⁽¹⁾ 2000/01 to 2005/06

	2000/01	2001/02	2002/03⁽³⁾	2003/04	2004/05	2005/06
Institution of Further Education	5206	5211	N/A	4919	5063	5158
Employment⁽²⁾	1997	1925	N/A	1697	1307	1416
Training	5072	4630	N/A	4370	4073	4094
Unemployment	726	803	N/A	670	738	489
Unknown	187	191	N/A	336	320	306
Total Year 12 Leavers	13188	12760	N/A	11992	11501	11463

3. The data excludes special and independent schools

4. Employment refers to full and part time employment

3. Data for 2002/3 are not available due to technical difficulties in schools.

A Level Students

Mr A Ross asked the Minister of Education to detail the number of pupils who have stayed on at school to study for A-levels in each of the last five years.

(AQW 1599/08)

Ms C Ruane: Information on the number of pupils who have stayed on at school to study for A-levels are not available. Figures detailing pupil numbers in Year 13 for each of the last five years have been provided. These figures may include pupils re-sitting Year 12.

Number of Pupils in Year 13 2002/03 – 2006/07

Year

Number of pupils

2002/03

13,782

2003/04

14,134

2004/05

14,262

2005/06

14,239

2006/07

14,030

Source: NI school census.

School Leavers

Mr A Ross asked the Minister of Education to detail the number of pupils who have left school aged 16 in each of the last five years.

(AQW 1600/08)

Ms C Ruane:

The table below provides the details requested.

Destination of Year 12 school leavers⁽¹⁾ 2000/01 to 2005/06

	2000/01	2001/02	2002/03⁽³⁾	2003/04	2004/05	2005/06
Institution of Further Education	5206	5211	N/A	4919	5063	5158
Employment⁽²⁾	1997	1925	N/A	1697	1307	1416
Training	5072	4630	N/A	4370	4073	4094
Unemployment	726	803	N/A	670	738	489
Unknown	187	191	N/A	336	320	306
Total Year 12 Leavers	13188	12760	N/A	11992	11501	11463

5. The data excludes special and independent schools

6. Employment refers to full and part time employment

3. Data for 2002/3 are not available due to technical difficulties in schools.

School Meals

Mr W Clarke asked the Minister of Education what consideration she has given to introducing a sustainable seafood procurement policy, in relation to the provision of school meals.

(AQW 1611/08)

Ms C Ruane: Procurement of food for schools must be undertaken in the context of European and Government procurement requirements and in a way which is designed to ensure value for money and that the appropriate specifications regarding food content and quality are met. At present the North-Eastern Education and Library Board administers the contract for the supply and delivery of fresh fish to the school meals service for all five Education Boards.

The current contract, which is due to expire on 31 July 2008, does not have an element of sustainable development written into it. However, the Board has advised that for future contracts it will explore with suppliers what opportunities might be available to incorporate sustainability into the tender conditions and what impact this would have on supply. The creation of the new Education and Skills Authority will also provide an additional opportunity to see if further improvements can be made to the procurement arrangements.

Educational Psychologists

Mr P Ramsey asked the Minister of Education to detail the number of whole time equivalent educational psychologists in each Education and Library Board area.

(AQW 1651/08)

Ms C Ruane: I would refer the Member to my reply to AQW 1313/08, submitted by the Member for Strangford, Michelle McIlveen, which was placed in Hansard as a written answer on 9 November 2007.

Maghera High School

Mr I McCrea asked the Minister of Education what is her assessment of the need for the retention of Maghera High School for the Protestant community in Maghera.

(AQW 1701/08)

Ms C Ruane: Maghera High School falls within the remit of the North Eastern Education and Library Board (NEELB) and its future is therefore a matter for the NEELB in the first instance.

The NEELB is consulting locally on the future of the school and that a number of proposals have been put forward for discussion. The NEELB has indicated that a decision on the way forward which takes account of the educational needs of the children is likely to be taken by March next year. Any proposal to close or amalgamate the school would require the NEELB to publish a statutory Development Proposal. Publication must be preceded by consultation with the Board of Governors, staff and parents of the school and also neighbouring schools likely to be affected by the proposal. Once published, there is a further 2-month period during which representations including objections can be made to the Department. At the end of this period a decision is made taking into consideration all pertinent issues and representations made.I have had no discussions on the school.

Classroom Assistants

Mr P McGlone asked the Minister of Education what steps she will take to bring about the immediate recommencement of negotiations, in order to resolve the classroom assistants' dispute on terms and conditions of employment.

(AQW 1705/08)

Ms C Ruane: I welcome the fact that one union has accepted the substantially improved offer, which was tabled on 28 September, and two others are currently in the process of balloting their members.

It would not be appropriate for me to comment any further at this time while the balloting process is ongoing. However I sincerely hope that an agreed settlement will be reached in the very near future so as to ensure the classroom assistants receive the money they are entitled and to avoid further disruption to the education of our children.

Maghera High School

Mr I McCrea asked the Minister of Education what discussions she has had in relation to the future of Maghera High School.

(AQW 1706/08)

Ms C Ruane:

Maghera High School falls within the remit of the North Eastern Education and Library Board (NEELB) and its future is therefore a matter for the NEELB in the first instance.

Any proposal to close or amalgamate the school would require the NEELB to publish a statutory Development Proposal. Publication must be preceded by consultation with the Board of Governors, staff and parents of the school and also neighbouring schools likely to be affected by the proposal. Once published, there is a further 2-month period during which representations including objections can be made to the Department. At the end of this period a decision is made taking into consideration all pertinent issues and representations made.

I have had no discussions on the school.

St Joseph's Primary School, Ahoghill

Miss M McIlveen asked the Minister of Education to detail the number of pupils currently enrolled at St Joseph's Primary School, Ahoghill; and whether or not enrolment has decreased since the announcement of a possible amalgamation with St Patrick's Primary School, Aughtercloney.

(AQW 1731/08)

Ms C Ruane: St Joseph’s Primary School, Ahoghill currently (2007/08) has an enrolment of 18 pupils. The enrolment figure has not decreased since the announcement of a possible amalgamation with St Patrick’s Primary School, Aughtercloney.

Club Bank System

Miss M McIlveen asked the Minister of Education to give a timescale within which the report into the club bank system, commissioned by her department, will be published.

(AQW 1733/08)

Ms C Ruane: The Department of Education has not commissioned a report into the club bank system.

However, in 2004 the Integrated Education Fund (IEF) commissioned a report on the operation of the club bank in the integrated sector. In January 2005 the Department of Education provided the IEF with £1,331.67 towards the cost of the report.

Publication of the report is a matter for the IEF.

Childcare

Mr I McCrea asked the Minister of Education to outline what provision has been made for pre-school and after-school childcare in Northern Ireland in the draft Programme for Government 2008-2011.

(AQW 1742/08)

Ms C Ruane: The Executive’s Draft Programme for Government proposals were published on 25^th October and are subject to public consultation until 4^th January.

The detailed implications for pre-school and after-school childcare will be made known at the conclusion of the process.

Transfer System

Mr A Ross asked the Minister of Education what is her assessment of whether or not it is more appropriate for pupils to transfer from primary to post-primary education at age 14, rather than at age 11.

(AQO 825/08)

Ms C Ruane: I recognise the significance of 14 as an age when many young people already make choices about their career pathway. I recognise too the opportunities that young people are increasingly able to access post-14 as schools expand the range of courses on offer in accordance with the requirements of the Entitlement Framework. I think that focusing on the potential of this important educational decision point can help in developing new and better alternatives for the future of post-primary education. I will be bringing forward proposals that reflect this.

Transfer System

Mr D Bradley asked the Minister of Education what plans she has in relation to the future transfer arrangements for children moving from primary to post-primary education.

(AQO 869/08)

Ms C Ruane: I am still considering the nature of the proposals for new transfer arrangements. It is well known that I do not favour academic selection and the proposals I will bring forward will be child-centred in nature. They will reflect my belief that young people, advised by their parents and teachers, and informed by careers education, information and guidance, can have a developed, mature and informed sense of their preferred educational and career pathway by age 14. I want a post-primary system which, particularly after the age of 14, matches provision to young people’s needs through a mature and consensual process, as opposed to one that matches 11 year olds to different types of school on the basis of inherently limited tests.

Classroom Assistants

Mr D Kennedy asked the Minister of Education what discussions and communications she has had with Trades Union representatives of classroom assistants, since 1 October 2007.

(AQO 844/08)

Ms C Ruane: I have met with a broad range of people involved and affected by the Classroom Assistants action, including trade union representatives. I have not been involved in negotiations, this is not my role.

A significantly improved offer was formally put by the employers to Trade Union Side on 28 September 2007. In effect the employers offered a further £15 million to buy out classroom assistants’ terms and conditions. This additional £15 million equates to the amount of additional arrears that classroom assistants would have received if their job evaluation arrears were calculated on the 32.5 hour divisor from 1995 to 2003 when all other staff moved to a 36 hour working week.

Each Classroom Assistant will receive one of two monetary amounts. Those staff with five years service or less will receive a one off payment estimated at £1,613 and those staff with more than five years service will receive an estimated payment of £2,478.

These payments will be on top of what is due to classroom assistants as a result of the job evaluation exercise, the estimated cost of which (including arrears) is approx £25m.

Like everyone else I wish to see an early resolution to the dispute and I have written directly to all Classroom Assistants highlighting my wish for an early resolution to the dispute.

The indications are that, on Thursday 15 and Friday 16 November, most special schools were able to provide services for children who attended, with only five schools closed. A number of other schools have experienced impacts due to industrial action, but this is a greatly improved situation compared to last month when it was reported that 27 special schools were forced to close.

I have also paid tribute to school principals, teachers, classroom assistants and other staff who are continuing to meet the needs of our most vulnerable children.

Capital Build Programmes

Mr R Beggs asked the Minister of Education to detail the primary school capital build programmes that have been approved in the East Antrim constituency, in each of the last five years.

(AQO 885/08)

Ms C Ruane: No primary school projects in the constituency were approved for funding in the past five years. Over that period the North Eastern Education and Library Board has brought forward three major works projects for primary schools as requiring capital funding in the East Antrim constituency for an amalgamation of Kilcoan and Mullaghdubh Primary Schools at Islandmagee, Woodburn PS and Whiteabbey PS.

Modern Language Provision

Mr P Ramsey asked the Minister of Education what plans she has to develop modern language provision in primary schools.

(AQO 874/08)

Ms C Ruane: I believe that introducing children at an early stage to a second language can have huge benefits. That is why I announced that we would develop a new programme that would support primary schools in offering Spanish and Irish.

From January, we will therefore provide a network of peripatetic language tutors who will work in a number of schools alongside teachers, to help build their confidence in language teaching. That programme will add to the good work already going on in some primary schools, including that supported through the CCEA Primary Languages pilot, or by the Boards or local companies.

It will also allow for the support of the languages of newcomers, for example Polish, which is key to the development of our increasingly diverse society.

Inclusion and Diversity Service

Mrs D Kelly asked the Minister of Education what plans she has to develop the new Inclusion and Diversity Service; and to outline whether or not these plans will include a north/south dimension.

(AQO 872/08)

Ms C Ruane: The Inclusion and Diversity Service brings together services across the five education and library boards in relation to the education of children whose first language is not English. Since being established in April 2007, it has set up new services: interpreting, translating and a multi-lingual website for parents, which was launched in June 2007 in St Mary’s High School, Newry.

The Inclusion and Diversity Service has recently advised the Department that schools are using the interpretation and translation services and are finding them extremely useful with regard to parent/teacher communication. In addition, during our public consultation we received very positive feedback on these services from parents.

The Inclusion and Diversity Service will begin a new initiative in January 2008 placing Diversity coordinators in clusters of schools. This will facilitate capacity building by working with the schools on whole school and classroom issues e.g. induction, parent/school communication, intercultural awareness, language support.

Other work will include Intercultural Awareness programmes for teachers.

It is widely recognised that there are many shared challenges and opportunities both North and South, specifically in the areas of diversity and inclusion. The Regional Advisor, who is leading the service, has a strong record on North South collaboration.

The launch of Together Towards inclusion: Toolkit for Diversity in the Primary School in December 2007 will be the culmination of three years of such collaboration. It is the first time that a tool for education has been developed on a cross border basis that will be mainstreamed into schools on the island of Ireland. Further North/South collaboration is planned to produce a post-primary Toolkit. In addition, work will be carried out on the creation of dual language texts and podcasts. The new service will further support the development of North/South links.

Education and Skills Authority

Mr T Elliott asked the Minister of Education what plans she has for sectoral representation in the Education and Skills Authority.

(AQO 879/08)

Ms C Ruane: The Education and Skills Authority will be a modern, professional organisation, staffed with appropriately skilled and experienced individuals to enable it to deliver high quality services that will support the delivery of high quality education for all our young people.

The membership of the Authority will not include sectoral representation. No individual, group or organisation; sectoral or otherwise, will have an automatic membership of the ESA. Appointments will be made through an open and transparent process; and sectoral representatives will have the same opportunities to apply as anyone else, providing they meet the relevant criteria and qualifications.

I recognise that sectoral interests will continue to have a key role to play under the new arrangements and will provide modest financial support for each of the sectors to enable them to source the professional support necessary to enable them to contribute effectively to the new arrangements.

It is proposed that all sectoral interests will be represented on the Education Advisory Forum, which will provide policy advice to my Department.

Teachers

Mr P McGlone asked the Minister of Education what plans she has to introduce 10% planning, preparation, and assessment time for teachers in Northern Ireland.

(AQO 843/08)

Ms C Ruane: The introduction of Planning, Preparation and Assessment Time is one of a number of measures recommended by the "Curran 2" report to increase teachers’ productive time. The Department estimated the total cost of these measures at over £80m a year.

The Executive's Draft Budget proposals for the next three years were announced on 25 October. I am currently considering the detailed implications of the proposed allocations for Education, including the scope for developments in relation to teachers’ productive time.

Management of Staff in Schools

Mr K Robinson asked the Minister of Education to give a timescale within which the review of the management of staff in schools, as announced on 24 September 2007, will commence.

(AQO 877/08)

Ms C Ruane: This will be an important and wide-ranging review, and it is right that I give careful consideration to its scope, its terms of reference and its methodology. Work on these issues is under way in my Department and I will make an announcement in due course, to include details of the proposed timeframe for the review.

School Buildings

Mr G Campbell asked the Minister of Education what progress is being made in relation to the need to replace ageing school buildings in the East Derry/Londonderry constituency.

(AQO 835/08)

Ms C Ruane: Building work is currently underway for two new replacement schools for Carnalridge P.S., Portrush and the amalgamation of Burnfoot/Dungiven/Largy primary schools. Planning is also underway for a new replacement school building for Ballykelly P.S.

A proposed major capital scheme at Dominican College, Portstewart is at Economic Appraisal stage, while a Feasibility Study is being undertaken to examine the future requirements of Coleraine Academical Institution and Coleraine Girls’ High School. A capital scheme for Coleraine College is on hold because of current uncertainties on the provision which will be required for the longer term in the area.

Classroom Assistants

Ms A Lo asked the Minister of Education to confirm whether or not the amount of money available for settling the classroom assistants' dispute is £40.2 million or £45 million.

(AQO 865/08)

Ms C Ruane: I can confirm that the estimated cost of the Management Side offer is £40.2 million. This is made up of an estimated £25.2 million to meet the cost of re-grading and arrears arising from the full implementation of the Job Evaluation process, plus a further £15 million in recognition of the change to historical terms and conditions of service.

Currently, there is £30m available for a settlement within the education budget. I will be considering the scope for accommodating the balance from within existing resources but, to the extent that this is not possible, funding will have to be sought in the context of the December monitoring round.

I have written personally to all Classroom Assistants highlighting my wish for an early resolution to the dispute.

I have also paid tribute to school principals, teachers, classroom assistants and other staff who are continuing to meet the needs of our most vulnerable children.

I hope this return continues so the education of all children can get back to normal.

Classroom Assistants

Mr L Cree asked the Minister of Education what plans she has to improve industrial relations with classroom assistants, following a settlement of the current industrial dispute.

(AQO 876/08)

Ms C Ruane: It is clearly important that there should be good industrial relations and well founded arrangements for the employer / employee interface. I have sought to facilitate this throughout the current difficulties, whilst recognising that it is not my role to be part of the negotiating structures.

In relation to the current dispute, I can confirm that the estimated cost of the Management Side offer is £40.2 million. This is made up of an estimated £25.2 million to meet the cost of re-grading and arrears arising from the full implementation of the Job Evaluation process, plus a further £15 million in recognition of the change to historical terms and conditions of service.

I have written personally to all Classroom Assistants expressing appreciation of the work that they do and highlighting my wish for an early resolution to the dispute.

I have also paid tribute to school principals, teachers, classroom assistants and other staff who are continuing to meet the needs of our most vulnerable children.

I hope this return continues so the education of all children can get back to normal.

Cross-Border Educational Exchanges

Mr T Gallagher asked the Minister of Education what plans she has to encourage and support cross-border educational exchanges involving schools, youth groups, and teachers.

(AQO 873/08)

Ms C Ruane: Under the Good Friday Agreement (1998), education is identified as one of the areas suitable for ‘Common Policy, Separate Implementation’ co operation. In December 1999, the North South Ministerial Council (NSMC) agreed a programme of work for co-operation in the education sector including school, youth and teacher exchanges.

Following discussions with the two Departments, the North South Exchange Consortium (NSEC) was formed, comprising the British Council, Léargas and the Youth Council. At the request of the two Departments, the Consortium developed and presented proposals to both education departments on an outline design and structure for a Joint Delivery Agency.

I have agreed with my Ministerial counterpart in the South to carry out, in tandem with the Department of Education and Science, a formal review of the North South Exchange Consortium initiative.

The purpose of the review is to provide both Departments of Education with recommendations which will identify a range of options for future progress.

Both departments remain committed to improving cooperation in the area of school and youth exchange. Both Departments are keen to establish the appropriate vehicle for taking forward this important work.

School Holiday Timetables

Mr J Shannon asked the Minister of Education what is her assessment of the feasibility of implementing a change to school holiday timetables, to allow a longer break at Christmas and a shorter break in the summer.

(AQO 817/08)

Ms C Ruane: It could be feasible to make a change to the statutory school holiday schools provided that there would be no reduction in the number of school days of operation and that the change is supported by schools, school teachers and parents.

Classroom Assistants

Mr B McCrea asked the Minister of Education to detail the total number of school days lost by primary school pupils, as a result of industrial action by classroom assistants.

(AQO 875/08)

Ms C Ruane: This information is not available. The Department is not aware of any primary schools being closed due to industrial action by classroom assistants. Individual pupils may have been absent from primary school during the industrial action by classroom assistants because of health and safety risks but the attendance records held by schools may not necessarily show this.

Employment and Learning

Response to Correspondence

Mrs I Robinson asked the Minister for Employment and Learning to detail the longest period of time his department has taken to provide a full response to a letter received from (i) a Member of Parliament; (ii) a Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly; (iii) a Councillor; and (iv) a member of the public, since March 2007.

(AQW 1329/08)

The Minister for Employment and Learning (Sir Reg Empey): The longest response times, from receipt of the correspondence, are as follows:

Member of Parliament – 69 working days
Member of Northern Ireland Assembly – 37 working days
Councillor – 23 working days
Member of public – 23 working days

Educational Psychology

Lord Browne asked the Minister for Employment and Learning, in view of the shortfall in educational psychologists, what steps he is taking to encourage school leavers with the required qualifications to consider educational psychology as their chosen profession.

(AQW 1354/08)

Sir Reg Empey: The Department offers impartial, client-centred careers information, advice and guidance to all young people and adults. The Department for Employment and Learning looks to the Sector Skills Councils (SSCs) in Northern Ireland to provide up-to-date Labour Market Information and analysis of employer skills needs. The relevant SSCs in this instance are Lifelong Learning UK and Skills for Health. Neither of these Councils have yet identified educational psychology as a particular skills need. The Department will continue to work with both SSCs and will keep the issue under review.

New Deal

Miss M McIlveen asked the Minister for Employment and Learning to detail (i) the number of participants in the New Deal who have obtained employment through the programme; and (ii) how this translates by way of percentage, in each constituency, for each of the last five years.

(AQW 1381/08)

Sir Reg Empey: The number of participants in the New Deal who have gained employment through the programme over the last five years is 20,195.This covers the period April 2001 to March 2006, as these are the latest available figures by financial year. The numbers and percentages by constituency for each of these years are detailed in the attached tables.

Table 1: Number of participants moving into unsubsidised employment ^{(1), (2)} through New Deal for 18 to 24 Year Olds and New Deal 25+ between April 2001 and March 2002 by Parliamentary Constituency
Parliamentary Constituency	New Deal 18 to 24			New Deal 25+			Total
		Found	% Found		Found	% Found		Found	% Found
	Leavers	Work	Work	Leavers	Work	Work	Leavers	Work	Work
BELFAST EAST	342	107	31%	391	86	22%	733	193	26%
BELFAST NORTH	525	157	30%	665	88	13%	1190	245	21%
BELFAST SOUTH	323	102	32%	270	47	17%	593	149	25%
BELFAST WEST	580	176	30%	778	103	13%	1358	279	21%
EAST ANTRIM	231	111	48%	345	81	23%	576	192	33%
EAST LONDONDERRY	470	199	42%	536	136	25%	1006	335	33%
FERMANAGH AND SOUTH TYRONE	306	137	45%	529	139	26%	835	276	33%
FOYLE	1023	326	32%	901	171	19%	1924	497	26%
LAGAN VALLEY	154	56	36%	177	44	25%	331	100	30%
MID ULSTER	288	143	50%	344	107	31%	632	250	40%
NEWRY AND ARMAGH	426	147	35%	579	124	21%	1005	271	27%
NORTH ANTRIM	344	161	47%	442	106	24%	786	267	34%
NORTH DOWN	162	77	48%	212	71	33%	374	148	40%
SOUTH ANTRIM	230	104	45%	248	52	21%	478	156	33%
SOUTH DOWN	392	181	46%	414	85	21%	806	266	33%
STRANGFORD	251	103	41%	356	85	24%	607	188	31%
UPPER BANN	256	88	34%	409	76	19%	665	164	25%
WEST TYRONE	463	196	42%	593	134	23%	1056	330	31%
Missing Postcode ⁽³⁾	175	49	28%	160	31	19%	335	80	24%
Total	6941	2620	38%	8349	1766	21%	15290	4386	29%

Table 2: Number of participants moving into unsubsidised employment ^{(1), (2)} through New Deal for 18 to 24 Year Olds and New Deal 25+ between April 2002 and March 2003 by Parliamentary Constituency
Parliamentary Constituency	New Deal 18 to 24			New Deal 25+			Total
		Found	% Found		Found	% Found		Found	% Found
	Leavers	Work	Work	Leavers	Work	Work	Leavers	Work	Work
BELFAST EAST	328	105	32%	336	61	18%	664	166	25%
BELFAST NORTH	646	192	30%	893	112	13%	1539	304	20%
BELFAST SOUTH	351	100	28%	374	68	18%	725	168	23%
BELFAST WEST	822	179	22%	1228	126	10%	2050	305	15%
EAST ANTRIM	280	114	41%	262	64	24%	542	178	33%
EAST LONDONDERRY	436	181	42%	526	129	25%	962	310	32%
FERMANAGH AND SOUTH TYRONE	307	106	35%	617	130	21%	924	236	26%
FOYLE	1036	311	30%	1293	187	14%	2329	498	21%
LAGAN VALLEY	176	54	31%	229	54	24%	405	108	27%
MID ULSTER	270	142	53%	296	95	32%	566	237	42%
NEWRY AND ARMAGH	407	139	34%	618	127	21%	1025	266	26%
NORTH ANTRIM	360	155	43%	460	121	26%	820	276	34%
NORTH DOWN	218	74	34%	285	75	26%	503	149	30%
SOUTH ANTRIM	269	113	42%	279	69	25%	548	182	33%
SOUTH DOWN	385	176	46%	472	103	22%	857	279	33%
STRANGFORD	235	87	37%	384	82	21%	619	169	27%
UPPER BANN	328	128	39%	428	92	21%	756	220	29%
WEST TYRONE	539	221	41%	849	168	20%	1388	389	28%
Missing Postcode ⁽³⁾	193	53	27%	156	32	21%	349	85	24%
Total	7586	2630	35%	9985	1895	19%	17571	4525	26%

Table 3: Number of participants moving into unsubsidised employment ^{(1), (2)} through New Deal for 18 to 24 Year Olds and New Deal 25+ between April 2003 and March 2004 by Parliamentary Constituency
Parliamentary Constituency	New Deal 18 to 24			New Deal 25+			Total
		Found	% Found		Found	% Found		Found	% Found
	Leavers	Work	Work	Leavers	Work	Work	Leavers	Work	Work
BELFAST EAST	409	97	24%	332	64	19%	741	161	22%
BELFAST NORTH	734	198	27%	506	83	16%	1240	281	23%
BELFAST SOUTH	402	108	27%	266	45	17%	668	153	23%
BELFAST WEST	901	205	23%	896	103	11%	1797	308	17%
EAST ANTRIM	315	102	32%	248	67	27%	563	169	30%
EAST LONDONDERRY	463	177	38%	435	117	27%	898	294	33%
FERMANAGH AND SOUTH TYRONE	378	135	36%	498	129	26%	876	264	30%
FOYLE	1125	318	28%	715	112	16%	1840	430	23%
LAGAN VALLEY	154	54	35%	137	34	25%	291	88	30%
MID ULSTER	226	107	47%	228	59	26%	454	166	37%
NEWRY AND ARMAGH	425	149	35%	436	91	21%	861	240	28%
NORTH ANTRIM	332	126	38%	312	87	28%	644	213	33%
NORTH DOWN	222	85	38%	246	114	46%	468	199	43%
SOUTH ANTRIM	301	137	46%	216	57	26%	517	194	38%
SOUTH DOWN	404	158	39%	321	102	32%	725	260	36%
STRANGFORD	279	103	37%	229	46	20%	508	149	29%
UPPER BANN	318	141	44%	270	53	20%	588	194	33%
WEST TYRONE	452	175	39%	530	131	25%	982	306	31%
Missing Postcode ⁽³⁾	216	75	35%	140	32	23%	356	107	30%
Total	8056	2650	33%	6961	1526	22%	15017	4176	28%

Table 4: Number of participants moving into unsubsidised employment ^{(1), (2)} through New Deal for 18 to 24 Year Olds and New Deal 25+ between April 2004 and March 2005 by Parliamentary Constituency
Parliamentary Constituency	New Deal 18 to 24			New Deal 25+			Total
		Found	% Found		Found	% Found		Found	% Found
	Leavers	Work	Work	Leavers	Work	Work	Leavers	Work	Work
BELFAST EAST	328	67	20%	337	60	18%	665	127	19%
BELFAST NORTH	562	143	25%	488	85	17%	1050	228	22%
BELFAST SOUTH	322	98	30%	268	58	22%	590	156	26%
BELFAST WEST	887	193	22%	621	85	14%	1508	278	18%
EAST ANTRIM	273	84	31%	247	56	23%	520	140	27%
EAST LONDONDERRY	466	176	38%	409	118	29%	875	294	34%
FERMANAGH AND SOUTH TYRONE	282	103	37%	518	97	19%	800	200	25%
FOYLE	1000	293	29%	709	118	17%	1709	411	24%
LAGAN VALLEY	136	44	32%	131	33	25%	267	77	29%
MID ULSTER	207	98	47%	195	66	34%	402	164	41%
NEWRY AND ARMAGH	373	124	33%	458	87	19%	831	211	25%
NORTH ANTRIM	285	114	40%	269	79	29%	554	193	35%
NORTH DOWN	216	78	36%	213	81	38%	429	159	37%
SOUTH ANTRIM	207	90	43%	186	53	28%	393	143	36%
SOUTH DOWN	385	174	45%	375	90	24%	760	264	35%
STRANGFORD	262	102	39%	254	65	26%	516	167	32%
UPPER BANN	296	120	41%	248	47	19%	544	167	31%
WEST TYRONE	528	222	42%	616	135	22%	1144	357	31%
Missing Postcode ⁽³⁾	191	57	30%	104	13	13%	295	70	24%
Total	7206	2380	33%	6646	1426	21%	13852	3806	27%

Table 5: Number of participants moving into unsubsidised employment ^{(1), (2)} through New Deal for 18 to 24 Year Olds and New Deal 25+ between April 2005 and March 2006 by Parliamentary Constituency
Parliamentary Constituency	New Deal 18 to 24			New Deal 25+			Total
		Found	% Found		Found	% Found		Found	% Found
	Leavers	Work	Work	Leavers	Work	Work	Leavers	Work	Work
BELFAST EAST	221	66	30%	195	28	14%	416	94	23%
BELFAST NORTH	536	125	23%	462	53	11%	998	178	18%
BELFAST SOUTH	293	77	26%	238	56	24%	531	133	25%
BELFAST WEST	821	151	18%	759	74	10%	1580	225	14%
EAST ANTRIM	246	104	42%	247	69	28%	493	173	35%
EAST LONDONDERRY	448	138	31%	348	75	22%	796	213	27%
FERMANAGH AND SOUTH TYRONE	227	100	44%	394	85	22%	621	185	30%
FOYLE	988	246	25%	794	91	11%	1782	337	19%
LAGAN VALLEY	149	40	27%	130	32	25%	279	72	26%
MID ULSTER	192	99	52%	199	54	27%	391	153	39%
NEWRY AND ARMAGH	349	122	35%	433	94	22%	782	216	28%
NORTH ANTRIM	355	146	41%	278	63	23%	633	209	33%
NORTH DOWN	210	81	39%	209	67	32%	419	148	35%
SOUTH ANTRIM	185	93	50%	182	52	29%	367	145	40%
SOUTH DOWN	289	124	43%	296	71	24%	585	195	33%
STRANGFORD	251	86	34%	196	47	24%	447	133	30%
UPPER BANN	199	76	38%	213	59	28%	412	135	33%
WEST TYRONE	488	170	35%	542	117	22%	1030	287	28%
Missing Postcode ⁽³⁾	157	43	27%	113	28	25%	270	71	26%
Total	6604	2087	32%	6228	1215	20%	12832	3302	26%


Notes:
(1) Those recorded by the Department as having moved or having been placed into unsubsidised employment, plus those who have been recorded
as having terminated their JSA claim in order to go into a job within 13 weeks of leaving New Deal. This will undercount the total number going into
a job as some participants who move into a job will not, for whatever reason, record this as the reason for termination of their JSA claim.
(2) A participant is only ever counted once as moving into unsubsidised employment.
(3) Individuals were attributed to Parliamentary Constituency on the basis of their postcode. Not all individuals had a correct or complete postcode.

Comprehensive Spending Review

Ms A Lo asked the Minister for Employment and Learning to detail his department's bids in relation to the Comprehensive Spending Review; and to report on what degree of funding has been allocated against them in the draft Budget 2008/11.

(AQW 1446/08)

Sir Reg Empey: The individual Resource and Capital bids for the Department for Employment and Learning are provided in Annexes A and B respectively. Annex C provides the proposed Capital and Resource allocations to this Department as contained in the Draft Budget 2007 document.

Annex A

DEL Resource Bids	2008/09 £m	2009/10 £m	2010/11 £m
Skills for Prosperity	12.9	20.7	26.2
National Learner Registration Service	3.0	6.0	6.0
Careers Information Advice and Guidance	2.0	2.0	2.0
Adult Apprenticeships (Net of EU Income)	2.0	11.0	23.0
ICT as Third Essential Skill	3.1	3.6	4.7
FE Sector Learner Engagement and Support	7.3	7.3	7.3
Career Academy in FE / Individual Learner Profiles	2.0	2.0	2.0
Critical Sector Initiatives	8.0	8.0	8.0
Foreign Direct Investment / Employer Support Programme for FE	3.0	3.0	3.0
Sector Skills Development Budget	1.0	1.0	1.0
Student Finance – Maintenance Grants	4.0	7.0	8.0
British and Irish Sign Language Tutors and Interpreters in NI	1.0	1.0	1.0
Student Finance – Notional Student Loans Subsidy	7.5	14.5	16.8
Student Finance - Further Education (FE) Awards	1.1	1.7	2.2
University College – Initial Teacher Education (ITE) Funds	0.6	0.6	0.6
NI European Social Fund Programme 2007-13	6.3	6.3	6.3
Essential skills of literacy and numeracy (Leitch Review)	23.7	32.2	32.9
Recurrent Higher Education Research Funding	3.8	16.3	19.7
Increase in PhD provision	1.4	4.0	6.8
Pathways to Work for Incapacity Benefit Claimants	9.3	11.3	11.8
Pathways to Work for Lone Parents	2.0	2.1	2.2
New Deal 25+ (targeting the economically inactive)	1.7	1.7	1.7
Steps to Work	15.7	15.8	15.8
Revised Service Delivery Model	1.9	2.0	2.0
Labour Relations Agency	1.3	1.5	1.6
Industrial Tribunal and Fair Employment Tribunal (OITFET)	0.6	0.6	0.7
Strategy and Action Plan for Migrant Workers	0.5	0.5	0.5
PEACE II Matched Funding	2.0	0.0	0.0
Student Finance – Maintenance Grants (lower Threshold)	0.5	1.0	1.5
Student Finance – Maintenance Grants (full parity with GB)	2.5	5.0	7.5
Total	131.7	189.7	222.8

DEL Capital Bids

Description of Bid	£000'S

	2008-09	2009-10	2010-11


Belfast Institute - PPP	-	-	3,255
Belfast Institute - Springvale	-	5,000	5,000
East Antrim Institute	7,000	-	-
East Down Institute - PPP	-	-	2,730
Fermanagh College	2,100	-	-
Lisburn Institute - PPP	-	-	1,890
North Down Institute	9,500	9,000	-
Capital Programmes	6,000	6,000	4,500
North West Institute	-	-	5,350
Armagh College - PPP	110	110	110
Causeway Institute - PPP	115	115	115
North East Institute-Antrim	2,700	2,700	-
North West Institute	6,900	6,900	-
Learning & Teaching Infrastructure (LTC)	8,500	8,500	8,500
Strategic Investment Funding (SRIF)	5,000	5,000	5,000
University College Strategic Capital Invest Fund	1,500	2,000	1,500
HEI Strategic Capital Investment Fund	4,000	7,000	6,000
Central Vacancy Taking	250	-	-
Minor Capital Works	400	150	150
Workforce and Economic Development	1,500	750	500
	55,575	53,225	44,600

Annex C

INDICATIVE ALLOCATIONS PROPOSED IN DRAFT BUDGET

YEARS 2008/09 2009/10 2010/11

CAPITAL £40.7m £38.7m £44.6m (net)

RESOURCE £34.8m £91.5m £156.5m

Further Education Teaching Staff

Mr M Storey asked the Minister for Employment and Learning to give his assessment of the risks to the quality assurance of qualifications in the further education sector as a result of the continued industrial action of teaching staff.

(AQW 1572/08)

Sir Reg Empey: The refusal of lecturers to mark registers, or engage in course reviews and self evaluation as part of their industrial action, presents an element of risk to quality assurance in Further Education Colleges. That risk remains low, however, and Colleges will apply whatever measures they consider necessary to protect teaching and learning and the interests of students.

Essential Skills Programme

Mr A Ross asked the Minister for Employment and Learning to detail the number of (i) 16-18 year olds; (ii) 18-35 year olds; and (iii) over 35 year olds, who have participated in the Essential Skills programme in each of the last five years.

(AQW 1597/08)

Sir Reg Empey: The number of individuals within the categories (i) 16-18 year olds; (ii) 18-35 year olds; and (iii) over 35 years olds, who have participated in the Essential Skills programme in each of the last five years, is detailed in the table below.

Academic Year¹	Age Band
Academic Year¹	(i) 16 -18	(ii) 18 - 35	(iii) Over 35
2002/03²	345	1,013	906
2003/04	1,913	2,235	1,665
2004/05	2,369	2,530	2,458
2005/06	4,103	2,611	2,446
2006/07	5,957	2,362	1,839

Source: Council for the Curriculum, Examinations and Assessment (CCEA), Enrolment Database.

Notes:Figures are correct as at 23^rd October 2007.
Age has been calculated as age at start of Essential Skills course.
In order to answer this question, 2,314 individuals aged 18 years old are included in both age bands (i) and (ii).¹ Academic year is defined as 1^st September to 31^st August.
² Please note the Department launched the Essential Skills Strategy and Action Plan in October 2002 therefore academic year 2002/03 is not comparable to more recent academic years.

Maintenance Grants

Mr P Butler asked the Minister for Employment and Learning if he will carry out a review of (i) the levels of maintenance grants available to students in further and higher education; and (ii) whether or not current grant levels are deterring people, in particular those from disadvantaged backgrounds, from taking up places in third level education.

(AQW 1613/08)

Sir Reg Empey: With the introduction of variable tuition fees from September 2006, the levels of maintenance grants were increased substantially to mitigate the impact on less well off students.

While it is too early to gauge the impact of the new arrangements, I have already made clear that a review of variable fees and wider student finance will commence in AY2008/09. The review will look particularly at participation by students from disadvantaged backgrounds.

Belfast Metropolitan College

Mr R Newton asked the Minister for Employment and Learning, in light of the Belfast Metropolitan College's plans to develop a new campus in the Titanic Quarter, what plans he has for the Tower Street/Newtownards Road campus.

(AQW 1659/08)

Sir Reg Empey: The development of the new campus at Titanic Quarter is primarily to replace the Belfast Metropolitan College’s Brunswick Street and College Square East premises. Some limited consolidation of other provision, including some from Tower Street, will take place. Tower St will still be required, at least in the medium term, and its longer term future will be considered by the Governing Body of Belfast Metropolitan College as part of an overall estates strategy for East Belfast.

Redundancies at Regency Spinning, Newtownards

Mr S Hamilton asked the Minister for Employment and Learning what action he has taken since the announcement of redundancies at Regency Spinning in Newtownards.

(AQW 1779/08)

Sir Reg Empey: Following the announcement that Regency Spinning was placed into Administration on 8 November 2007, Newtownards JobCentre together with Ards Borough Council arranged a redundancy clinic at the Crepe Weavers on Thursday 15^th November. Participating in that event were:

JobCentre including Careers and Disablement Advisory Service;
Social Security Agency;
Ards Borough Council;
Local Enterprise Agencies;
North Down & Ards College of Further & Higher Education under the umbrella of the South Eastern Regional College ; and
Ards Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB) who were invited expressly to provide assistance to Polish migrant workers.

Unfortunately only five members of Regency staff attended the clinic.Mechanisms have been put in place to ensure that both Social Security Agency (SSA) and JobCentre staff identify former Regency Spinning Ltd employees when they visit their offices in order to advise them of the services available to them and offer them appointments to discuss their situation. The DEL information packs which would have been handed to everyone at the redundancy clinic, together with a letter inviting them to meet with DEL staff to discuss options, is being included with Invest NI literature and is being posted to all the workforce.

In addition to information on training DEL provision, the pack includes information on local vacancies and a separate leaflet on Production Operative vacancies and information on New Deal Travel to Interview Scheme and European Employment Services.

By 14^th November 2007, 87 former employees of Regency Spinning Ltd had made application to the Department for Employment and Learning for statutory redundancy and insolvency payments under the Employment Rights (Northern Ireland) Order 1996. All claims received are being examined to establish entitlement to statutory redundancy and insolvency payments under the Order. Payments for eligible claims will be made within the normal timescales.

Enterprise, Trade and Investment

Reconnect Grants Programme

Mr B Wilson asked the Minister of Enterprise, Trade and Investment what plans he has to continue the Reconnect Grants programme after March 2008.

(AQW 1351/08)

The Minister of Enterprise, Trade and Investment (Mr N Dodds): My Department has no plans to continue Reconnect in its current form, beyond the end of March 2008.

The Reconnect Grants programme is funded through the Environment and Renewable Energy Fund which expires on 31 March 2008. A further £2m of funding is included in the Executive’s Draft Budget in 2008/09 to allow the programme to remain open to applications until 31 March 2008, and applicants to claim until September 2008. The Reconnect programme will be evaluated during 2008 to assess if it has met its objectives in terms of bringing about a steep change in the use of renewable sources, creating a self sustaining market, reducing demand for grid electricity and increasing competitiveness. Government continues to support micro-generation through:

the reduction in the standard VAT rate to 5%; grants from the UK wide Low Carbon Building Programme;
the availability of Renewable Obligation Certificates; and

In addition DFP is considering revising the building regulations to make renewables mandatory in the new build sector.

Seagate Job Losses

Mr J Dallat asked the Minister of Enterprise, Trade and Investment what plans he has to involve MLAs in the East Derry/Londonderry constituency, in relation to his plans to ensure that every assistance is offered to Seagate workers affected by the loss of jobs at the Limavady plant.

(AQW 1417/08)

Mr N Dodds: I greatly appreciate the many efforts that are being made by all the MLAs in the East Londonderry constituency in support of the workforce at Seagate’s Limavady plant since the closure announcement.

I have received numerous representations from a wide variety of stakeholders with regard to the future of employees at the Limavady plant. Invest NI and the Department of Employment and Learning (DEL) are working in close liaison in the best interests of the workforce. To this end, meetings have already occurred between senior officers from Invest NI and DEL and the Company’s senior management to develop a comprehensive and focused plan of action.The Department for Employment and Learning has well-established procedures in place to assist those facing redundancy. These procedures will be put in place to match the timetable for closure and the needs of the workforce. A senior official has been identified to co-ordinate the range of services available, including those available from Invest NI, the Social Security Agency and the Further Education Regional College I will ensure that the MLAs in East Londonderry are fully briefed and kept up-to-date on progress.

Grant-Aid

Mr J Dallat asked the Minister of Enterprise, Trade and Investment to detail the amount of grant-aid paid to Seagate in Limavady for plant and machinery; and what steps he will take to ensure that this equipment will not be shipped abroad until he is satisfied that all refundable grants have been paid.

(AQW 1419/08)

Mr N Dodds: Seagate’s operation at Limavady has drawn down a total of £ 21.3 million of grant support against plant and machinery since its establishment in 1996. In the 4 year timeframe leading up to proposed closure, in mid 2008, the grant paid out against plant and equipment will have totalled £4.2 million. Of the balance of £17.1 million of assistance, £16.1 million was provided before the end of 2002.

In the case of multinational companies such as Seagate, Invest NI’s assistance agreements are structured in such a manner as to minimise risk to the public purse by requiring a parent company guarantee in respect of any liabilities that may arise.As a consequence recovery of grant monies to be repaid will be enforced, if necessary, via the mechanism of the parental guarantee. This avoids the necessity of having to continually track and update charges over plant and machinery as items are bought and discarded.

Seagate Job Losses

Mr J Dallat asked the Minister of Enterprise, Trade and Investment to detail whether or not he has received any assurances that redundancy payments will be paid to employees who opt to leave their employment at the Seagate factory in Limavady, prior to its closure.

(AQW 1420/08)

Mr N Dodds: With regard to redundancy, it must be recognised that, beyond reference to statutory minimum requirements, the terms of a redundancy package are entirely a matter for the company to agree in consultation with the employees.

It is my understanding that this process of consultation is currently ongoing between Seagate management and employees. As a result, until such deliberations are complete, it is not possible to be definitive regarding any of the details pertaining to the proposed redundancy settlement.I would suggest that any requests for information concerning the structure of the proposed redundancy package should, in the first instance, be addressed to the company at Limavady.

Comprehensive Spending Review

Mr D Ford asked the Minister of Enterprise, Trade and Investment to detail his department's bids in relation to the Comprehensive Spending Review; and to report on what degree of funding has been allocated against them in the draft Budget 2008/11.

(AQW 1450/08)

Mr N Dodds: The Enterprise, Trade and Investment Committee has been briefed on DETI’s bids submitted in the Comprehensive Spending Review and the allocations made against these bids in the Draft Budget 2008-2011and in the Draft Investment Strategy 2008-2018.

The papers relating to this detailed briefing have been placed in the Assembly Library and are available for inspection.

Seagate Job Losses

Mr J Dallat asked the Minister of Enterprise, Trade and Investment to detail what instructions he has given to Invest NI, in relation to addressing the particular problems facing Seagate employees in Limavady.

(AQW 1456/08)

Mr N Dodds: I have instructed Invest NI to engage with their counterparts in Department for Employment & Learning (DEL) and to undertake work as necessary to understand the existing skills and particular needs of the workforce at Limavady so that an action plan can be developed which will best serve these employees in addressing the challenges that lie ahead.

In so doing, Invest NI and DEL will be cognisant of current and future alternative opportunities within the North West area and will seek to equip former Seagate employees with a range of skills that will be commensurate with those opportunities. Invest NI’s Entrepreneurship programmes will be of key interest to those former Seagate employees who may decide that starting their own business is the best way forward post Seagate.I have also instructed Invest NI to continue to promote NI as a location for inward investment and to be particularly mindful of the needs of the North West – and the opportunities presented – when a significant number of skilled people are no longer employed by Seagate Technology Media (Ireland) Ltd.

Trade Missions

Mrs D Kelly asked the Minister of Enterprise, Trade and Investment to detail the number of (i) trade missions to (a) Europe; (b) the USA; and (c) Asia, that took place in 2003/04; 2005/06; and 2006/07; and (ii) businesses located in Upper Bann that have participated in such missions.

(AQW 1458/08)

Mr N Dodds: Over the last five years, Invest NI has organised 252 trade missions to Europe, USA and Asia. The table below provides a breakdown by location and financial year, as well as outlining the number of businesses located in Upper Bann that participated.

YEAR	EUROPE		USA		ASIA
YEAR	NO. OF MISSIONS	NO. OF PARTICIPANTS	NO. OF MISSIONS	NO. OF PARTICIPANTS	NO. OF MISSIONS	NO. OF PARTICIPANTS
2002/03	48	35	9	3	6	10
2003/04	45	35	9	8	4	12
2004/05	35	29	7	5	6	12
2005/06	24	11	10	6	8	7
2006/07	27	23	8	1	6	5
TOTALS	179	133	43	23	30	46

Trade Missions

Mrs D Kelly asked the Minister of Enterprise, Trade and Investment to detail the number of businesses owned or led by women, that have been included in trade missions to Europe and the USA, in (i) 2002/03; (ii) 2003/04; (iii) 2004/05; (iv) 2005/06.

(AQW 1459/08)

Mr N Dodds: Invest NI does not keep records of the gender of the owners or management of businesses which participate in its trade missions. However, based on the information available, the table below provides an estimate of participation in trade missions by businesses owned or led by women.

	2002/03	2003/04	2004/05	2005/06	2006/07	TOTALS
Europe	32	29	32	21	34	148
USA	6	2	4	6	5	23
Asia	9	6	7	7	7	36
TOTALS	47	37	43	34	46	207

Renewable Energy Installation Academy

Mr B Wilson asked the Minister of Enterprise, Trade and Investment if he will give an assurance that his department will continue to fund the Renewable Energy Installation Academy when its Interreg funding expires in March 2008.

(AQW 1467/08)

Mr N Dodds: The Renewable Energy Installers Academy (REIA) is funded through the EU Interreg programme until December 2007. At present my Department is seeking approval from DFP to offer additional funding up to £105,000 to this project to allow certain aspects of this pilot programme to continue until March 2008. Beyond that, the need for further Government intervention would be subject to detailed evaluation of the existing programme, the submission and approval of a full business case, and confirmation of funding being available.

While a new round of Interreg funding will be available after April 2008, EU regulations state that a project cannot receive EU funding more than once. Any new projects coming forward under Interreg IV will be subject to a competitive call.

The Renewable Energy Installers Academy has performed well and has already exceeded the agreed targets for training. However, the availability of a self-financing UK wide Microgeneration Certification Scheme, being launched by the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR) in May 2008, will have to be factored into any future case for funding. Officials have already been in discussion with BERR as to how the REIA can dovetail into this UK-wide scheme.

North-South Interconnector Cable

Mr C Boylan asked the Minister of Enterprise, Trade and Investment to outline the costings for undergrounding the north-south interconnector cable, in relation to the section that falls within Northern Ireland.

(AQW 1497/08)

Mr N Dodds: A costing study, commissioned by Northern Ireland Electricity (NIE), is currently being carried out to provide a best estimate of the costs of undergrounding the section of the proposed north-south interconnector falling within Northern Ireland. The outcome of the study is not expected until mid-December 2007 and its findings will be made public as part of NIE’s planning application.

Ballance House, Glenavy

Mr P Butler asked the Minister of Enterprise, Trade and Investment what plans he has to provide funding to Ballance House in Glenavy, as the birthplace of a former Prime Minister of New Zealand, in light of its potential as a tourist attraction.

(AQW 1560/08)

Mr N Dodds: The Northern Ireland Tourist Board did not receive an application from Ballance House, Glenavy requesting funding from the 2006 – 2008 tourism development financial assistance scheme (TDS). The operational guidelines and criteria are being developed for the 2008 – 2011 TDS capital grant scheme and this will be opened in 2008.

NITB support the Greater Belfast Regional Tourism Partnership to develop packages, provide information and promote local attractions across the council areas of Belfast, Lisburn, Carrickfergus, Antrim and Newtownabbey. The Ballance House falls within the Lisburn City Council area and can benefit from a range of promotional, visitor servicing and product development activity. Further information on the opportunities can be sourced from Lisburn City Council Tourism Development Department or from Belfast Visitor and Convention Bureau.

Ferry Routes

Mr T Lunn asked the Minister of Enterprise, Trade and Investment what proposals he is bringing forward to make ferry routes between Scotland and Northern Ireland more competitive, particularly for tourists seeking short breaks and for business travellers.

(AQW 1577/08)

Mr N Dodds: The development of ferry services, which may have the effect of improving competition by increasing choice and thereby impacting upon price competitiveness is a matter for the commercial judgement of ferry operators, having regard to prevailing market opportunities.

Northern Ireland tourism, however, particularly benefits from the private sector ferry services operating in the Irish Sea. These provide ferry connections between Belfast and Stranraer, and Larne to Troon and Cairnryan.

My Department in 2007, through the remit of Tourism Ireland, invested £250,000 in marketing Northern Ireland in Scotland as a ‘must see’, short-break destination. Planned investment in a similar Great Britain-wide marketing activity in 2008 will be £500,000.

Ferry Routes

Mr T Lunn asked the Minister of Enterprise, Trade and Investment what discussions he has had with his counterpart in the Republic of Ireland on the issue of bringing down ferry prices for travel across the Irish Sea, particularly for tourists bringing their car for a short break.

(AQW 1578/08)

Mr N Dodds: The issue of ferry prices for travel across the Irish Sea is a matter of commercial judgement for the private sector companies which supply the service. For this reason I have not discussed this with my counterpart in the Republic of Ireland.

Freedom of Information Requests

Mr G Robinson asked the Minister of Enterprise, Trade and Investment to detail the cost to his department of dealing with Freedom of Information requests, in each of the last five years.

(AQW 1646/08)

Mr N Dodds: The information requested is not held. In common with all NI Departments, DETI does not calculate or record information on the cost of individual FOI requests.

Redundancies in Regency Spinners, Newtownards

Mr J Shannon asked the Minister of Enterprise, Trade and Investment what steps he is taking to assist employees of Regency Spinners in Newtownards who are being made redundant.

(AQW 1698/08)

Mr N Dodds: I have received a number of expressions of concern with regard to the employees being made redundant at Regency Spinning Ltd, Newtownards. In order to provide the most efficient response to the situation it is important that Invest NI (INI) and the Department for Employment and Learning (DEL) continue to work in close liaison with the company. Consequently officers from DEL, INI and the Company’s senior management have been in liaison to develop a focused plan of action for the affected workforce.

In conjunction with Ards Borough Council, Newtownards Jobcentre and Invest NI organised a redundancy clinic at the Crepe Weavers plant in Newtownards on Thursday 15^th November 2007.Participating in that event were:

Jobcentre including Careers and Disablement Advisory Service;
Social Security Agency (SSA);
Ards Borough Council;
Ards Business Clinic (Local Enterprise Agency);
North Down & Ards College of Further & Higher Education under the umbrella of the South Eastern Regional College ;
Ards Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB).

Ards CAB had been invited expressly to provide assistance to the Polish Migrant Workers (9% of workforce) as they are delivering a pilot project for Migrant Workers including translation services funded by the Local Strategic Partnership.In view of the low turnout for the redundancy clinic on Thursday 15 November 2007, Invest NI and DEL will issue a letter to the home address of each affected employee highlighting their self employment options and the offer of an appointment with Jobcentre staff. This letter will also include an information pack on local vacancies, the New Deal Travel to Interview Scheme and European Employment Services. A separate leaflet on Production Operative vacancies at Axminster Contract Carpets Ltd, Kennedy Way Industrial Estate, Belfast will also be included.

As at 20th November 2007, 87 former employees of Regency Spinning Ltd have made application to the Department for Employment and Learning for statutory redundancy and insolvency payments under the Employment Rights (Northern Ireland) Order 1996. All claims received are being vetted to establish entitlement to statutory redundancy and insolvency payments under the Order. Payments for eligible claims will be made within the normal timescales

As at 20th November 2007 approximately 67 of the total redundant work force had made claim applications for Job Seekers Allowance.I will of course keep MLA’s in the Strangford constituency informed as appropriate and continue to utilise the offices of all relevant stakeholders in the best interests of the workforce.

Draft Budget

Dr S Farry asked the Minister of Enterprise, Trade and Investment if he will define the term 'the greater south-east', with reference to the private sector productivity gap between Northern Ireland and the United Kingdom average, as set out in the Minister of Finance and Personnel's speech on the draft Budget, which was delivered to the Assembly on 25 October 2007.

(AQW 1709/08)

Mr N Dodds: The ‘Greater South East’ refers to the East, London and South East regions of England. This captures the London Commuter Belt.

The private sector productivity goal, in the draft Programme for Government, excludes the Greater South East, as these regions do not represent an appropriate comparator for the Northern Ireland economy.The Greater South East has a markedly different economic structure to Northern Ireland, with a large concentration of high value-added financial and business services.

Gross Value Added

Dr S Farry asked the Minister of Enterprise, Trade and Investment if he will report on the level of gross value added in Northern Ireland compared to the United Kingdom average, minus the greater south-east, in the last ten years.

(AQW 1710/08)

Mr N Dodds: Over the ten year period, 1995 – 2005, Northern Ireland’s Gross Value Added (GVA) increased from £14.4bn to £24.5bn, representing an increase of 70%.

During the same period, GVA in the UK (excluding the Greater South East) increased from £377.7bn to £612.1bn, representing an increase of 62%.Northern Ireland’s GVA per capita – a standard measure of economic prosperity – increased from 88% of the UK (excluding the Greater South East) average in 1995 to 90% in 2005.

Planning Applications

Mr P Ramsey asked the Minister of Enterprise, Trade and Investment what is his assessment of the number of planning applications for large-scale wind farms will ensure that Northern Ireland will meet its renewable energy targets by 2012.

(AQW 1715/08)

Mr N Dodds: My response on 18 September to your previous written question (AQW 51/08) included an assessment of 361MW of renewables production capacity as being needed to meet the 2012 target, of which 332 MW would come from wind.

Applications currently with the Planning Service involve just over 1,000 MW of capacity. Taken with existing installed capacity and projects that have already received planning approval and are at different stages of development, these applications, if developed, will be more than sufficient to meet the 2012 target.

InterTrade Ireland

Mr P J Bradley asked the Minister of Enterprise, Trade and Investment to give a timescale within which the ongoing InterTrade Ireland mapping of research and development centres and technology centres will be completed; and what steps he will take in relation to the content of the report.

(AQO 911/08)

Mr N Dodds: The research phase of the study has now been completed and the report is being finalised with a view to publication by the end of the year. The recommendations and how they might be implemented will be considered by Departments in the New Year.

Invest NI

Mr T Gallagher asked the Minister of Enterprise, Trade and Investment, pursuant to AQW 1526/08, to detail the number of offers made by Invest NI to possible inward investors to visit (i) Fermanagh District Council; (ii) Dungannon District Council; (iii) Omagh District Council; (iv) Strabane District Council; and (v) Cookstown District Council, for the years 2005/06 and 2006/07.

(AQW 1865/08)

Mr N Dodds: Invest NI promotes and markets Northern Ireland as an entity. Invest NI does not pre-determine or promote specific locations within Northern Ireland for visits by a potential investor: this decision is taken by the investor. The focus of Invest NI’s international sales and marketing effort is to aggressively promote all areas of Northern Ireland as attractive and viable locations for new inward investment opportunities, in what is a very competitive global market.

Invest NI does however work closely with the company when preparing a draft visit programme to ensure that the locations to be visited meet their requirements and also provide the best opportunity for Invest NI to sell the Northern Ireland proposition.

Tourism

Mr W Irwin asked the Minister of Enterprise, Trade and Investment what action he is taking to increase the number of tourists from Great Britain to Northern Ireland.

(AQO 840/08)

Mr N Dodds: Tourism Ireland Ltd is responsible for marketing Northern Ireland in the important Great Britain market. The organisation is currently undertaking an intensive programme of promotional activities in Great Britain. For example, the short breaks campaign, which took place in September/ October 2007, featured Londonderry and Belfast in advertising, direct marketing and in a new short breaks brochure produced by Tourism Ireland. Tourism Ireland has also invested £250,000 during autumn 2007 in activity in Scotland, focusing specifically on Northern Ireland.

For spring of next year, Tourism Ireland is working closely with the Northern Ireland Tourist Board to invest [an incremental] £500,000, funded jointly by Tourism Ireland and NITB to build on interest generated by the 2007 campaign and by the core Tourism Ireland activity in 2008. More specific details of this spring 2008 activity will be announced towards the end of this year.Given the importance of ensuring that positive, "good news" stories about Northern Ireland appear continually in the GB media, Tourism Ireland continues to encourage publicity. To date in 2007, there have been 128 media visits from GB to Northern Ireland.The wider Tourism Ireland activities of increasing tourism to the island of Ireland, and supporting Northern Ireland in realising its tourism potential, will, of course, continue in parallel with these initiatives in Great Britain.

Seagate Job Losses

Mr J Dallat asked the Minister of the Enterprise, Trade and Investment what progress has been made on alleviating the threat to the economy of Limavady and the north west, as a result of the recent announcement of job losses the Seagate factory.

(AQO 848/08)

Mr N Dodds: Firstly, let me once again express my deep concern for the workforce at Seagate’s plant in Limavady. Every effort is being made by my Department, alongside other Departments, to help them identify potential opportunities for employment and to address any barriers that they may face.

Since the company’s announcement, we have been working closely with DEL on a number of key initiatives including;

liaison with the company’s HR Department to determine the composition, skills profile and geographical location of the employees;
provision of group sessions, in conjunction with the Social Security Agency, Further Education College and others, to provide advice and guidance on benefits, training and education opportunities, careers guidance and potential employment opportunities;
The possibility of on-site Job Clinics with one to one guidance and counselling including a jobsearch facility, advice on completion of application forms and CVs, interview techniques and information on training or employment programmes;
a Redundancy Information Pack for each individual containing information on services, programmes, child and working tax credits, jobsearch information and local opportunity information.
Facilitation of a Training Needs Analysis by North West Regional College to determine the training needs of the workforce and identification of appropriate courses/training to re-skill or up-skill employees.
The possibility of holding a Jobs Fair in the spring has also been discussed with Seagate and the company was quite positive. The local council has also indicated its willingness to assist in this regard.
Invest NI will also concentrate its efforts in encouraging prospective investors, both externally and locally-owned, to actively consider the area as a location for future investment.

Invest NI remains strongly committed to the North West region, where there have been high levels of activity and investment during the past five years. It has offered financial assistance of £95 million in support of 1,965 projects in the North West, levering a total investment commitment of £432 million. The first phase of the North West Action Plan has delivered positive economic impacts. For instance, the Timber Quay building in Londonderry, which received substantial financial assistance, has been an outstanding success. This has now been fully let and has proven to be a catalyst for further private sector development in the city. In the last 18 months alone, we have also seen major investment commitments by key global companies such as Fujitsu, Northbrook and Firstsource.

Job Creation

Mr P Weir asked the Minister of Enterprise, Trade and Investment to detail the number of jobs that have been created in Northern Ireland, with the support of Invest NI, since the restoration of devolution on 8 May 2007.

(AQO 820/08)

Mr N Dodds: Since 8 May 2007, 899 new jobs have been promoted through inward-investment projects supported by Invest NI. These include 402 jobs in Fujitsu Services and 149 in Bank of Ireland Security Services.

In addition, the Northern Ireland Start a Business Programme, which is provided by Invest NI in partnership with Enterprise Northern Ireland offered assistance to 1,504 individuals to start their own business. The expected employment associated with these is around 2,000.Although Invest NI does not measure the number of jobs promoted in relation to its support for existing indigenous businesses, it is important to note that this element of the agency’s work will also ultimately lead to greater wealth creation and better employment opportunities. An excellent example is the recent Norbrook investment in Newry, which promises to deliver almost 300 high quality jobs. Northern Ireland has made a considerable improvement in its labour market performance. The unemployment rate, at 3.8%, is the lowest of all the UK regions and the current number of employee jobs, 718,190, is the highest on record.

Research and Development

Mr S Moutray asked the Minister of Enterprise, Trade and Investment what steps he is taking to encourage small and medium sized enterprises to invest more resources in research and development.

(AQO 829/08)

Mr N Dodds: Invest NI continues to use all available media channels to raise awareness and promote the benefits of business-related R&D. These include client testimonials, editorial, press releases and case studies showcasing client success.

Invest NI offers a wide range of advice and financial incentives to encourage the local business community to increase their investment in R&D, product and process development, and technology-transfer. It is seeking European approval to enhance its portfolio of R&D schemes in line with the new EU State Aid Guidelines. This will provide an opportunity to increase the range of interventions that can be delivered to small and medium sized enterprises. For example, a small business will qualify for up to 45% of cost incurred to carry out near-market product or process development. In addition, a 15% bonus is available for project collaboration. These rates may be further enhanced if an SME undertakes "industrial research". In these circumstances, an SME will qualify for up to 70% of costs incurred with an additional 10% available for collaboration.Under the EU Structural Funds ‘Competitiveness & Employment Programme 2007 to 2013’, over £150M of EU and Invest NI support will be specifically directed towards research and technological development activities in Northern Ireland, further demonstrating our long term commitment to investment in R&D.The Executive has also made a commitment to increase Invest NI’s R&D budget from £18 million in 2007/08 to £22 million in 2010/11.

Creative Arts Industry

Mr J Craig asked the Minister of Enterprise, Trade and Investment to outline the support that Invest NI is giving to the creative arts industry in Northern Ireland.

(AQO 828/08)

Mr N Dodds: The creative arts industry encompasses a range of sectors including software development, architecture and the performing arts.

Invest NI’s sectoral priorities within the industry are software development, digital content, film & television, and music.

In the three years to 31 March 2007, Invest NI provided 68 offers of financial assistance totalling £20 million to its clients in this industry. This in turn leveraged an additional £72m of private sector investment.

In addition, in the four years to 31^st March 2007, Invest NI provided £10.7 million to support the Northern Ireland Screen Commission’s strategy for the development of the local film and television industry. A further £12.4 million has been approved to support its costs over the next three years.

Invest NI support for the music sector is channelled through the Northern Ireland Music Industry Commission. In January 2007, Invest NI and the Arts Council for Northern Ireland jointly supported the Northern Ireland Music Industry Commission’s three-year business skills development programme ‘Music, It’s The Business’. Invest NI has also provided additional support for the export marketing activities of the Northern Ireland Music Industry Commission.

Invest NI also supports the activities of Craft NI and will continue to consider support for individual export-focused creative businesses that meet its eligibility criteria.

United States of America/Northern Ireland Investment Conference

Mr I McCrea asked the Minister of Enterprise, Trade and Investment to provide an update on the preparations for the United States of America/Northern Ireland Investment Conference in 2008; and to detail the key objectives of this conference.

(AQO 831/08)

Mr N Dodds: My Department and Invest NI are actively planning for this conference.

On 15 and 16 October 2007, along with the First Minister and deputy First Minister, I welcomed an inward mission of 17 US companies led by US Ambassadors Tuttle from London and Foley from Dublin. The visit provided an opportunity to acknowledge the importance of US investment to the development of the NI economy and to demonstrate that we are "open for business" in preparation for the investment conference to be held in Belfast next year. The feedback from all who participated in the visit was very positive and they were impressed with the Northern Ireland business messages and the solutions we can provide for international businesses.

Last week, to follow up the Ambassadors’ visit to Northern Ireland, I travelled to the East Coast of the United States. During this visit, I met with key business and political stakeholders, including Paula Dobriansky at the State Department. This allowed me to successfully raise the profile of the conference and to encourage senior business executives to participate. When the First Minister and deputy First Minister visit the United States early next month, they too will take the opportunity to reinforce this message.

In addition, the US Administration has plans to bring one further inward delegation to Northern Ireland, probably in February 2008. Arrangements are still to be finalised for this future visit.

The key objective of the conference will be to showcase a new Northern Ireland, governed by a stable Devolved Administration, that is pro-business and pro-active in meeting the needs of international business.

Enterprise Promotion

Mr A Bresland asked the Minister of Enterprise, Trade and Investment what steps he is taking to promote enterprise in areas of higher unemployment and with higher levels of social deprivation.

(AQO 819/08)

Mr N Dodds: Invest NI has a number of programmes that specifically seek to promote enterprise in areas of higher unemployment and social deprivation. This includes providing assistance and advice to business via the Start a Business Programme, the Social Entrepreneurship Programme and the Export Start scheme, alongside support to existing client companies within such areas. Invest NI has also had the opportunity to pilot a number of projects on the theme of Exploring Enterprise in areas of high deprivation through the Renewing Communities Action Plan. This work consists of a comprehensive package of pre-start support and advice. It is aimed at encouraging a greater awareness of and participation in enterprise in targeted areas in East, South and North Belfast, the Greater Shankill area and Rathcoole.

Invest NI also uses other initiatives to proactively promote areas of disadvantage. Invest NI’s land acquisition strategy, for example, involves intervention in the commercial property market to develop land for industrial use in areas where there is clear evidence of market failure. Traditionally these tend to be areas of high unemployment and social deprivation.

Invest NI has also sought, with some success, to encourage potential inward investors to consider locating in nTSN areas. Between 2002 and 2007, 74% of first-time inward investment projects assisted by Invest NI located in nTSN areas. In addition, 50% of all the financial assistance offered by the agency during this period was to clients located in such areas.

However, it is important to note that, in the delivery of its broader programmes, the majority of Invest NI’s assistance is demand-led and does not have a specific geographical focus.

Job Promotion

Mr D Hilditch asked the Minister of Enterprise, Trade and Investment to detail the number of jobs promoted in the software, information, communication and technology sectors in Northern Ireland in the past year.

(AQO 807/08)

Mr N Dodds: During the financial year 2006/07 Invest NI offered £5.95 million of assistance to 9 inward-investment projects in the software, information, communication and technology sectors. This leveraged a total investment commitment of £43.3 million, promoted 604 new jobs and secured 33 existing jobs.

Job Creation

Ms A Lo asked the Minister of Enterprise, Trade and Investment if he will confirm that the target to create 6,500 new jobs, as set out in PSA 3, is a net or gross figure; and to indicate the comparable targets for creating new jobs from indigenous businesses.

(AQO 860/08)

Mr N Dodds: The target is a gross figure and relates to jobs promoted as a result of financial assistance offered to support mobile inward investment projects from Invest NI’s externally-owned clients. The £1.2 billion overall investment target proposed in PSA 1 includes the investment associated with promoting the 6,500 FDI jobs. The inclusion of a specific job target for inward investment activity provides a common national and regional measurement of performance.

There is no comparable job target for indigenous businesses, defined as Invest NI’s locally-owned clients. Invest NI’s primary focus is to contribute to improving Northern Ireland’s manufacturing and private services productivity. It has been set challenging targets as described in PSA 1.

These include measurements relating to growth in a number of priority areas.

In relation to sales and exports, we aim to:

maintain the Compound Annual Growth Rate in external sales per employee of 6% for Invest NI manufacturing clients;

increase the growth rate for Invest NI tradable service clients to 4% by the end of the three year planning cycle;

increase, by 3 percentage points, export sales as a percentage of total sales by Invest NI client companies, excluding the top 25 exporting companies.

A target of £345m for total annual wages and salaries has been set to reflect growth from locally-owned clients and inward investment successes.

In relation to innovation activity, we will aim to increase the Business Expenditure on Research and Development Compound Annual Growth Rate by 8% in Invest NI client companies with less than 250 employees and 5% in client companies with more than 249 employees.

These targets are more appropriate than job-related targets for locally-owned companies, as improvements in these measures are an indication of higher levels of business competitiveness; which in turn will lead to greater wealth creation and better employment opportunities.

The extent of Invest NI’s engagement with locally-owned indigenous businesses is demonstrated by the fact that, during the past five years, £339 million of financial assistance was offered in support of development projects provided by locally-owned clients. This represents 53.5% of the total assistance offered by the agency during that period.

Tourism

Mr F Cobain asked the Minister of Enterprise, Trade and Investment what action he is taking, in conjunction with the Northern Ireland Tourist Board, to develop a marketing strategy to offer alternative key visitor attractions in Belfast city centre, following the closure of Belfast City Hall and the Ulster Museum.

(AQO 883/08)

Mr N Dodds: Whilst recognising the importance of Belfast City Hall and the Ulster Museum to tourism in Belfast, I should remind the Member that marketing the city is the primary responsibility of Belfast City Council and the Belfast Visitor and Convention Bureau.

However, officials from my Department and from the Northern Ireland Tourist Board recently met representatives from the Council and the Convention Bureau to discuss a range of issues including the closure of these attractions. The Council and the Convention Bureau have undertaken to encourage other attractions in Belfast to consider, for example, opening out of season, or extending their opening times, in order that visitors can still find plenty to do in the city while the City Hall and the Ulster Museum are closed for refurbishment. Added to the list of places to visit in Belfast are a number of new attractions which have opened this year, including Thompson Dock, Titanic Tours and the Nomadic.

While the City Hall is being refurbished the Waterfront Hall, Malone House and Belfast Castle will be available for functions ranging from small scale events to conferences. The grounds of the City Hall will also stay open for visitors and events, including the popular Christmas Continental Market and the Belfast Big Wheel.

With regard to the Ulster Museum, National Museums have put in place a significant outreach programme designed to continue engagement with existing audiences of the Museum, taking the artefacts to the people. This outreach programme includes numerous venues in the Belfast area. In addition, a full marketing and communication plan has been in operation since the Ulster Museum closed. This has included coverage on TV and radio and the distribution of over 160,000 events and exhibition booklets.

The Northern Ireland Tourist Board also continues to support the Belfast Welcome Centre and the two information desks at the Belfast International Airport and George Best Belfast City Airport. The Tourist Information staff at these locations are fully informed about alternative visitor attractions available and can recommend a choice of experiences to visitors.

Broadband for Businesses

Mr A Ross asked the Minister of Enterprise, Trade and Investment what is his assessment of the current availability of broadband for businesses in Northern Ireland.

(AQO 826/08)

Mr N Dodds: Broadband access with speeds of no less than 512 kilo bits per second have been available to all of Northern Ireland since December 2005. This includes every business in Northern Ireland and is delivered via telephone lines, wireless or satellite services. Over 99% of broadband services are delivered by telephone wires or cable TV systems. Less than 1% of broadband services are delivered by wireless systems including satellite. Customers can often choose from more than one provider.

Tourism

Mr R Newton asked the Minister of Enterprise, Trade and Investment what action he is taking to achieve his goals of increasing the number of tourists visiting Northern Ireland to 2.5 million; and increasing tourist revenue to £520 million per year by 2011.

(AQO 830/08)

Mr N Dodds: Increasing the number of tourists to Northern Ireland is a key priority for my Department. The Draft Budget 2008 to 2011 provides increased indicative allocations for tourism which will be key to increasing the number of visitors to 2.5 million and the amount they spend to £520 million by 2011.

The indicative allocations for the next three years for the Northern Ireland Tourist Board are £44.6 million resource and £47.6 million capital. The indicative allocation for Tourism Ireland for the same period is £48.8 million.

Subject to the outcome of the Draft Budget, this funding will be used to enhance still further Northern Ireland’s diverse tourism product. This will include investment in tourism infrastructure across Northern Ireland and working with key partners to bring the five tourism Signature Projects to a successful conclusion. This investment in tourism infrastructure will be underpinned by increased investment in Visitor Servicing, so ensuring that visitors are well looked after during their stay and thus encouraged to return.

The Northern Ireland Tourist Board and Tourism Ireland Ltd will also continue to market Northern Ireland energetically in the Republic of Ireland, Great Britain and overseas.

Tourism

Mr S Hamilton asked the Minister of Enterprise, Trade and Investment to detail what progress is being made in relation to Tourism Ireland's brand review.

(AQO 824/08)

Mr N Dodds: Tourism Ireland is finalising a report on the review of the island of Ireland tourism brand. Findings will be launched to the tourism industry on 29 November 2007. The findings will inform marketing activity in 2008 and the years to come.

United States of America/Northern Ireland Investment Conference

Mr D Ford asked the Minister of Enterprise, Trade and Investment to provide an update on plans for the United States of America/Northern Ireland Investment Conference in 2008.

(AQO 859/08)

Mr N Dodds: My Department and Invest NI are actively planning for this conference.

Last week, following up the Ambassadors visit to Northern Ireland, I travelled to the East Coast of the United States. During this visit, I met with key business and political stakeholders, including Paula Dobriansky at the State Department. This allowed me to successfully raise the profile of the conference and to encourage senior business executives to participate. When the First Minister and deputy First Minister visit the United States early next month, they too will take the opportunity to reinforce this message.

In addition, the US Administration has plans to bring one further inward delegation to Northern Ireland, probably in February 2008. Arrangements are still to be finalised for this future visit.

The key objective of the conference will be to showcase a new Northern Ireland governed by a stable Devolved Administration that is pro-business and pro-active in meeting the needs of international business.

Environment

Office Meetings

Mr J Wells asked the Minister of the Environment to detail the number of office meetings that have taken place in (i) Fermanagh District Council area; (ii) Omagh District Council area; (iii) Magherafelt District Council area; (iv) Cookstown District Council area; (v) Newry and Mourne District Council area; (vi) Dungannon and South Tyrone Borough Council area; (vii) Banbridge District Council area; (viii) Down District Council area; (ix) Ards Borough Council area; and (x) Lisburn City Council area, since 1 September 2006.

(AQW 1407/08)

The Minister of the Environment (Mrs A Foster): The number of office meetings that have taken place with the various district councils since 1 September 2006 are shown in the attached table. While there is a wide variation in the number of meetings held per district council, the numbers do not reflect the differing workload pressures, the different types of application considered and the differences in the quality of the information submitted from one district/Division to another.

Office Meetings Held
District Council	Number of meetings
Fermanagh	349
Omagh	411
Magherafelt	281
Cookstown	212
Newry & Mourne	58
Dungannon & South Tyrone	322
Banbridge	45
Down	5
Ards	6
Lisburn	25

Planning Applications

Mr J Wells asked the Minister of the Environment to detail the number of (i) outline; (ii) reserved matters; and (iii) full planning applications for single dwellings in the countryside, submitted after 16 March 2006, that have been approved.

(AQW 1408/08)

Mrs A Foster: The number of approved outline, reserved matters and full applications are shown in the table below.

No of Approvals for Single Rural Dwellings Received since 17^th March 2006 and approved up to 30^th September 2007
Outline	Reserved Matters	Full
272	1,257	1,146

Road Construction at Strathern Manor, Newcastle

Mr J Wells asked the Minister of the Environment if she will provide an update on progress made by the Planning Service, in relation to investigations into the road constructed at Strathern Manor on the Tollymore Road, Newcastle on 1 October 2007.

(AQW 1409/08)

Mrs A Foster: Following a site inspection carried out by officers from the Downpatrick Divisional Planning Office enforcement team on 1 October 2007, it was concluded that the works were to lay an access between Strathearn Manor and lands to the south of No. 8 Tollymore Road, Newcastle. The works do not affect trees covered by a Tree Preservation Order.

The contractor on site provided a copy of a certificate issued by DRD Roads Service in respect of a temporary access 'for site investigation' purposes but an application for planning permission has not been received.

Further investigations were carried out including consultations with Roads Service culminating in warning letters being issued to the current developer and the original developer of the Strathearn Manor site as the last known owner of the land affected by the unauthorised works.

The letters require the removal of the material deposited and the restoration of the land by 7th December 2007.

Planning Policy Statement 14

Mr T Clarke asked the Minister of the Environment if she will provide an update on her department's progress on amending Planning Policy Statement 14: Sustainable Development in the Countryside, since it assumed responsibility for this issue.

(AQW 1430/08)

Mrs A Foster: As indicated I intend to bring forward a new draft PPS 14 within 6 months. The first meeting of the Executive Subcommittee charged with reviewing PPS 14 was held on Monday 12 November 2007. This meeting was constructive and productive and we have made an excellent start to the review by considering a range of policy options.

Comprehensive Spending Review

Mr D Ford asked the Minister of the Environment to detail her department's bids in relation to the Comprehensive Spending Review; and to report on what degree of funding has been allocated against them in the draft Budget 2008/11.

(AQW 1449/08)

Mrs A Foster: The attached table details the Department’s bids in relation to Budget 2007 as well as the additional funding allocated to the various bids.

Priorities and Budget 2007 - Resource Allocations

	Bid Order	Total Bids			Bids met from Resource Allocations			Variance between allocations and bids
Spending Proposal		2008-09	2009-10	2010-11	2008-09	2009-10	2010-11	2008-09	2009-10	2010-11

Road Safety Services- new initiatives/partnerships to reduce number of road casualties	1	800	1,600	1,600	500	1,200	1,600	-300	-400	0
Enhanced Road Transport Compliance (Driver & Vehicle Agency) to improve road safety	1	780	1,395	1,670	780	1,395	1,670	0	0	0
Enforcement and better Regulation for environmental protection	2	870	1,255	1,980	770	1,255	1,980	-100	0	0
Implementation of reform within the Planning Service	3	950	980	1,115	2,150	150	250	1,200	-830	-865
Costs associated with the Programme Delivery Support Unit	4	600	600	800	200	600	800	-400	0	0
Cost of Implementing RPA - Planning Service & Local Government- to address issues such as finance, estates, shared services	5	4,450	5,500	8,150	-	800	5,000	-4,450	-4,700	-3,150
Emergency Planning for NI Civil Contingencies Programme - Grant to District Councils	6	700	700	700	-	700	700	-700	0	0
Costs to put in place a regime to deal with waste and contaminated land	7	1,500	1,500	1,500	-	400	1,000	-1,500	-1,100	-500
Subtotal		10,650	13,530	17,515	4,400	6,500	13,000	-6,250	-7,030	-4,515
Marker bids
Waste Management (100% funded from central government) (1)	8	33,345	53,293	52,761	-	-	-	-33,345	-53,293	-52,761
Illegal dumping - for the removal and disposal of waste from the RoI (2)	9	8,200	5,200	2,600	-	-	-	-8,200	-5,200	-2,600
Overall Total		52,195	72,023	72,876	4,400	6,500	13,000	-47,795	-65,523	-59,876

Notes:

(1) The waste management funding is now being addressed through the ISNI.

(2) These are estimated costs and are dependant upon whether or not the Department is liable for a third of the overall removal and disposal costs.

Planning Applications

Mr J Wells asked the Minister of the Environment to outline the criteria used by her department when assessing requests from district councils for (i) site meetings; and (ii) office meetings, to discuss individual planning applications; and if she will confirm whether or not this criteria is applied uniformly across Northern Ireland.

(AQW 1520/08)

Mrs A Foster: The criteria used by my Department when assessing requests from district Councils for site meetings and office meetings to discuss individual planning applications are set out in guidance on the new procedures issued to Councils in November 2006. These are:

Applications which clarify the interpretation of a newly published or previously untested planning policy or where there is a lack of specific policy;
Applications which involve a departure from the Regional Development Strategy or a development plan or a draft development plan;

Applications which have significant environmental impact, requiring the submission of an Environmental Impact Statement;
Applications which have generated strong local/neighbourhood objections based on valid planning concerns; and
Where the council considers that all material planning considerations have not been assessed or where the opinion has been made contrary to, or departs from, prevailing planning policy.

In these cases, the planning opinion presented to Council will have been based on a full and proper assessment of the proposal having regard to all relevant material considerations. When these new procedures were introduced, guidance was issued to Chief Executives of Councils and Divisional Planning Managers and a circular issued to Planning Service staff giving advice on their operation.

Meetings to discuss deferred applications will be office-based unless, exceptionally, and again where there are clear planning reasons, the meeting needs to take place at the location of the proposed development because the issues to be raised can only be properly considered there.

I would confirm that these criteria are being applied uniformly across Northern Ireland.

Apartment Planning Approval

Mr J Wells asked the Minister of the Environment to detail the number of apartments that have received planning approval in each of the last seven years.

(AQW 1521/08)

Mrs A Foster: I regret the current system of electronic data retrieval – 20/20 – does not record applications in sufficient detail to provide the information requested. To provide accurate figures for the years in question could only be done by manual search of all our existing file and this would not be available in the time and would incur disproportionate costs.

It may be helpful to note that the new electronic system - ePIC – which is due to be introduced during 2008 will be able to store and retrieve such data.

Draft Banbridge/Newry and Mourne Area Plan 2015

Mr D Bradley asked the Minister of the Environment to provide a date for the commencement of the Public Inquiry into the Draft Banbridge/Newry and Mourne Area Plan 2015.

(AQW 1586/08)

Mrs A Foster: The Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) which accompanied the Draft Banbridge/Newry & Mourne Area Plan has been the subject of a judicial challenge. The challenge raised issues similar to those that were the subject of the rulings handed down by the High Court on 7 September and 13 November 2007 in respect of the Draft Northern and Magherafelt Area Plans. The Department, in consultation with our legal advisors, is currently considering the implications of this judgement.

However, in light of the ongoing judicial challenge to this draft Area Plan, it is not currently possible to indicate when Planning Service will be in a position to request the Planning Appeals Commission to hold an independent examination into the objections to the Draft Banbridge/Newry & Mourne Area Plan.

Planning Applications

Mr P Ramsey asked the Minister of the Environment to detail the total number of planning applications for, or including, wind turbines that are currently in the system; and to detail the capacity for generating electricity of each of these turbines.

(AQW 1598/08)

Mrs A Foster: There are 38 current planning applications for windfarms/turbines (to specifically provide energy for the National Grid) with the potential to produce a total of 1038.45MW. The majority of turbines proposed in windfarm applications are 2 to 3 MW in size.

Proposed Wind Farms

Application No.	Location	No. Turbines	Capacity
M/2003/0999	Slieve Beagh	12	30 MW
L/2004/0472/F	Tullinoid	9	15.75 MW
A/2004/1130/F	Slieve Kirk	25	75 MW
A/2004/1243/F	Curryfree	8	13.2 MW (Max)
L/2004/2483/F	Old Barr, Derrygonnelly	11	22 MW
J/2005/0104/F	Tievenameenta	22	66 MW
J/2005/0211/F	Carrikatane, Tyrone/Londonderry	15	45 MW
L/2005/0377/F	Belmore, Co. Fermanagh	10	30 MW
K/2005/0387/F	Hunter’s Hill, Co. Tyrone	8	13.2 MW
J/2005/0213/F	Gortmonly, Co. Tyrone	6	18 MW
A/2005/0223/F	Eglish, Co. Londonderry	9	27 MW

K/2005/0810/F	Screggagh, Co. Tyrone	8	18.4 MW
U/2005/0281/F	Drumadarragh, Co. Antrim	7	16.1 MW
K/2005/1786/F	Thornog	4	9.2 MW
L/2005/3070/F	Ora More	13	29.9 MW
K/2006/0074	Crockdun	9	27 MW
K/2006/0164/F	Altamooskin	6	12 MW
K/2006/0242/F	Cregganconroe	8	16 MW
U/2006/0054/F	Carn Hill	11	22 MW
D/2006/0104/F	Long Mountain	16	36.8 MW
K/2006/1089	Gortfinbar	8	24 MW
L/2006/1553/F	Extension to Tappaghan	8	12MW
K/2006/1368/F	Pollnalaght	14	42MW
L/2006/1197	Gortgall, Boho	8	18.4 MW
J/2006/0840/F	Altgolan, Castlederg	13	39MW
J/2006/0883/F	Seegronan, Castlederg	9	27MW
G/2006/0754/F	Elginny Hill, Broughshane	22	44MW
M/2006/1802/F	Eshmore, Tyrone	7	21MW
K/2006/1793/F	Inishative, Omagh	8	24MW
T/2006/0832/F	Corby Knowe, Kells	3	9MW
M/2006/1754/F	Slatbeg	9	20.7MW
G/2006/0842/F	Rathsherry	16	36.8MW
B/2006/0607/F	Glenconway	13	30MW
K/2006/1934/F	Castlecraig	25	75 MW
L/2006/2371/F	Ballyreagh, Tempo	1	2.5MW
B/2007/0006/F	Altahullion Phase III	15	34.5MW
D/2006/0599/F	Glenbuck II	5	15MW
K/2007/0547/F	Clunahill	7	21MW
TOTAL: 38		408	1038.45MW

Planning Applications

Mr P Ramsey asked the Minister of the Environment to detail the average timescale for processing a planning application for a large scale (over 0.5mw) wind turbine; and the number of applications that have been (i) approved; and (ii) refused, in each of the last five years.

(AQW 1603/08)

Mrs A Foster: The average processing time for the determination of wind turbine applications (for the National Grid) in the last 5 years has been 22 months. The length of time taken to determine planning applications is very much dependent on the quality of submissions. Poor quality submissions result in protracted processing times. The majority of windfarm planning applications require the submission of further environmental information that is lacking in the original submission. The time taken by an applicant to submit further environmental information can cause the processing time of an application to extend; in extreme examples, beyond two years. Of the 19 planning applications approved within the last 5 years, 17 required the submission of further information.

(i) The number of applications approved in the last five years are detailed in the table below.

Year	No. of windfarms approved
2003	3
2004	1
2005	3
2006	4
2007 (at 14.11.2007)	8
Total approved in last 5 years	19

(ii) Two applications have been refused in the same period and one of these was allowed on appeal.

Planning Applications

Mrs I Robinson asked the Minister of the Environment to detail (i) the date on which Planning Service closed the file on planning application X/2006/0744/F, prior to the matter being brought to Ards Borough Council; (ii) whether or not the file was subsequently reopened, and, if so, the date on which this took effect; and (iii) what opportunities were provided for those opposed to the application to submit further information, following the initial closure of the file.

(AQW 1607/08)

Mrs A Foster: Planning Service did not close the file on planning application X/2006/0744/F prior to the matter being brought to Council. Planning Service is not in a position to refuse to accept information sent in the post by an agent acting on the instructions of an applicant. Planning Service is obliged to place the information on the file, in the interests of openness and transparency and to ensure that the file fully reflects the manner in which the application has been processed. The information submitted by the agent was placed on the file. The content of the submission was not considered. Planning Service gave an undertaking to the Member that the application would be presented to Council and that the late submission of information would not halt that process. Planning Service have fulfilled that undertaking.

Following on from the response given above, since the file was not closed it was not necessary to reopen the file. The Council met and took a view to agree with the opinion presented by Planning Service. The Member will be aware that if Planning Service were to proceed to a decision without having taken account of all material considerations, there would remain the possibility that the legality of that decision could be challenged. For that reason, Planning Service has consulted with the Environmental Health Officer at Ards Borough Council with regard to the content of that late submission by the applicant. Planning Service awaits a response to the consultation.If it is the view of the consultee that this information has the potential to contribute to the consideration of the application the consultation process will be reopened.If the information submitted is considered to be a material consideration, those opposed to the application will be given every opportunity to view the information and to make their views known.

Waste to Energy Incinerator Plants

Mr P Butler asked the Minister of the Environment what plans she has to establish waste to energy incinerator plants in Northern Ireland; where these plants are likely to be located; and if she will give an assurance that public inquiries will be conducted in relation to such proposals.

(AQW 1615/08)

Mrs A Foster: Waste to Energy or Energy from Waste (EfW) plants form an integral part of the mix of technologies for waste management.

Waste disposal is a local government responsibility and ultimately the decision on the location of any such plants lies with the district councils and their respective Waste Management Groups.

It is not possible to determine the need for a public inquiry until Planning Service receives an application for an EfW facility. If the application is classed as major, under Article 31 of the Planning (Northern Ireland) Order 1991, the Department may cause a public local inquiry to be held by the Planning Appeals Commission (PAC) for the purposes of considering objections/representations to the proposal.

Ulster By-Products Factory, Glenavy

Mr P Butler asked the Minister of the Environment if she will investigate concerns about odours emanating from the Ulster By-Products factory, outside Glenavy.

(AQW 1617/08)

Mrs A Foster: The Ulster Farm By-Products operation has been regulated since November 2005 by the Environment and Heritage Service (EHS) through a permit issued under the Pollution Prevention and Control (NI) Regulations 2003.

My officials regularly inspect the operations at the site and investigate and respond to complaints from local residents. They also keep residents informed of work ongoing to further minimise the site’s environmental impact, in particular odour. Significant progress has been made in addressing the environmental impacts from this installation since 2005. Improvements have been instigated that have substantially reduced the visual and odour impacts from the operation. In line with the permit requirements, further investigation of other sources of odour on site is being carried out with recommendations due in early 2008.

Whilst rendering plants are inherently odorous operations, EHS will continue to work to ensure that the plant is effectively regulated and the resulting impacts are minimised as far as possible.

Illegal Waste

Mr T Gallagher asked the Minister of the Environment, pursuant to her answer to AQW 1306/08, to detail whether or not she has received the expected response from Dublin City Council, with a timetable for the repatriation of waste at the site specified.

(AQW 1665/08)

Mrs A Foster: My officials received the response from Dublin City Council on 5 November 2007 and are currently preparing a reply to deal with a number of issues raised. It is therefore not possible at present to speculate on a timetable for repatriation of the waste.

Giant's Causeway

Mr T Lunn asked the Minister of the Environment what is her assessment of the age of the Giant's Causeway.

(AQW 1693/08)

Mrs A Foster: Geologists generally agree that the Giant’s Causeway is some 60 million years old. As you will be aware, however, there are alternative views in relation to the age of the Giant’s Causeway.

Planning Applications

Mr C Boylan asked the Minister of the Environment to detail the number of planning applications in (i) Banbridge District Council area; and (ii) Newry and Mourne District Council area, that have been refused solely on the grounds of prematurity to the draft area plan.

(AQW 1729/08)

Mrs A Foster: The table below provides a break down of the number of applications in the Banbridge District Council area and Newry and Mourne District Council area that have been refused solely on the grounds of prematurity to the draft area plan from 1 January 2000 until 30 September 2007.

No of Planning Applications refused on the grounds of prematurity to the draft area plan
Banbridge District Council Area	Newry and Mourne District Council Area
170	321

Illegal Waste

Mr T Gallagher asked the Minister of the Environment, pursuant to her answer to AQW 1665/08, to detail the issues raised by Dublin City Council in its response to her Department on 5 November 2007.

(AQW 1842/08)

Mrs A Foster: For the two sites in question, Dublin City Council does not accept that the competent authorities of dispatch in the Republic of Ireland are fully responsible under the requirements of the relevant legislation to take back the waste nor does it accept that the evidence provided by the Environment and Heritage Service (EHS) is strong enough to indicate that all the waste came from the Republic of Ireland.

EHS is currently preparing a response to these issues.

All-Ireland Waste Enforcement Network

Mr T Gallagher asked the Minister of the Environment to detail the number of meetings of the All-Ireland Waste Enforcement Network that have been held since 8 May 2007; and to outline whether or not any other meetings are due to take place in 2007.

(AQO 822/08)

Mrs A Foster: My Department is not aware of a network of that name. However, my officials were invited to join the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Environmental Enforcement Network and are represented on two working groups. These groups focus on Transfrontier Shipment of Wastes and Unauthorised Waste Activity. The first group has met twice this year, and has no further meetings planned in 2007. The latter group has not met this year. Of course, North-South co-operation is not confined to these two groups.

Protection of the Irish Hare

Mr D Ford asked the Minister of the Environment if she will explain why the Game Preservation (Special Protection for Irish Hares) Order (Northern Ireland) 2007 is in force for only five months.

(AQO 845/08)

Mrs A Foster: The period of temporary protection provided under the Special Protection Order runs until the 31^st March 2008. From the 1^st April until the 12^th August each year a ‘close season’ operates for the hare and other game species. During this close season it is an offence to take, kill or trade in Irish hares. As such, there is no need for the SPO to duplicate the existing protection and the end of the period of temporary special protection is timed to coincide with the start of this close season.

Freedom of Information Requests

Mr S Gardiner asked the Minister of the Environment to outline the limits that apply to her department's release of information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

(AQO 809/08)

Mrs A Foster: Every public authority to which the Act applies, including my Department, is bound by its provisions.

Section 1 of the Act provides a general right of access to information by the public and every public authority is obliged to provide information on receipt of a request for information.

Compliance with that obligation is subject to a number of essential conditions being met – for example, the request must be in writing (including email) and must be clear as to the information sought.By virtue of section 12, it is possible to refuse to comply with a request for information if the cost involved in answering exceeds the "appropriate limit", currently £600, set by the Freedom of Information and Data Protection (Appropriate Limit and Fees) Regulations 2004. Section 14 also removes the obligation to comply with a request for information if the request is vexatious. The Information Commissioner has detailed guidelines on when this provision may be relied on.Most importantly, however, information may be refused if it falls within the terms of any of the exemptions set out in sections 21 to 44 of the Act. Some of the exemptions are "absolute" exemptions while majority may only be relied on if the balance of the public interest weighs in favour of withholding the information concerned.Any decision to refuse to comply with a request for information, whether wholly or partly, is subject to an appeal procedure also laid down in the Act. This includes an independent review by the Information Commissioner and, ultimately, the Information Tribunal.

Planning Process

Mr A McFarland asked the Minister of the Environment what plans she has to issue new guidelines for the transparent operation of the planning process, in relation to national heritage sites, national parks and environmentally sensitive sites.

(AQO 811/08)

Mrs A Foster: In relation to national heritage sites and environmentally sensitive sites, current planning policy is clearly set out in Planning Policy Statement 2 ‘Planning and Nature Conservation’ and Planning Policy Statement 6 ‘Planning, Archaeology and the Built Heritage’. The designation of any site through the development plan process is the subject of detailed public consultation. In the determination of planning applications, Planning Service operates an open and fully transparent process through the publication of relevant policy, the advertising of planning applications in the local press, neighbour notification, maintaining a public register of application details and the operation of an open file policy where any individual may inspect a planning application file either during the processing of the application or when it has been decided. I therefore see no need to issue new guidelines in this respect.

In terms of the designation of National Parks there would be a requirement for new legislation which would entail detailed public consultation.

Environmental Protection Agency

Ms C Hanna asked the Minister of the Environment what is her assessment of the extent of support in Northern Ireland for an independent environmental protection agency.

(AQO 842/08)

Mrs A Foster: Environmental Non Governmental Organisations support the concept of an environmental protection agency. However, built heritage interests are concerned by Review of Environmental Governance proposals that conservation and protection of our built heritage should be within the remit of such an agency. Ulster Farmers Union is concerned about the potential costs and possible additional bureaucracy and regulation of an agency.

European Union Directives on Waste

Mr D Kennedy asked the Minister of the Environment what is her assessment of whether or not Northern Ireland is prepared to implement European Union Directives on waste, and associated targets, in full.

(AQO 814/08)

Mrs A Foster: I am confident that Northern Ireland is prepared to implement European Union Directives on waste and their associated targets in line with our European Union obligations. EU Directive targets are generally set at Member State level. I am determined to ensure that Northern Ireland contributes fully to meeting those targets.

Waste Management

Mr G McHugh asked the Minister of the Environment what action she is taking to (a) encourage households to reduce plastic and other waste material; and (b) encourage retailers to reduce the amount of plastic packaging sold to the public in shops and supermarkets.

(AQO 839/08)

Mrs A Foster: The first strand of the NI Waste Management Strategy sets out a range of initiatives to be applied across all sectors with the aim of motivating behaviour change, that will contribute to waste reduction. Those initiatives include developing waste awareness campaigns, such as the "Wake up to Waste" campaign.

The Waste and Resources Action Programme, which is partly sponsored by my Department, is working closely with leading retailers across the UK who have signed up to the Courtauld Commitment to reduce the amount of packaging and food waste thrown away.

My Department is also proposing to increase the current recycling targets for certain types of packaging waste through revised producer responsibility regulations. The aim of these regulations is to encourage a reduction in packaging at the design stage.

Accident Black Spots

Rev Dr R Coulter asked the Minister of the Environment what discussions she has had with the Minister for Regional Development in identifying and dealing with accident black spots, where road configuration was a contributory factor in serious and fatal accidents.

(AQO 815/08)

Mrs A Foster: It is important to recognise that some 95% of road collisions are due to road users making errors of judgement or simply ignoring road traffic laws. Responsibility for dealing with collision clusters where road configuration might have contributed to fatal and serious collisions is a matter for the Department for Regional Development. While I have not met with Minister Murphy to discuss this specific issue, the Member may be aware that during the summer I met with the DRD Minister and an Assistant Chief Constable from the Police Service of Northern Ireland to instigate a review of the Road Safety Strategy. This will include consideration of further measures that can be put in place to reduce road traffic casualties to complement those that we know are already working.

Environmental Protection Agency

Mr T Lunn asked the Minister of the Environment if she will provide an update on progress in relation to implementing the Northern Ireland Assembly's resolution of 25 September 2007, on the introduction of an independent environmental protection agency.

(AQO 864/08)

Mrs A Foster: I am carefully considering my approach to environmental governance. In so doing I am taking account of the recommendations made by the Review of Environmental Governance, of resource implications and wider policy considerations and of points which stakeholders have raised. I am also taking full account of the Assembly debate on September 25.

Capital Budget

Dr S Farry asked the Minister of the Environment to make a statement on the sufficiency of her department's capital budget for the current year.

(AQO 846/08)

Mrs A Foster: The outcome of the October Monitoring Round has provided my department with a capital budget £13.6m which is sufficient to meet the capital requirement’s for the current year.

Environmental Protection Agency

Mr B McCrea asked the Minister of the Environment to outline the volume and percentage of work currently undertaken by her department, that would be removed if an independent environmental protection agency was established.

(AQO 808/08)

Mrs A Foster: The Review of Environmental Governance proposed that the functions of the Environment and Heritage Service should be moved to an independent environmental protection agency. Environment and Heritage Service expenditure for 2007-2008 is expected to be £54 m, which is 40% of the anticipated DOE total of £135m. It’s capital investment this year will be £1.7m, 17% of the DOE total of £9.8m.

Eco-Tourism

Mr B Armstrong asked the Minister of the Environment what discussions she has had with the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Investment, in relation to identifying and promoting eco-tourism opportunities across Northern Ireland.

(AQO 812/08)

Mrs A Foster: I have had no direct discussions with the Minister for Enterprise Trade and Investment in relation to identifying and promoting eco-tourism opportunities across Northern Ireland.

My Department does however support a number of organisations who deliver eco-tourism projects such as the canoe trails in Lough Erne.My Department has also contributed expertise and funded officers to guide the delivery of the Natural Resources Rural Tourism Initiative.

Wildlife (Northern Ireland) Order 1985

Mr K McCarthy asked the Minister of the Environment to make a statement on progress on updating the Wildlife (Northern Ireland) Order 1985.

(AQO 851/08)

Mrs A Foster: A policy consultation document on proposals for updating and amending the Wildlife Order has been prepared and I will shortly be seeking the formal agreement of the Executive Committee to publish the document. Subject to the approval of the Executive Committee, I would anticipate the document will be published in January.

Finance and Personnel

Response to Correspondence

Mrs I Robinson asked the Minister of Finance and Personnel to detail the longest period of time his department has taken to provide a full response to a letter received from (i) a Member of Parliament; (ii) a Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly; (iii) a Councillor; and (iv) a member of the public, since March 2007.

(AQW 1332/08)

The Minister of Finance and Personnel (Mr P Robinson): The longest period of time the department has taken to provide a full response to a letter received from a Member of Parliament is 13 working days; a Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly, 21 working days; a Councillor, 21 working days; and a member of the public, 43 working days.

Each of these correspondence necessitated lengthy research and analysis and/or third party agreement in order to address fully the questions asked. It is working practise in such cases for the department to issue an interim reply.

Ministerial Cars

Mr J Dallat asked the Minister of Finance and Personnel to detail whether or not instructions have been given to drivers of Ministerial cars to ensure that car engines are switched off when vehicles are not in use, to prevent pollution and unnecessary consumption of fuel resources.

(AQW 1549/08)

Mr P Robinson: All Ministerial vehicles are driven by highly experienced staff who are well aware of the Executives commitment to reduce pollution and promote sustainability. The need to switch off engines whilst waiting for prolonged periods is covered in the handbook issued to drivers when they join the Central Transport Unit. No further specific instructions on the issue have been given to drivers.

Departmental Legal Advisers

Mr D McKay asked the Minister of Finance and Personnel to outline the role of departmental legal advisers.

(AQW 1853/08)

Mr P Robinson: The Departmental Solicitor’s Office is a directorate within the Department of Finance and Personnel. The role of DSO is to support the NI Executive in its work by the provision of legal advice, services and representation.

Departmental Solicitors

Mr D McKay asked the Minister of Finance and Personnel if departmental solicitors have ever been used to examine statements made by an MLA.

(AQW 1854/08)

Mr P Robinson: The member’s question appears to arise from the same issue as questions which have been directed to the Minister for the Environment.

Clearly, in carrying out their duties as legal advisers to the Northern Ireland Departments, the Departmental Solicitor’s Office must be able to consider any relevant statements of MLAs, whether made in the Assembly or elsewhere.

Health, Social Services and Public Safety

Dermatology Units

Mr B Armstrong asked the Minister of Health, Social Services and Public Safety to detail what financial resources are available to each dermatology unit in Northern Ireland.

(AQW 1454/08)

The Minister of Health, Social Services and Public Safety (Mr M McGimpsey): The total planned recurrent spend on dermatology services for 2007/2008 within each Trust is as follows

Trust		Hospital Service	07/08
			£000
Belfast	Mater	Dermatology	33
	Belfast City Hospital	Dermatology	1,989
		Light Therapy treatment	322
	Royal	Dermatology	1,398

Western	Altnagelvin	Dermatology	1,529

Northern	Causeway	Dermatology	771
	United	Dermatology	1,060

Southern	Armagh & Dungannon	Dermatology	61
	Craigavon Area Hospital	Dermatology	1,549
	Down Lisburn	Dermatology	241
	Newry & Mourne	Dermatology	377

South Eastern	Down Lisburn	Dermatology	241
	Ulster	Dermatology	1,262

Total 2007/08 Planned Recurrent Spend on Dermatology Services 10,592

Home Assessments

Miss M McIlveen asked the Minister of Health, Social Services and Public Safety to detail the number of people currently on waiting lists to have their homes assessed by an occupational therapist in each parliamentary constituency in Northern Ireland.

(AQW 1557/08)

Mr M McGimpsey: Information on the number of people currently on waiting lists to have their homes assessed by an occupational therapist according to parliamentary constituency is not collected centrally. Information is, however, available on the number of people waiting for an Occupational Therapy Assessment in each Health and Social Care Trust, which is detailed in the Table overleaf, according to specific time bands.

At 30^th June 2007, 6,309 people were waiting for assessment by community occupational therapists. Of these, 29% had been waiting less than 1 month for assessment at 30^th June 2007, 33% had waited between 1 and 3 months, 28% had waited between 3 and 6 months, and 11% had waited 6 months or more.Information on assessments by occupational therapists is published quarterly in the publication ‘Assessments by Community Occupational Therapists in Northern Ireland’, and is available to view on the Departmental Internet site.

Persons Waiting for an Assessment by an Occupational Therapist at 30 June 2007, by Length of Time Waiting

HSC Trust	Less than 1 months		1 to 3 months		3 to 6 months		6 months or more		All persons waiting
HSC Trust	Number	%	Number	%	Number	%	Number	%	All persons waiting
Belfast HSC Trust	305	20%	522	35%	489	33%	184	12%	1,500
Northern HSC Trust	488	44%	325	29%	221	20%	68	6%	1,102
South Eastern HSC Trust	347	25%	386	28%	431	31%	220	16%	1,384
Southern HSC Trust	284	23%	454	37%	347	28%	147	12%	1,232
Western HSC Trust	379	35%	370	34%	253	23%	89	8%	1,091
Northern Ireland	1,803	29%	2,057	33%	1,741	28%	708	11%	6,309

Home Assessments

Miss M McIlveen asked the Minister of Health, Social Services and Public Safety to detail the average waiting time for a home assessment by an occupational therapist in each parliamentary constituency in Northern Ireland in each of the past five years.

(AQW 1558/08)

Mr M McGimpsey: Information on the average waiting time for a home assessment by an occupational therapist is not collected according to parliamentary constituency. Information is, however, available on completed waiting times for commencement of assessments by community occupational therapists by the old Health and Social Services Trusts, according to specific time bands.

Figures are categorised according to priority and non-priority cases. The number of persons in each time band is shown in Table 1 (priority cases) & Table 2 (non-priority cases) overleaf, for the years ending 30^th June, 2003 to 2007, where a year refers to the period 1^st July to 30^th June.During year ending 30^th June 2007, 54% of the 22,511 priority assessments commenced by occupational therapists started within 2 weeks of referral, 29% in 1 month or more, and 17% between 2 weeks and 1 month. During this period, 62% of the 17,940 non-priority assessments commenced by occupational therapists started within 3 months of referral, 25% in 6 months or more, and 13% between 3 and 6 months.

Parenting Strategy

Mr W Clarke asked the Minister of Health, Social Services and Public Safety what action he is taking to gather comprehensive statistics and data in relation to fathers' and childrens' experiences of parental involvement.

(AQW 1564/08)

Mr M McGimpsey: At present the DHSSPS does not collect statistics or data in relation to fathers’ and childrens’ experiences of parental involvement and, given other competing pressures, has no plans to do so.

The Department is taking forward the development of a family and parenting strategy, Families Matter, which highlights the vital role parents have in securing the best outcomes for their children and aims to ensure parents are supported in achieving this. This policy has been informed by extensive stakeholder engagement with relevant statutory, voluntary and community partners and from key research evidence highlighting the value of parental involvement in securing the best outcomes for children.The Department also encourages the promotion of fathers’ role in actively participating in their children’s lives through the provision of project funding to support Kickstart, a project that offers training, support and practical action to organisations seeking to engage with fathers in Northern Ireland.

Paediatric Occupational Therapy

Mrs N Long asked the Minister of Health, Social Services and Public Safety to make a statement on the current and future provision of paediatric occupational therapy at Oakwood special school, Belfast.

(AQW 1568/08)

Mr M McGimpsey: There are two paediatric Occupational Therapists at Oakwood Special School. However, the service is currently operating at a reduced level due to a member of staff working reduced hours. Normal service provision will resume with effect from December 2007. There are no plans to extend this service at the School.

Paediatric Occupational Therapy

Mrs N Long asked the Minister of Health, Social Services and Public Safety to make a statement on the general availability of paediatric occupational therapy across Northern Ireland.

(AQW 1573/08)

Mr M McGimpsey: Paediatric Occupational Therapy provision is available in schools and in a wide range of settings in the community for those children assessed as requiring occupational therapy. In addition, nine early intervention multidisciplinary teams, which include paediatric Occupational Therapists, have been established across Northern Ireland.

Paramedical Therapy Provision

Mrs N Long asked the Minister of Health, Social Services and Public Safety to indicate which body is responsible for informing parents in relation to any changes in paramedical therapy provision delivered to children with special needs in a school setting.

(AQW 1574/08)

Mr M McGimpsey: The responsibility for arranging therapy provision, when this forms part of special educational provision in a child’s statement of special educational needs, falls to the Education and Library Boards under The Education (Northern Ireland) Order 1996, but responsibility for providing the therapy rests with the DHSSPS through the Health and Social Services Boards and Trusts, as the employer of the therapists. In this instance responsibility for advising parents of any changes in the statement, such as speech and language therapy provision on the basis of advice received from a Health and Social Care Trust, lies with the Education and Library Board. For those children who do not have a statement of special educational needs, but who are receiving therapy provision, it is the responsibility of the local Health and Social Care Trust to advise parents of any changes in that provision.

Care Assistants

Mrs N Long asked the Minister of Health, Social Services and Public Safety to make a statement on the impact of rules regarding care assistants accompanying older people, or those with disabilities, for shopping, that dictate they must only go to the nearest available shop.

(AQW 1575/08)

Mr M McGimpsey: My Department has given no direction to the effect that care assistants accompanying older people or those with disabilities for shopping must go to the nearest shop, nor am I aware of any such rules within the health and social care sector. However, Health and Social Care Trusts have a duty to balance the needs and expectations of services users with the efficient use of the resources available, and in some instances this may mean that longer journeys are not the most cost-effective use of staff time.

Dementia

Mr J Dallat asked the Minister of Health, Social Services and Public Safety to detail the criteria that are applied to ensure that patients experiencing mild forms of dementia are not placed in care homes for patients suffering from advanced stages of dementia or Alzheimer's Disease.

(AQW 1590/08)

Mr M McGimpsey: Everyone who has dementia and who may be in need of care home provision will have an individual, multi-disciplinary, assessment of their needs. This assessment is conducted by a range of professionals and involves the physical, mental and social functioning of the person who has dementia. It will also take account of their carers’ and relatives’ needs. The assessment will determine if the person with dementia needs to be placed in a care home, and if so, the type that is best suited to meet their individual needs.

The physical needs and associated risk management of the person with dementia will often dictate the type of home best suited to their needs. This may mean that they will be best looked after in a home that supports people with varying degrees of dementia. Such mixed resident homes are expected to provide a safe and satisfactory care environment for all their residents.

Dementia

Mr J Dallat asked the Minister of Health, Social Services and Public Safety to detail the criteria that are applied by the Causeway Health and Social Services Trust to ensure that patients suffering from dementia are placed in residential care within a reasonable travel distance for visits from family and friends.

(AQW 1591/08)

Mr M McGimpsey: Every person with dementia within the new Northern Health and Social Care Trust, which embraces the old Causeway Health and Social Services Trust, who is in need of care home provision, will have an individual, multi-disciplinary, assessment of their needs. This will be conducted by a range of professionals who will consider the service user’s physical, mental and social functioning and will also take into account their carers’ and relatives’ needs. The assessment will determine if the person with dementia needs to be placed in a care home, and if so, the type that is best suited to meet their individual needs.

Service users and their carers will be offered a range of suitable care homes but these may be some distance from their family and friends, depending on the availability of the type of care required. While a reasonable travel distance is clearly very desirable and important to family and friends, the service users’ physical needs and safety must be the main priorities when considering where they can best receive the care they need.

Residential Care

Mr J Dallat asked the Minister of Health, Social Services and Public Safety to detail the number of elderly people in the Causeway Health and Social Services Trust area who have been placed in residential care more than 20 miles from their homes.

(AQW 1592/08)

Mr M McGimpsey: Information on the number of elderly patients placed in residential care more than 20 miles from their homes is not collected centrally.

Community Information Branch (CIB) within the Department of Health, Social Services & Public Safety, contacted the Northern Health & Social Care Trust to request this information. In response, the Northern HSC Trust stated that as of 14^th November 2007, nine elderly clients (including those with dementia) had been placed in a residential Home (Statutory / Independent) more than 20 miles from their home, in the old Causeway Health & Social Services Trust area.The Northern HSC Trust’s policy for service users with dementia who require residential care is to place them as close as possible to their friends and families. Service users and their carers will be offered a range of suitable care homes. However, depending on the availability of the type of care required, these may be some distance from their family and friends. Availability of the appropriate type of care will therefore determine the travel distances for friend and families.

Management Roles

Mr A Easton asked the Minister of Health, Social Services and Public Safety to detail the number of managers employed in the Down and Lisburn Trust and the Ulster Community and Hospital Trust, who were required to reapply for their posts when the two organisations merged.

(AQW 1618/08)

Mr M McGimpsey: Management roles within the new organisation are not the same jobs that existed in the previous structures. All management posts in the South Eastern Trust were filled by competition – to date 125 managers have been appointed.

Management Roles

Mr A Easton asked the Minister of Health, Social Services and Public Safety to detail the number of managers who were made redundant when the Down and Lisburn Trust and the Ulster Community and Hospital Trust merged.

(AQW 1619/08)

Mr M McGimpsey: There have been no compulsory redundancies as a result of the merger of the two Trusts. However, 4 managers have volunteered for early retirement and 4 have volunteered for redundancy.

Management Roles

Mr A Easton asked the Minister of Health, Social Services and Public Safety to detail the costs of all redundancy payments to managers, following the merger of the Down and Lisburn Trust and the Ulster Community and Hospital Trust.

(AQW 1620/08)

Mr M McGimpsey: In the South Eastern Trust, the cost of the redundancy element of the Voluntary Early Retirement and the Voluntary Redundancy scheme is £475,799 at 31 October 2007.

Management Roles

Mr A Easton asked the Minister of Health, Social Services and Public Safety to detail the number of managers who (i) were made redundant; and (ii) received redundancy payments following the merger of the Down and Lisburn Trust and the Ulster Community and Hospital Trust, and who were subsequently employed at another level within the health service.

(AQW 1621/08)

Mr M McGimpsey: There have been no compulsory redundancies as a result of the merger of the two Trusts. However, 4 managers have volunteered for premature retirement and 4 have volunteered for redundancy; all of these have received their statutory redundancy entitlement. Management at the South Eastern Trust advise that they are not aware that any of these managers have been subsequently employed at another level within the health service.

Coeliac Disease

Mr P McGlone asked the Minister of Health, Social Services and Public Safety, pursuant to his answer to AQW 553/08, to detail what research has been carried out by, or on behalf of, his department, into the increase in the number of people suffering from coeliac disease.

(AQW 1632/08)

Mr M McGimpsey: The Department has not carried out nor commissioned any research into the increase in the number of people diagnosed with coeliac disease. However, the Department is aware of research undertaken elsewhere which indicates that there has been an apparent increase in the incidence of coeliac disease over the past 30 years. It is unclear from the reported evidence whether this is due to a real increase in the number of cases, enhanced awareness of disease or more reliable serological testing.

Residential Care

Mr J Dallat asked the Minister of Health, Social Services and Public Safety what plans he has to ensure that elderly people who need residential care are placed in homes in their own communities.

(AQW 1641/08)

Mr M McGimpsey: In determining whether an elderly person requires residential care, Trusts are required to carry out a comprehensive, holistic assessment of need. This assessment will include physical, emotional, psychological and spiritual needs and in so doing will consider each client’s relationship with and proximity to family, friends, carers and their communities. Following assessment of need, all clients are entitled to a choice of accommodation; wherever possible, Trusts should arrange for the service user to be placed in their preferred accommodation.

Draft Sports Strategy

Mr P Ramsey asked the Minister of Health, Social Services and Public Safety what is his assessment of the health benefits of the draft sports strategy; and if he will make a statement on the level of commitment of his department to ensuring its delivery.

(AQW 1643/08)

Mr M McGimpsey: I have recently received a copy of the draft Strategy for Sport and Physical Recreation which sets the key strategic priorities for sport and physical recreation over the next ten years. It is at present under active consideration and a detailed response will be issued in due course.

In the interim, I am in principle, content to support the draft strategy.

Freedom of Information Requests

Mr G Robinson asked the Minister of Health, Social Services and Public Safety to detail the cost to his department of dealing with Freedom of Information requests, in each of the last five years.

(AQW 1647/08)

Mr M McGimpsey: The right to request information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 came into effect on 1 January 2005. The Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety, in common with all NI Departments, does not record the cost of dealing with Freedom of Information requests.

Cost Benefit Analysis

Mr P Ramsey asked the Minister of Health, Social Services and Public Safety to detail what cost benefit analysis his department has carried out to assess the savings to his department, as a result of public expenditure on sport and exercise.

(AQW 1649/08)

Mr M McGimpsey: My Department does not have direct responsibility for spending on sport and therefore has not routinely carried out cost benefit analysis on public expenditure on this area.

Some analysis has been done by my Department on the impact of physical inactivity. In 2003, the Department updated a piece of work for the Health Promotion Agency for Northern Ireland. This estimated the savings that could arise from a reduction in the proportion of physically inactive adults in Northern Ireland from 20% to 15% to be:

358 lives could be saved each year;£6m of direct cost savings to the local Health Service each year; and
190,000 sick days avoided each year.

The Departments for Education and Culture, Arts and Leisure also play key roles in promoting physical activity through sport and exercise.

Smoking Ban

Mr D Simpson asked the Minister of Health, Social Services and Public Safety if he will make a statement on adherence to the smoking ban in Northern Ireland.

(AQW 1672/08)

Mr M McGimpsey: I am pleased to say that strong public support for the introduction of smoke–free legislation on 30 April is reflected in the latest compliance figures available. During the 5 month period 30 April – 30 September 2007, over 26,000 premises were inspected by the enforcement authorities. The findings show 98% compliance with the "no-smoking" requirement and 95% compliance with the requirement to display appropriate signage.

Clostridium Difficile

Mr A McQuillan asked the Minister of Health, Social Services and Public Safety to detail the number of cases of clostridium difficile that have been treated at Antrim Area Hospital in each month for the last year; and what new steps are being taken to prevent the spread of such infections.

(AQW 1686/08)

Mr M McGimpsey: The number of cases of clostridium difficile reported at Antrim Area Hospital in the calendar year 2006 (the latest year available) is 106 and is broken down by month in the table below.

Month and Year	No. of cases of C. Difficile Reported at Antrim Area Hospital
January 2006	8
February 2006	8
March 2006	9
April 2006	8
May 2006	6
June 2006	6
July 2006	8
August 2006	13
September 2006	11
October 2006	14
November 2006	8
December 2006	7
Total	106

Source: Communicable Disease Surveillance Centre Northern Ireland (CDSC (NI)).There are a number of steps being taken to prevent the spread of infections. These include:

1. Mandatory surveillance and annually published figures on this infection. The Communicable Disease Surveillance Centre (CDSC) presently receives and collates data, which are regarded as key markers for the overall infection rates in hospitals.

2. In April this year the Department issued substantial guidance to the Health and Social Care family and this is available on the Department’s website. This highlights issues in relation to infection caused by C-Diff. It reminds healthcare workers of specific issues in relation to this infection, including the mandatory surveillance programme, policies and procedures and investigating outbreaks of Clostridium Difficile.

3. A million leaflets and posters were distributed to all Northern Ireland’s hospital wards and units in September 2007, specifically designed to advise patients, visitors and staff on how infections can be controlled and indeed prevented. These regional leaflets encourage everyone to use hand sanitisers and how best to wash your hands (and when hands should be washed as opposed to cleansed).

4. Various other steps have been taken to prevent the spread of such infections. These include the Changing the Culture strategy that was launched in 2006, with an Action Plan Implementation Group, to deliver the strategy and share good practice; the introduction of an Infection Control Manual by Southern Trust, which was sent to all Trusts on CD ROM; a target which proposes a 20% reduction in Clostridium difficile by end March ’09; commissioned 2^nd audit of environmental cleanliness standards; issued standards and guidance on numbers of isolation rooms; and issued guidance on the use of antibiotics.

Review of Public Administration

Mrs I Robinson asked the Minister of Health, Social Services and Public Safety if he will give an estimate of the costs incurred to date in relation to establishing (i) local commissioning groups; (ii) the five new health trusts; and (iii) other health structures proposed in the Review of Public Administration.

(AQW 1687/08)

Mr M McGimpsey: Each of the seven Local Commissioning Group costs in the region of £100k per annum, largely in respect of attendance allowance and expenses. However, this is being funded from the budget previously used for the 15 Health and Social Care Groups which were stood down in September 2006.

Approximately £3.2m has been spent to date on the establishment of the five new health trusts. This includes the revenue costs of operating the new organisations in shadow form from August 2006 to 31 March 2007 and costs associated with the provision of temporary headquarters.

The only other structure where some establishment costs have been incurred is the proposed Health and Social Care Authority. Seven of the ten Directors designate remain on the payroll of their original employer - either DHSSPS or a Health and Social Services Board - and have not been replaced so that the overall management cost has not been increased. The Chief Executive designate and two other Directors designate are working on behalf of the Department with specific responsibilities in the areas of commissioning, performance and financial management. Their combined annual salary is around £360k.With regard to the establishment of the new structures, some £542k was incurred in 2006/07 for advertising, recruitment, training and other support for staff.The Department has made provision within its accounts for identifiable expenditure needed to underpin the establishment of new HPSS structures arising from the Review of Public Administration. The anticipated expenditure amounts to £68.6m and relates primarily to the early retirement/redundancy costs of a range of HPSS management and administrative support staff arising from the changes to HPSS organisations, but also includes some administrative costs surrounding the change implementation process.Estimated efficiency savings from this restructuring will be £53m per annum.

Local Commissioning Groups

Mrs I Robinson asked the Minister of Health, Social Services and Public Safety if he will provide a breakdown of the total costs to date, resulting from payments to members of local commissioning groups.

(AQW 1688/08)

Mr M McGimpsey: The total payments made to the members of local commissioning groups from 1 April 2007 to 31 October 2007 are shown in the table below.

LCG	Total

Southern	£29,714
North West	£39,025
West	£44,757
North East	£39,484
Inner East	£45,936
Belfast	£43,502
East	£42,762

	£285,180

The total covers the remuneration, locum cover and travel expenses incurred by members.

Some LCGs have vacant posts.

Medical Secretaries

Mr T Burns asked the Minister of Health, Social Services and Public Safety, pursuant to his answer to AQW 584/08, to detail the reasons why comparisons with band outcomes in other parts of the NHS are unhelpful, given that job descriptions for medical secretaries in Northern Ireland are the same as those for medical secretaries in the rest of the United Kingdom.

(AQW 1696/08)

Mr M McGimpsey: While there may be some similarities in jobs across the NHS it is not possible to categorically say that similar titled roles do exactly the same job. For that reason when matching jobs to Agenda for Change pay bands each of the four countries undertook separate exercises. The Agenda for Change matching process for medical secretaries in Northern Ireland is not yet complete but I have instructed health and social care employers to have all staff on Agenda for Change rates of pay by the end of March 2008.

Agenda for Change

Mr P McGlone asked the Minister of Health, Social Services and Public Safety what steps he will take to speed up the processing of arrears that are due to employees, under the Agenda for Change, in the Northern Health and Social Care Trust area.

(AQW 1699/08)

Mr M McGimpsey: I have already instructed all Health and Social Care employers that all Agenda for Change staff should be placed on the new rates of pay by the end of March 2008. The Northern Health and Social Care Trust is currently working towards the completion of this process within this timeframe.

An assessment of the payments made to individual staff members must be carried out over a three year period from October 2004 to accurately establish if any arrears of pay are due. I understand that the Northern Trust are currently reviewing proposals to increase payroll staff in order to cope with this additional workload.

Haemo-Chromatosis

Mr I McCrea asked the Minister of Health, Social Services and Public Safety to outline the number of people in Northern Ireland who have been diagnosed with haemo-chromatosis.

(AQW 1703/08)

Mr M McGimpsey: The number of people who have been diagnosed with haemo-chromatosis in Northern Ireland is not currently available. However, information is available on the number of people with a diagnosis of haemo-chromatosis who have been admitted to hospital.

The total number of admissions to hospital with a primary diagnosis of haemo-chromatosis for 2005/06 is 1,292. It is estimated that this equates to 274 individuals based on the patients’ casenotes.It is not possible to report on how many of these admissions are new diagnoses, or how many people have been diagnosed, but are not being treated in an inpatient setting. Discharges from hospital and Deaths in hospital are used as an approximation to admissions. It is possible that any individual could be admitted to hospital more than once in any year and will thus be counted more than once as an admission.

Diabetes

Mr T Buchanan asked the Minister of Health, Social Services and Public Safety to detail his department's expenditure on diabetes, broken down by (i) Health and Social Services Board area; and (ii) each parliamentary constituency, in each of the last five years.

(AQW 1724/08)

Mr M McGimpsey: Total expenditure on treating diabetes in a hospital inpatient or daycase setting in Northern Ireland was as follows:

Table 1: By Year and Health and Social Services Board Area

Board Area	Expenditure(£m) 2005/06	Expenditure(£m) 2004/05	Expenditure(£m) 2003/04	Expenditure(£m) 2002/03	Expenditure(£m) 2001/02

Eastern	19.9	16.3	14.8	12.7	10.7
Northern	11.9	11.2	9.0	7.8	6.9
Southern	5.9	5.6	5.3	4.5	4.2
Western	5.7	5.4	4.4	3.9	3.1
Unassigned*	0.3	0.2	0.2	0.1	0.1
TOTAL	43.7	38.7	33.7	29.0	25.0

*Hospital Inpatient System could not identify the area due to insufficient information

Source: Trust Annual Costing Returns and Hospital Inpatient System

Table 2: By Year and Parliamentary Constituency

Parliamentary constituency	Expenditure (£m) 2005/06	Expenditure(£m) 2004/05	Expenditure(£m) 2003/04	Expenditure(£m) 2002/03	Expenditure(£m) 2001/02
Belfast East	3.2	2.5	2.3	1.8	1.7
Belfast North	2.6	2.0	2.2	1.7	1.6
Belfast South	2.2	2.0	1.7	1.4	1.4
Belfast West	2.8	2.1	2.2	2.0	1.6
East Antrim	2.6	2.3	2.0	1.9	1.5
East Londonderry	2.1	2.2	1.4	1.2	0.9
Fermanagh and South Tyrone	1.7	1.5	1.6	1.2	0.9
Foyle	2.2	2.0	1.7	1.4	1.2
Lagan Valley	2.9	2.5	2.2	1.9	1.6
Mid Ulster	2.1	1.8	1.7	1.6	1.5
Newry and Armagh	1.6	1.6	1.5	1.3	1.1
North Antrim	3.0	3.0	2.1	1.7	1.5
North Down	2.5	2.1	1.8	1.5	1.3
South Antrim	2.5	2.3	2.0	1.7	1.8
South Down	2.0	2.1	1.6	1.6	1.4
Strangford	3.1	2.6	2.1	2.0	1.3
Upper Bann	2.3	2.2	2.1	1.8	1.6
West Tyrone	2.0	1.7	1.3	1.2	1.0
Unassigned*	0.3	0.2	0.2	0.1	0.1
TOTAL	43.7	38.7	33.7	29.0	25.0

*Hospital Inpatient System could not identify the area due to insufficient informationSource: Trust Annual Costing Returns and Hospital Inpatient SystemThe above does not include the costs of treatment for diabetes in primary, community, personal social service or outpatient settings, which is not available.

Diabetes

Mr T Buchanan asked the Minister of Health, Social Services and Public Safety to detail the number of people suffering from diabetes, broken down by (i) Health and Social Services Board area; and (ii) parliamentary constituency.

(AQW 1728/08)

Mr M McGimpsey: The information is not available in the form requested. However, under the Quality & Outcomes Framework (QOF) of the General Medical Services contract, the total number of GP-registered patients aged 17 and over with diabetes mellitus is recorded. Whilst this cannot be provided for the area in which the patient resides, it is possible to break it down by the area on which the GP practice is located. The figures, as at 14^th February 2007, are presented in Tables 1 and 2 below.

Table 1: Diabetes Cases by Health and Social Services Board of GP Practice

	Number of patient on Diabetes Register (aged 17 and over)
Eastern	23,307
Northern	13,719
Southern	10,478
Western	9,420
TOTAL	56,924

Table 2: Diabetes Cases by parliamentary constituency of GP Practice

	Number of patient on Diabetes Register (aged 17 and over)
Belfast East	3,488
Belfast North	5,034
Belfast South	2,801
Belfast West	2,611
East Antrim	2,456
East Londonderry	2,864
Fermanagh and South Tyrone	3,504
Foyle	3,254
Lagan Valley	3,106
Mid Ulster	2,188
Newry and Armagh	3,291
North Down	3,700
South Antrim	2,898
South Down	3,160
Strangford	3,133
Upper Bann	3,758
West Tyrone	3,020
TOTAL	56,924

Source: Payment Calculation and Analysis System (PCAS).In addition, a 2005 study¹ by Ireland and Northern Ireland’s Population Health Observatory has made estimates of the expected number people with diabetes, that is, those diagnosed plus those undiagnosed. This study estimated that in Northern Ireland in 2005, the expected number of those aged 20 years and over with Type 2 diabetes was 62,280. The study also estimated that the expected number of the population aged 20 years and over with Type 1 diabetes, was 4,776. This study also provides diabetes prevalence estimates by Board and Local Government District of patient residence.

References:

¹ Making Diabetes Count: First Report of The Irish Diabetes Prevalence Working Group, Ireland and Northern Ireland’s Population Health Observatory (INIsPHO), Institute of Public Health in Ireland, April 2006. Available from www.publichealth.ie .

Diabetes

Mr D McKay asked the Minister of Health, Social Services and Public Safety to detail the number of people diagnosed with diabetes in each Health and Social Services Board area.

(AQW 1764/08)

Mr M McGimpsey: The information is not available in the form requested. However, under the Quality & Outcomes Framework (QOF) of the General Medical Services contract, the total number of GP-registered patients aged 17 and over with diabetes mellitus is recorded. Whilst this cannot be provided for the area in which the patient resides, it is possible to break it down by the area in which the GP practice is located. The figures, as at 14^th February 2007 are shown in Table 1 below.

Table 1: Diabetes Cases by Health and Social Services Board of GP Practice

	Number of patients on Diabetes Register (aged 17 and over)
Eastern	23,307
Northern	13,719
Southern	10,478
Western	9,420
TOTAL	56,924

Source: Payment Calculation and Analysis System (PCAS).

Diabetes

Mr D McKay asked the Minister of Health, Social Services and Public Safety to detail the number of people with diabetes that have received retinal screening in 2005; 2006; and 2007, in each Health and Social Services Board area.

(AQW 1766/08)

Mr M McGimpsey: The information is not available in the form requested. However, under the Quality & Outcomes Framework (QOF) of the General Medical Services contract, the number of GP-registered patients aged 17 and over with diabetes mellitus that have a record of retinal screening in the previous 15 months is recorded. Whilst this cannot be provided for the area in which the patient resides, it is possible to break it down by the area in which the GP practice is located. The figures, as at 31^st March, are presented in Table 1 below.

Table 1: Diabetes screening by Health and Social Services Board area

	Number of patients on the QOF Diabetes Register who have a record of receiving retinal screening (aged 17 and over)
	2005	2006	2007
Eastern	16,508	18,469	20,582
Northern	10,446	11,044	11,833
Southern	7,459	7,919	8,662
Western	6,530	7,847	8,121
TOTAL	40,943	45,279	49,198

Source: Payment Calculation and Analysis System (PCAS).

Home Start Initiative

Mrs I Robinson asked the Minister of Health, Social Services and Public Safety to outline what steps he intends to take to ensure the future of the Home Start initiative beyond March 2008.

(AQW 1771/08)

Mr M McGimpsey:

The Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety supports four locally-based Home Start schemes through the Children’s Fund component of the Children and Young People’s Funding Package, and will continue to do so until March 2008, when the current round of funding is set to end. Some funding has been identified in the draft Budget to continue the important work of the Children’s Fund. I cannot therefore guarantee that all existing projects will be supported in the future, or to the level that they have been in the past. It will not be possible to make firm decisions about individual projects until consultation on the draft Budget has been completed, and it has been finalised.I know how important it is that existing projects are given early confirmation about their future levels of funding, and I can assure you that this will be forthcoming as soon as possible. The Department also provides funding to Home Start’s regional office to assist with its central running costs. This funding is currently in the first year of a three year cycle.

General Practice Surgeries

Ms S Ramsey asked the Minister of Health, Social Services and Public Safety to detail the number of patients who need to be registered with a General Practitioner for the surgery to be viable.

(AQW 1900/08)

Mr M McGimpsey: In determining the need for the provision of primary medical services by a general practitioner within a specific area, the size of the registered patient list for a GP practice is only one of the factors taken into consideration by the relevant Health and Social Services Board, and there is no established threshold below which a GP practice would be considered unviable.

Health and Social Services Boards also consider factors such as the availability of suitable premises within an area, demographics (including physical accessibility of services and population variation), the views of the local community, financial viability, and the range of services, including specialist services, offered.

General Practice Surgeries

Ms S Ramsey asked the Minister of Health, Social Services and Public Safety to detail the number of patients registered across General Practice surgeries within the Eastern Health and Social Services Board.

(AQW 1901/08)

Mr M McGimpsey: The number of patients registered across General Practice surgeries within the Eastern Health and Social Services Board at October 2007 was 719,764.

Regional Development

Northern Ireland Water and Crystal Alliance

Dr S Farry asked the Minister for Regional Development to detail (i) the cost to the taxpayer of; and (ii) the future committed costs arising from, the contract between Northern Ireland Water and Crystal Alliance.

(AQW 1336/08)

The Minister for Regional Development (Mr C Murphy): I have been advised by Northern Ireland Water that the overall value of the contract with Xansa (Crystal Alliance) is £92.4 million. The cost of the contract to date has been £21 million. Prior to 1 April 2007 these costs were met by the taxpayer and non-domestic charges and since then by the taxpayer through subsidy and non-domestic charges.

The future committed cost up to the expiry date of the contract on 31 March 2013, based on the overall value of the contract, is £71.4 million. If charges were to be fully introduced then costs would in future be met by customers rather than the taxpayer. Contract activities relating to domestic billing and collection and domestic billing contact handling have been suspended as a result of the deferral of domestic water and sewerage charges and contract costs are currently being reviewed.

Illegally Erected Monuments

Mr J Spratt asked the Minister for Regional Development, pursuant to AQW 862/08, to detail the location of each of the 34 illegally erected monuments relating to the Troubles.

(AQW 1403/08)

Mr C Murphy: Firstly, I should explain that further to my reply to the Member’s question AQW 862/08, on closer analysis of the data issued in relation to illegally erected monuments, only 31 of the previously stated 34 related directly to the Troubles. The remaining three monuments, which are not linked to traffic accident fatalities, appear to have been erected to mark deaths due to other causes.

In relation to AQW 1403/08, the table below details the locations of the 31 monuments that relate to the troubles.

With regard to AQW 1404/08, I am advised that in general my Department’s Roads Service does not carry out a formal assessment of these sites, however, all roads are regularly inspected for hazards as part of its routine maintenance procedures.

Location Of Illegally Erected Monuments

Junction at Moss Road, Stoneyford Road, Ballypitmave Road, Steedstown Road, Y Bridge Road, Stoneyford

Roundabout at Upper Dunmurry Lane at the junction with Stewartstown Road, Colin Road, Pantridge Road, Belfast

Malachy Conlon Park, Cullaville

Dorans Hill at Raymond Kelly Park, Newry

Derrybeg Estate, Newry

Derrybeg at junction of Camlough Road, Newry

Tievecrom Road, Forkhill, Newry

Tullynavall Road, Cullyhanna

Donaldson’s Road at Ballyfannahan Road, Cullyhanna

Kelly’s Road, Killeen

Edenappa Road, Jonesborough

Annaghgad Road, Cullaville

Newry Road, Camlough

Kilmorey Street Flood defence wall, Newry

Buttercrane Quay Newry

Barley Lane, Newry

Ford’s Cross, Silverbridge

Newry Bypass, Newry

Skerriff Road, Cullyhanna

Near frontier, Cashel Road, Enniskillen

Clonliff Road, Enniskillen

Near frontier Drumnasreane Road, Enniskillen

Eshnadarragh Road, Rosslea

Opposite Holiday Centre, Garrison

Swanlinbar Road, Enniskillen

Eshnadarragh Altawalk Cross

Drumnakilly Road, Omagh

Water Wall Footpath, Mourne Bridge, Strabane

Annagher Road, Coalisland

Drum Road, Near to Teebane Road, Cookstown

Corrick Road, Dungiven

Illegally Erected Monuments

Mr J Spratt asked the Minister for Regional Development, pursuant to his answer to AQW 862/08, to detail whether or not each of the illegally erected monuments related to the Troubles has been assessed in relation to danger to road users.

(AQW 1404/08)

In relation to AQW 1403/08, the table below details the locations of the 31 monuments that relate to the troubles.

Location Of Illegally Erected Monuments

Junction at Moss Road, Stoneyford Road, Ballypitmave Road, Steedstown Road, Y Bridge Road, Stoneyford

Roundabout at Upper Dunmurry Lane at the junction with Stewartstown Road, Colin Road, Pantridge Road, Belfast

Malachy Conlon Park, Cullaville

Dorans Hill at Raymond Kelly Park, Newry

Derrybeg Estate, Newry

Derrybeg at junction of Camlough Road, Newry

Tievecrom Road, Forkhill, Newry

Tullynavall Road, Cullyhanna

Donaldson’s Road at Ballyfannahan Road, Cullyhanna

Kelly’s Road, Killeen

Edenappa Road, Jonesborough

Annaghgad Road, Cullaville

Newry Road, Camlough

Kilmorey Street Flood defence wall, Newry

Buttercrane Quay Newry

Barley Lane, Newry

Ford’s Cross, Silverbridge

Newry Bypass, Newry

Skerriff Road, Cullyhanna

Near frontier, Cashel Road, Enniskillen

Clonliff Road, Enniskillen

Near frontier Drumnasreane Road, Enniskillen

Eshnadarragh Road, Rosslea

Opposite Holiday Centre, Garrison

Swanlinbar Road, Enniskillen

Eshnadarragh Altawalk Cross

Drumnakilly Road, Omagh

Water Wall Footpath, Mourne Bridge, Strabane

Annagher Road, Coalisland

Drum Road, Near to Teebane Road, Cookstown

Corrick Road, Dungiven

Traffic-Related Dangers

Mr P J Bradley asked the Minister for Regional Development what is his assessment of whether or not his officials have accepted the views of local residents, local politicians and the Police Service of Northern Ireland, in relation to addressing the traffic-related dangers at the southern end of the Old Warrenpoint Road, at its junction with the Newry/Warrenpoint dual carriageway.

(AQW 1410/08)

Mr C Murphy: Road safety continues to be one of the top priorities for my Department’s Roads Service. Roads Service, along with other agencies such as the Police and DoE’s Road Safety Branch, is fully committed to doing all it can to reduce the number of people killed or injured on our roads.

I should explain that Roads Service receives information from the PSNI on all collisions in which someone has been injured. The locations of all these collisions are monitored and any location with a history of four or more collisions in a three year period (known as a "collision cluster"), is investigated to determine if an appropriate engineering measure could be introduced to mitigate against further collisions at the site. I can advise that Roads Service has re-examined the junction of the Old Warrenpoint Road and the Newry/Warrenpoint dual carriageway, in conjunction with the PSNI, and it is their mutual opinion that safety at this junction would be best served by closing the central median gap to all traffic turning movements. I am aware, however, that this is something which may not be supported by local politicians and residents. Nonetheless, I am sure you will appreciate that banning right turning movements out of the Old Warrenpoint Road would be extremely difficult to enforce without the full physical closure of the central median.I understand that a meeting between Roads Service and representatives from Newry and Mourne Council to further discuss road safety issues at this junction was held on 15 November, and that Roads Service agreed to re-assess the situation. I have asked the Divisional Roads Manager in Roads Service’s Southern Division to write to you to inform you of the results of this exercise.

Parking Tickets

Mr D McKay asked the Minister for Regional Development to detail the number of parking tickets that have been issued in Ballymoney, in (i) the last 12 months; (ii) 2005; and (iii) 2006.

(AQW 1413/08)

Mr C Murphy: My Department’s Roads Service became responsible for the enforcement of on-street parking and waiting restrictions on 30 October 2006. Since then, to the end of October 2007, a total of 2137 Penalty Charge Notices were issued in Ballymoney, 5967 in Ballymena, and 276 in Ballycastle.

I do not have parking enforcement figures prior to October 2006 as this function was then undertaken by the police.

Parking Tickets

Mr D McKay asked the Minister for Regional Development to detail the number of parking tickets that have been issued in Ballymena, in (i) the last 12 months; (ii) 2005; and (iii) 2006.

(AQW 1414/08)

I do not have parking enforcement figures prior to October 2006 as this function was then undertaken by the police.

Parking Tickets

Mr D McKay asked the Minister for Regional Development to detail the number of parking tickets that have been issued in Ballycastle, in (i) the last 12 months; (ii) 2005; and (iii) 2006.

(AQW 1415/08)

I do not have parking enforcement figures prior to October 2006 as this function was then undertaken by the police.

A26 Frosses Road

Mr G Robinson asked the Minister for Regional Development to detail the date on which the remedial action on the A26 Frosses Road will begin.

(AQW 1421/08)

Mr C Murphy: My Department’s Roads Service advises that the commencement date for construction of the proposed dualling of the A26 Frosses Road from Glarryford Crossroads to its junction with the A44 Drones Road will be dependant on the timely and successful completion of the statutory procedures, detailed economic appraisal and the availability of funding at that time. As such, it is not possible, at present, to provide a start date, however, it is likely to be within the latter half of the present Regional Strategic Transport Network Transport Plan 2015 (RSTN TP 2015) period.

Traffic Congestion

Mr C Boylan asked the Minister for Regional Development what plans he has to introduce measures to alleviate traffic congestion in the centre of Keady; and to give a timescale within which such plans will be implemented.

(AQW 1434/08)

Mr C Murphy: While the traffic through the town of Keady would not be particularly heavy, congestion can occur, at peak times, because parking or inappropriate parking on the narrow streets can impede the free flow of traffic.

My Department’s Roads Service is currently progressing waiting restriction Orders for Kinelowen Street and Bridge Street in an effort to improve traffic progression. Objections to these proposals are currently being considered and, if resolved, it is anticipated that these restrictions will be implemented during early 2008. There are also plans to review the current deployment of Traffic Attendants, with a view to increasing the level of presence at peak times, to enforce parking restrictions, thereby reducing the negative impact that inappropriate parking behaviour has on traffic movement and accessibility. I am also pleased to confirm that officials within my Department are involved with the local regeneration committee to identify if other measures could be introduced to improve traffic flow in the town.

Pedestrian Crossing

Mr K Robinson asked the Minister for Regional Development what plans he has to conduct a survey to ascertain the feasibility of installing a pedestrian crossing on the A2 Shore Road, adjacent to the junction with Abbeyville Street and opposite St James' church in Whiteabbey.

(AQW 1439/08)

Mr C Murphy: My Department’s Roads Service has advised that as it has been several years since a survey was carried out at this location on the A2 Shore Road, an updated survey will be conducted in the New Year. If following an analysis of the survey results, the location meets the criteria for the provision of a pedestrian crossing, it will be included in a list with other potential schemes, to be considered for prioritisation and possible inclusion in a future works programme. I have asked the Eastern Divisional Roads Manager to notify you of the outcome of the survey once it has been completed.

Parking Regulation Enforcement

Mr P Weir asked the Minister for Regional Development to detail the total cost of parking regulation enforcement in each of the last three years.

(AQW 1463/08)

Mr C Murphy: My Department’s Roads Service became responsible for the enforcement of on-street parking and waiting restrictions on 30 October 2006. I do not have parking enforcement details prior to this date as this function was then undertaken by the police.

In relation to AQW 1463/08, the total payment to National Car Parks Services Ltd. for enforcement of on-street restrictions and management of off-street car-parks for the five months of operation in the 2006/07 financial year was £2.54 million.With regards to AQW 1464/08, Roads Service has advised that 163,500 Penalty Charge Notices (PCNs) were issued from 13 November 2006 to 10 November 2007. During the first two weeks of operation, Warning Notices were issued.In relation to, Roads Service has advised that, from 13 November 2006 to 10 November 2007, 19,444 PCNs have been challenged, of which 10,734 have been successful. In addition the independent Traffic Penalty Tribunal received 92 formal appeals of which 17 have been successful.Finally, with regards to AQW 1466/08, I am advised that the costs associated with processing appeals against PCNs are not held separately. I can advise, however, that during the five months of operation in the 2006/07 financial year, the total in-house cost to Roads Service for processing all PCNs including administrative work, work associated with challenges, representations, appeals, payments, and debt collection, was £0.8 million.

Parking Regulation Enforcement

Mr P Weir asked the Minister for Regional Development to detail the number of parking enforcement tickets that have been issued in each of the last three years.

(AQW 1464/08)

In relation to AQW 1463/08, the total payment to National Car Parks Services Ltd. for enforcement of on-street restrictions and management of off-street car-parks for the five months of operation in the 2006/07 financial year was £2.54 million.With regards to AQW 1464/08, Roads Service has advised that 163,500 Penalty Charge Notices (PCNs) were issued from 13 November 2006 to 10 November 2007. During the first two weeks of operation, Warning Notices were issued.In relation to AQW 1465/08, Roads Service has advised that, from 13 November 2006 to 10 November 2007, 19,444 PCNs have been challenged, of which 10,734 have been successful. In addition the independent Traffic Penalty Tribunal received 92 formal appeals of which 17 have been successful.Finally, with regards to AQW 1466/08, I am advised that the costs associated with processing appeals against PCNs are not held separately. I can advise, however, that during the five months of operation in the 2006/07 financial year, the total in-house cost to Roads Service for processing all PCNs including administrative work, work associated with challenges, representations, appeals, payments, and debt collection, was £0.8 million.

Parking Regulation Enforcement

Mr P Weir asked the Minister for Regional Development to detail the number of (i) appeals lodged against parking enforcement tickets; and (ii) these appeals that were successful, in each of the last three years.

(AQW 1465/08)

In relation to AQW 1463/08, the total payment to National Car Parks Services Ltd. for enforcement of on-street restrictions and management of off-street car-parks for the five months of operation in the 2006/07 financial year was £2.54 million.With regards to AQW 1464/08, Roads Service has advised that 163,500 Penalty Charge Notices (PCNs) were issued from 13 November 2006 to 10 November 2007. During the first two weeks of operation, Warning Notices were issued.In relation to AQW 1465/08, Roads Service has advised that, from 13 November 2006 to 10 November 2007, 19,444 PCNs have been challenged, of which 10,734 have been successful. In addition the independent Traffic Penalty Tribunal received 92 formal appeals of which 17 have been successful.Finally, with regards to AQW 1466/08, I am advised that the costs associated with processing appeals against PCNs are not held separately. I can advise, however, that during the five months of operation in the 2006/07 financial year, the total in-house cost to Roads Service for processing all PCNs including administrative work, work associated with challenges, representations, appeals, payments, and debt collection, was £0.8 million.

Parking Regulation Enforcement

Mr P Weir asked the Minister for Regional Development to detail the total cost of the appeals process against parking enforcement tickets, in each of the last three years.

(AQW 1466/08)

In relation to AQW 1463/08, the total payment to National Car Parks Services Ltd. for enforcement of on-street restrictions and management of off-street car-parks for the five months of operation in the 2006/07 financial year was £2.54 million.With regards to AQW 1464/08, Roads Service has advised that 163,500 Penalty Charge Notices (PCNs) were issued from 13 November 2006 to 10 November 2007. During the first two weeks of operation, Warning Notices were issued.In relation to AQW 1465/08, Roads Service has advised that, from 13 November 2006 to 10 November 2007, 19,444 PCNs have been challenged, of which 10,734 have been successful. In addition the independent Traffic Penalty Tribunal received 92 formal appeals of which 17 have been successful.Finally, with regards to AQW 1466/08, I am advised that the costs associated with processing appeals against PCNs are not held separately. I can advise, however, that during the five months of operation in the 2006/07 financial year, the total in-house cost to Roads Service for processing all PCNs including administrative work, work associated with challenges, representations, appeals, payments, and debt collection, was £0.8 million.

Air Quality and Carbon Emissions

Ms A Lo asked the Minister for Regional Development to detail whether or not he has made any assessment of the likely effects on air quality and carbon emissions, arising from changes to the M1/Westlink/M2 corridor.

(AQW 1482/08)

Mr C Murphy: Air quality assessments were conducted as part of the Environmental Statements for both the M1/Westlink and the M2 Improvement Schemes in accordance with the relevant guidance.

The M1/Westlink Scheme Environmental Statement concluded that construction of the proposed scheme would result in a slight deterioration in local air quality levels but an improvement in regional air quality. At the Public Inquiry held in November/December 2000, an independent inspector concluded that the change in air quality would be of little significance.

With regard to the M2 Improvement scheme, the Environmental Statement concluded that there would be no significant effect on either local or regional air quality as a result of the creation of a third lane on a section of the M2.

Response to Correspondence

Mrs I Robinson asked the Minister for Regional Development to detail the longest period of time his department has taken to provide a full response to a letter received from (i) a Member of Parliament; (ii) a Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly; (iii) a Councillor; and (iv) a member of the public, since March 2007.

(AQW 1486/08)

Mr C Murphy: The table below sets out the longest periods of time taken by my Department to provide a full response to letters from (i) a Member of Parliament; (ii) a Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly; (iii) a Councillor; and (iv) a member of the public, received during the period 8 May to 31 October 2007. All responses were signed by me or my Private Secretary.

	Longest period of time, in working days, from date letter received until date full response issued
Member of Parliament	71
Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly	70
Councillor	23
Member of the Public	75

Colinglen Road, Dunmurry

Mr P Butler asked the Minister for Regional Development what consideration he will give to improving the Colinglen Road in Dunmurry, including the provision of (i) a 30 mph speed limit; (ii) street lighting; (iii) footpaths; and (iv) resurfacing, in light of several fatalities at this location in recent years.

(AQW 1495/08)

Mr C Murphy: My Department’s Roads Service has advised as follows:

30 mph Speed Limit

The Colinglen Road is currently subject to a 30 mph speed limit from near the works entrance at Colinglen Concrete to the Mullaghglass Road and this section of road has street lighting in place. The Mullaghglass Road has lengths of both 30 and 40 mph speed limits and both it and Colinglen Road are provided with 30 and 40 mph speed limit signs as appropriate.

Speed limits are introduced against criteria relating to the density of development along a road. The part of Colinglen Road, linking from Colinglen Concrete to the 30 mph speed limit at Glen Road, Belfast, does not meet the relevant criteria and there are no proposals to introduce a 30 mph speed limit on this stretch of road.

Street Lighting

Roads Service receives more requests for street lighting than available resources can sustain and so criteria have been developed to assess each request to ensure that resources are directed to the most deserving locations. In rural areas, these criteria relate to the density of houses along the road. The currently unlit portion of Colinglen Road is rural in nature and does not exhibit the required density of development and, therefore, there are no plans to provide additional lighting.

Footpaths

A route improvement study has been carried out by Roads Service on the A501, including that portion known as Colinglen Road. This study identified a number of potential schemes to improve road safety including footway provision, as well as localised road widening and improved visibility at junctions.

As a result, enhanced signing and high friction surfacing at the ‘hairpin bend’ at Glen Bridge and the provision of right turning pockets at the Colinglen Road/ Glenside Road junction have been completed. In addition, a number of road drainage improvements have been implemented and over 100m of safety fence was installed on the Colinglen Road, opposite the Farmer’s Inn, during May 2007. An additional 270m of safety fence is programmed for replacement for early 2008, subject to agreement with local landowners.

Due to the scale and cost of large and small scale improvement works considered in the route improvement study, and the relatively low volumes of vehicles on the Colinglen Road, none of the identified options ranked highly on a prioritised list of Minor Works schemes and were not, therefore, progressed.

Resurfacing

Roads Service has no proposals, at present, to resurface or surface dress the Colinglen Road.

Waste Water

Mr J Wells asked the Minister for Regional Development what steps he is taking to improve the treatment of waste water at locations in Northern Ireland that have been termed 'sewerage hotspots'; and to detail when this work will be completed.

(AQW 1524/08)

Mr C Murphy: I have been advised by Northern Ireland Water that work continues on a programme of capital works, based on environmental prioritisation, to improve the treatment of wastewater and to upgrade the sewerage network in the 57 ‘hotspot’ locations originally identified by the Environment & Heritage Service.

Northern Ireland Water has completed work in relation to 28 of these locations and anticipates that the remaining work on the programme will be progressed through to completion in June 2011.

A20 Road from Kircubbin to Portaferry

Mr J Dallat asked the Minister for Regional Development what is his assessment of the present condition of the A20 main road from Kircubbin to Portaferry; and to give a timescale within which this road will be upgraded, in particular the Ardkeen section.

(AQW 1543/08)

Mr C Murphy: The present condition of the section of the A20 road between Kircubbin and Portaferry varies from a good standard, where resurfacing has been carried out in recent years, to a lesser standard, particularly in the area of the hamlet of Ardkeen.

The Ardkeen section of the road has been earmarked for the installation of new drainage and for resurfacing, and my Department’s Roads Service will undertake this work following the completion of substantial works by Northern Ireland Water.

While Roads Service intends to implement this scheme as soon as practically possible, this will depend on adequate finance being available and other competing priorities and so I am unable to give a definitive timescale for commencement of the work.

In addition, sightline improvement schemes are planned at two locations along the A20 Kircubbin to Portaferry section of road:

Rowreagh Road/Gransha Road (commencement of construction work is anticipated for early in the 2008/09 financial year);

Rowreagh Road/Rubane Road (programmed for the 2008/09 financial year).

Construction work will, of course, be subject to the successful acquisition of any lands that may be required and the availability of the necessary finance.

Installation of Temporary Traffic Management Cones

Mr R Beggs asked the Minister for Regional Development what is his assessment of the method currently used to place and retrieve traffic cones on roads and motorways in Northern Ireland, in relation to whether or not this method conforms to health and safety requirements.

(AQW 1544/08)

Mr C Murphy: In relation to AQW 1544/08, my Department’s Roads Service advises that, on motorways and dual carriageways with hard shoulders, the Department requires that the installation / retrieval of temporary traffic management cones is carried out in accordance with the requirements of the Traffic Signs Manual (Chapter 8). Under Chapter 8 the organisation responsible is required to prepare and implement a Method Statement and a Risk Assessment for each individual site.

Roads Service’s requirements in relation to all other roads are specified in the Code of Practice for Safety at Street Works and Road Works.

Both of these documents have legal status here under Article 31 of the Road Traffic Regulations Order and I am satisfied that the methods used to place and retrieve cones conform to Health and Safety requirements.

With regard to AQW 1546/08, I am advised that the specific methods employed by Roads Service mostly consist of manually installing / retrieving cones from / to stock stacked on the back of lorries. These lorries being protected by Impact Protection Vehicles.

Installation of Temporary Traffic Management Cones

Mr R Beggs asked the Minister for Regional Development to detail the method or system used by the Roads Service to place and retrieve traffic cones on roads and motorways in Northern Ireland.

(AQW 1546/08)

Roads Service’s requirements in relation to all other roads are specified in the Code of Practice for Safety at Street Works and Road Works.

Road Improvement Work

Mr J Dallat asked the Minister for Regional Development to comment on the priority afforded to road improvement works at High Street, Portaferry; and to indicate a timeframe when road improvement work will commence.

(AQW 1550/08)

Mr C Murphy: I am informed that my Department’s Roads Service have previously assessed the condition of High Street, Portaferry and included it on their programme of improvement works. Due to the nature of the street the work will involve the complete reconstruction of the footways and carriageway between Anne Street and Meeting House Street. As such, the cost of such works would be considerable and current funding is not available to progress the scheme.

Unfortunately, I am unable to provide you with a timeframe for commencement of the scheme but I can assure you that it is high on the list of priorities for Roads Service and will be implemented when appropriate funding becomes available taking into consideration other competing schemes at that time.

Managerial Posts

Mr P Butler asked the Minister for Regional Development to detail the number of (i) women; and (ii) men, who hold senior managerial posts in each division within his department.

(AQW 1559/08)

Mr C Murphy: Within the Department for Regional Development, the numbers of women and men who currently occupy Senior Civil Service posts in each Agency and Division are as follows:

Business Area	Number of women	Number of men
Permanent Secretary (senior post not allocated to a specific Division)	0	1*
Deputy Secretary (senior post not allocated to a specific Division)	1	0
Roads Service	0	6^
Regional Planning & Transportation Division	0	1
Ports and Public Transport Division	0	1
Public Transport Performance Division	0	1
Water Policy Division	0	1*
Water Shareholder Unit	0	1
Personnel Division	1	0
Finance Division	0	1*
TOTAL	2	13

* Officer currently on temporary promotion

^ Includes 3 officers currently on temporary promotion

Parking Tickets

Mr M Storey asked the Minister for Regional Development to detail the number of parking tickets that have been issued in Ballycastle since Roads Service assumed responsibility for parking enforcement, broken down by month.

(AQW 1569/08)

Mr C Murphy: My Department assumed responsibility for the enforcement of on-street parking and waiting restrictions at the end of October 2006. In the period to the end of October 2007, the total number of Penalty Charge Notices issued in Ballycastle is 276, broken down as follows:

November 2006	13
December 2006	14
January 2007	16
February 2007	3
March 2007	7
April 2007	12
May 2007	29
June 2007	13
July 2007	32
August 2007	114
September 2007	4
October 2007	19

Railway Repairs

Mr M Storey asked the Minister for Regional Development to outline the timetable for the proposed funding of repairs to sections of railway line between Ballymena and Coleraine that cause train slow-downs for the purposes of safety.

(AQW 1570/08)

Mr C Murphy: A Letter of Offer amounting to £12 million for expenditure towards the Ballymena to Coleraine Track Life Extension Works programme was issued to Translink in October 2007. The works programme has been broken down into three phases as outlined below.

Phase 1, which has already been completed, involved the rectification of 1,700 wet beds.

Phase 2, which is due to be completed by August 2008, will involve the rectification of the remaining 4,300 wet beds on the line.

The third and final phase of the project is programmed to start in August 2008 with completion due by July 2010. This will involve extensive excavation works at a number of locations within a five mile stretch of track north of Ballymoney Station. New ballast will be laid to support the track and new drainage will be provided. All track between Broughdone and Coleraine will be converted to continuously welded rail.

This programme of works has been planned so that the least possible disruption will be caused to rail services and will be conducted with relevant safety requirements. Bus substitution services will be put in place for up to 16 weeks to cater for rail passengers during the course of the work.

Social Housing

Mr J Shannon asked the Minister for Regional Development to confirm that the sale of land owned by his department, adjacent to 41 Movilla Street, Newtownards, can proceed, to allow this social housing project to meet planning requirements.

(AQW 1587/08)

Mr C Murphy: My Department’s Roads Service has confirmed that a portion of land adjacent to No 41 Movilla Street, has been adopted by it and is currently used as an informal off-street parking area.

While it is understood that a planning application has been made, to re-develop the land in question, no formal request has been received by Roads Service to ascertain whether the land in question is surplus to requirements.

Disabled Parking Enforcement

Mr G Robinson asked the Minister for Regional Development to outline the Road Service's policy in relation to disabled parking enforcement outside core hour provision; and to detail the prescribed sanctions for such offences.

(AQW 1609/08)

Mr C Murphy: My Department’s Roads Service has advised me that core enforcement hours are generally between 8am and 6pm, from Monday to Saturday. The exact timings do, however, depend on the parking restrictions in individual towns and cities.

Outside these times, Roads Service does not normally deploy routine patrols, as the impact of illegal parking is not as severe as during the day and the cost of enforcement would outweigh the benefits.

However, if Roads Service is made aware of illegal parking problems occurring outside these times, including the misuse of accessibility bays reserved for Blue Badge holders, mobile patrols can be deployed to deal with individual situations.

The penalty for such a contravention is a £60 Penalty Charge Notice.

Motorway Slip Roads

Mr P Butler asked the Minister for Regional Development what plans he has to provide slip roads from Dunmurry on to the M1.

(AQW 1616/08)

Mr C Murphy: My Department’s Roads Service has confirmed that the provision of additional slip roads onto the M1 at Blacks Road, is included in both the Belfast Metropolitan Transport Plan and the Belfast Metropolitan Area Plan (2015).

This proposal is one of a number of schemes listed in the "Expanding the Strategic Road Improvement Programme 2015" consultation document, published in September 2006. The draft Investment Strategy for Northern Ireland published for consultation, in October 2007, sets the funding priorities for the period 2008-2018. When the Strategy is finalised, it will determine the relative priority and timing of all planned Major Works, including the Blacks Road slips scheme.

I would add that the provision of this road scheme will be subject to the successful completion of the statutory procedures, detailed economic appraisal and the availability of funding at that time.

Hillhead Road, Newry

Mr D Bradley asked the Minister for Regional Development what progress he has made in relation to the Hillhead Road, Newry; and what plans he has to meet local residents and public representatives to update them on this progress.

(AQW 1718/08)

Mr C Murphy: The Member will recall my site meeting with him and local residents in July last. Since then my Department’s Roads Service has been actively progressing options for the solution to the ongoing road closure at Hillhead Road, Newry.

Engineering consultants have been engaged by Roads Service to consider the available options which range from permanent closure of the road as a through route, to realignment of the road on a line outside of the unstable area associated with the rock slippage at Dromalane Quarry. An initial review of the options prepared by the consultants has been completed and a report on the outcome of the assessment process, along with cost estimates is awaited.

Roads Service has also met with the owners of the Dromalane Quarry site, Moyard Properties Ltd, who have advised that they are looking at a solution that would ease the angle of the quarry face. This proposal will necessitate the acquisition of land from landowners on the western side of the quarry and the realignment of the Hillhead Road. I understand that the Quarry owners have already made contact with the landowners involved.

Roads Service officials have requested a further meeting with Moyard Properties Ltd to ascertain the progress on their solution and it is expected that this will be held within the next few weeks.

Following consideration of the report by the engineering consultants engaged by Roads Service, and depending on the outcome of the meeting with Moyard Properties Ltd, it is my intention to meet again with the local residents and public representatives. In due course my office will contact those concerned to put the appropriate arrangements in place.

Consultancy Expenditure

Mr G Savage asked the Minister for Regional Development if he will explain the reasons why he is unable to detail the consultancy costs incurred by non-departmental public bodies connected to his department.

(AQW 1745/08)

Mr C Murphy: My Department could not detail the consultancy costs incurred by Non Departmental Public Bodies as it is was not responsible for any Non Departmental Public Bodies during the year in question.

Drains' Maintenance

Mr W Clarke asked the Minister for Regional Development to detail what additional resources have been allocated to drains' maintenance in flooding hotspots.

(AQW 1754/08)

Mr C Murphy: In response to AQW 1754/08, my Department’s Roads Service has confirmed that no additional resources have been allocated to the maintenance of drainage systems in flooding hotspots.

In response to AQW 1756/08, my Department’s Roads Service has advised that all drains considered to be located in flooding hotspots, and which are the responsibility of Roads Service, have been inspected this Autumn.

Drains' Maintenance

Mr W Clarke asked the Minister for Regional Development to detail whether or not all drains located in flooding hotspots have been inspected this autumn.

(AQW 1756/08)

Mr C Murphy: In response to AQW 1754/08, my Department’s Roads Service has confirmed that no additional resources have been allocated to the maintenance of drainage systems in flooding hotspots.

Consultancy Expenditure

Mr G Savage asked the Minister for Regional Development, further to his answer to AQW 1340/08, to give a detailed breakdown of the expenditure incurred by Northern Ireland Water, in fees and all other costs, in respect of the consultancy firms listed.

(AQW 1811/08)

Mr C Murphy: I have been advised by Northern Ireland Water that the fees and other costs attributed to the consultancy firms listed in AQW 1340/08 since 1 April 2007 are as follows:-

ADJUST PROCUREMENT SOLUTIONS LTD 26,287

AJ MCCANN CONSULTANTS LTD 4,044

ALVAREZ & MARSAL EUROPE LIMITED 10,934

BDO STOY HAYWARD 24,875

BEING COMMUNICATION LIMITED 50,000

BESPOKE PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT LIMITED 24,071

BHB FIRE AND SPECIALIST TRAINING CONSULTANTS 255

BLACK & VEATCH LTD 105,706

BSG CIVIL ENGINEERING LIMITED 280,823

BTW SHIELLS 8,500

BUILDING DESIGN PARTNERSHIP LIMITED 99,663

CAPITA 356,548

CHANDLERKBS 19,299

CONSTRUCTION CONSULTANCY SERVICES 325,343

CONSTRUCTION SUPERVISORY SERVICES LIMITED 49,902

CONSULT NB1 LIMITED 14,300

CONTRACTAUDITLINE 1,397

CONTRACTING OUT LLP 101,992

DELOITTE 35,000

DLA PIPER RUDNICK GRAY CARY UK LLP 16,841

DORAN CONSULTANT 310,602

DP CONTRACTING LTD 9,360

DUNDAS & WILSON CS LLP 291,016

EC HARRIS & PARTNERS 36,403

ENTEC 11,223

ERNST & YOUNG LLP 79,838

EWAN GROUP PLC 83,440

FABER MAUNSELL LTD 198,293

FUJITSU SERVICES LTD 5,538

GLOVER SITE INVESTIGATION 2,444

HALCROW MANAGEMENT SCIENCES LIMITED 334,546

HYDER CONSULTING LIMITED 163,917

INDEPENDENT OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH LIMITED 18,497

INTERIM MANAGEMENT ASSIGNMENTS (NI) LTD 96,308

INTRA CONSULTING 9,300

IT PROJECT RECOVERY LIMITED 67,965

JACOBS UK LTD 370,222

JOHN FAWELL 122

JOHN GRAHAM (DROMORE) LTD 36,091

JOHN W SMITH 12,759

KIRKWOOD MANAGEMENT CONSULTANTS LTD 53,163

KPMG 1,200

MCADAM DESIGN 1,427,598

MCAULEY & BROWNE 17,000

MERCER HUMAN RESOURCE CONSULTING 53,622

MMC ASSOCIATES 6,150

MOTT MACDONALD GROUP 753,032

MOUCHEL PARKMAN SERVICES LIMITED 146,903

MULHOLLAND & DOHERTY 714,531

MWH UK LTD 254,420

NEUEDA 28,553

NICHOLAS O DWYER & PARTNERS 156,618

NICK OWEN ASSOCIATES LTD 1,922

NTUITION LTD 5,856

OLLAVE LTD 12,600

PETER J GRAHAM CONSULTANCY LTD Total 17,363

PIPELINE SIMULATION LTD Total 480

PRACTICAL PLANNING LIMITED 121,108

R ROBINSON AND SONS 240,528

RPS KIRK MCCLURE & MORTON (RPS KMM) 1,085,061

SACKER & PARTNERS 25,695

SCOTT WILSON 251,585

SERVICE & SYSTEM SOLUTIONS (SX3) LTD 6,000

STRATEGIC PLANNING 8,000

THE EVENT-FUL CONSULTANCY LTD 300

THE HELM CORPORATION LTD 440,644

WATERPEOPLE LIMITED 9,000

WDR & RT TAGGART 174,229

WEBER SHANDWICK 38,700

WHITE YOUNG GREEN 379,475

WILLIAMS IND SERVICES LTD 32,944

WJ MCDOWELL&PARTNERS 169,995

WRC PLC 16,521

WS ATKINS CONSULTANTS LTD 1,547,446

YORKSHIRE WATER 162

TOTAL 11,892,068

These costs are exclusive of VAT.

Social Development

Pensions Bill

Dr S Farry asked the Minister for Social Development to report on the progress of the Pensions Bill, including the changes to the basic state pension being introduced in GB from 2010, in relation to the reduction in the number of qualifying years to 30.

(AQW 1469/08)

The Minister for Social Development (Ms M Ritchie): The Pensions Bill, which corresponds to the Pensions Act 2007, was introduced in the Assembly on 12 November 2007.

The Bill proposes a number of changes to simplify the State Pension and improve its coverage and generosity, particularly for women and carers. One of its key features is the replacement of the existing contribution conditions for basic State Pension with a single contribution condition. The new condition provides that, for those reaching State Pension age from 6 April 2010, the number of qualifying years required to qualify for a full basic state pension will be 30 for both men and women.

Response to Correspondence

Mrs I Robinson asked the Minister for Social Development to detail the longest period of time her department has taken to provide a full response to a letter received from (i) a Member of Parliament; (ii) a Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly; (iii) a Councillor; and (iv) a member of the public, since March 2007.

(AQW 1487/08)

Ms M Ritchie: The longest period of time my Department has taken to provide a full reply to a letter received from an MP, MLA and Councillor, from date of receipt to date of reply issue, is 47 working days; and to a member of the public is 43 working days.

My department endeavours to respond to all correspondence within timescales set out in Cabinet Office Guidelines. Where it is impossible to provide a full and accurate response within these timescales, every effort is made to ensure recipients are kept fully informed as to the reason for, and likely scale of, the delay.

Housing Executive Properties

Mr S Hamilton asked the Minister for Social Development to detail the number of Northern Ireland Housing Executive properties that have been allocated in Killyleagh, in each of the past three years.

(AQW 1498/08)

Ms M Ritchie: The number of Northern Ireland Housing Executive properties allocated in Killyleagh, in each of the past three years at September in each year is as follows:

September 2007 15

September 2006 14

September 2005 12

Housing Executive Waiting List

Mr S Hamilton asked the Minister for Social Development to detail the number of people on the Northern Ireland Housing Executive waiting list, who have identified Killyleagh as one of their areas of choice.

(AQW 1499/08)

Ms M Ritchie: 106 applicants have indicated Killyleagh as a 1^st or 2^nd preference area for housing. 55 of these have more than 30 points and are therefore considered to be in housing stress.

Housing Executive Properties

Mr S Hamilton asked the Minister for Social Development to detail the number of properties owned by the Northern Ireland Housing Executive in the Moneyreagh area.

(AQW 1500/08)

Ms M Ritchie: At 31^st March 2007 the Northern Ireland Housing Executive owned 49 properties in the Moneyreagh area, 133 former NIHE dwellings having been sold to sitting tenants.

Public Housing Units

Mr D McKay asked the Minister for Social Development to detail the number of units of public housing that will be provided in (i) Ballymoney Borough Council area; (ii) Ballymena Borough Council area; and (iii) Moyle District Council area, in the next two years.

(AQW 1505/08)

Ms M Ritchie: The current Social Housing Development Programme makes provision for 14 units in the Ballymoney Borough Council area, 67 units in the Ballymena Borough Council area and 30 units in the Moyle District Council area over the next two years.

Vacant Properties

Mr D McKay asked the Minister for Social Development to detail the number of vacant residential properties in (i) Ballymoney Borough Council area; (ii) Ballymena Borough District Council area; and (iii) Moyle District Council area; and to outline what steps she will take to ensure this information is available at electoral ward level.

(AQW 1506/08)

Ms M Ritchie: The Northern Ireland Housing Executive does not hold the information requested across all tenures at electoral ward level. The information is held by District Council areas as indicated in the table below.

September 2006	Ballymoney Borough	Ballymena Borough	Moyle District
Private Sector Empty Dwellings*	400	878	431
NIHE Voids	7	125	11
NIHE Voids pending sale/demolition	1	67	0
Housing Association Voids **	3	2	1
Totals	411	1072	443

* Private Sector figures provided by Rates Collection Agency.

** The Housing Association voids information shows the position at November 2007

Disability Living Allowance and Incapacity Benefit Appeals

Mr J Shannon asked the Minister for Social Development if she will explain the reasons why Disability Living Allowance and Incapacity Benefit appeals are no longer being heard in Newtownards; and if she will confirm that this decision was taken due to financial issues.

(AQW 1515/08)

Ms M Ritchie: Disability Living Allowance and Incapacity Benefit appeals are being heard in Belfast for a trial period of 3 months from November 2007 to January 2008. The decision was made because statistics show that customers called to the Newtownards Tribunal venue have to wait on average two weeks longer for their appeals to be heard than those called to Cleaver House, Belfast.

There are procedures in place for anyone not able to attend Cleaver House, to request an 'out of centre' hearing i.e. a hearing at a suitable venue closer to their home or a hearing in their home. Customers can also elect to have their appeal decided on the basis of the papers alone, i.e. in their absence, or can be represented at a hearing in their absence.

Appeal Tribunals will re-commence in Newtownards with effect from February 2008, pending an evaluation of the impact of the trial arrangements. This will include seeking the views of customers concerned.

Disability Living Allowance and Incapacity Benefit Appeals

Mr J Shannon asked the Minister for Social Development what is her assessment of the impact of the decision to stop holding Disability Living Allowance and Incapacity Benefit appeals in Newtownards, in light of the fact that appellants must now travel to Belfast in order to have their appeal heard.

(AQW 1516/08)

Ms M Ritchie: The impact of the administrative decision to schedule hearings in Belfast as opposed to Newtownards, for a three month period from November 2007 to January 2008, cannot be quantified until an evaluation has taken place at the end of the trial. The evaluation will include a review of statistical information and customer views.

Appeal hearings will recommence in Newtownards from February 2008 pending the outcome of the evaluation.

There are procedures in place for anyone not able to attend Cleaver House, Belfast to request an 'out of centre' hearing i.e. a hearing at a suitable venue closer to their home or a hearing in their home. Customers can also elect to have their appeal decided on the basis of the papers alone, i.e. in their absence, or can be represented at a hearing in their absence.

Incapacity Benefit Appeals

Mr J Shannon asked the Minister for Social Development to detail the number of Incapacity Benefit appeals that were held in Newtownards in (i) 2004; (ii) 2005; (iii) 2006; and (iv) 2007.

(AQW 1517/08)

Ms M Ritchie: The number of Incapacity Benefit appeals which have been held in Ards Small Business Centre, Newtownards during the years 2004 to date are set out in the table below.

Year	No. of appeals
2004	83
2005	119
2006	142
2007	57 to date

Disability Living Allowance and Incapacity Benefit Appeals

Mr J Shannon asked the Minister for Social Development to detail the location of appeal centres for Disability Living Allowance and Incapacity Benefit that have been closed or relocated.

(AQW 1519/08)

Ms M Ritchie: My Department’s Appeals Service rents accommodation in various centres across Northern Ireland for the purposes of holding appeal hearings. The venue for appeal hearings in Downpatrick was relocated from Downpatrick Resource Centre to Down Business Centre in 2005. Appeal Hearings for customers from Bangor and Newtownards have been relocated from Ards Business Centre, Newtownards to Cleaver House, Belfast for a trial period of three months from November 2007 to Janauary 2008, afterwhich an evaluation of the service will be undertaken. Pending this evaluation, the Ards Small Business Centre arrangements will be reinstated.

Social Housing Units

Mr W Clarke asked the Minister for Social Development to detail the number of social housing units that have single glazed windows; and to give a timescale within which double glazing will be installed in these properties.

(AQW 1530/08)

Ms M Ritchie: The 2006 House Condition Survey estimates that approximately 26,240 Northern Ireland Housing Executive properties and 2,440 Housing Association properties have single glazing.

There is no specific programme of improvement of window glazing in social dwellings. Policy is to replace windows only at the end of their useful life. One of the criteria against which dwellings are being inspected for the Decent Homes Standard is that all homes should provide a reasonable degree of thermal comfort. The need for window replacement will be considered as part of this process. If considered necessary and practicable, replacement works will be planned in conjunction with other works and improvements scheduled for the dwellings. Double glazing is not however a requirement to achieve thermal comfort.

Women's Centres Partnership

Ms J McCann asked the Minister for Social Development to give her assessment on whether or not the interim evaluation of the women's centres partnership, commissioned by her department and carried out by the Department of Finance and Personnel, addresses the gaps in funding for the women's sector as a whole.

(AQW 1540/08)

Ms M Ritchie: The Women’s Centres Regional Partnership (WCRP) was set up following a recommendation of the cross departmental ‘Review of Women’s Organisations Delivering Support and Services to Disadvantaged Communities’ (September 2005).

My department commissioned an interim evaluation of WCRP. The evaluation was completed in August 2007 by the Delivery and Innovation Division of the Department of Finance and Personnel. The report concluded that WCRP has made significant progress against objectives agreed with my Department. My Department will commission a full evaluation of WCRP towards the end of the current Contract for Funding, March 2009.

WCRP’s role is to provide direct support to the 14 women’s centres that deliver frontline services to disadvantaged communities, not to address the gaps in funding for the women's sector as a whole.

Neighbourhood Action Plans

Ms J McCann asked the Minister for Social Development if she will explain the reasons why (i) her department has informed community organisations in West Belfast that they are not entitled to funding unless the services provided, and the groups providing such services, have been identified within draft Neighbourhood Action Plans; and (ii) these Neighbourhood Action Plans have been reclassified as Agendas for Change, without any guarantee of future funding.

(AQW 1541/08)

Ms M Ritchie: (i) DSD has not advised community organisations in West Belfast that they are not entitled to funding unless the services, and the service providers, have been identified in Neighbourhood Renewal Action Plans. The Department provides funding for community activity through a number of programmes, including Neighbourhood Renewal. Community-based organisations have however been advised that Neighbourhood Renewal funding will be used to support services and activities where these clearly address local priorities and needs as identified in Neighbourhood Renewal Action Plans, developed and agreed by individual Neighbourhood Partnerships. This does not entitle a group to funding or remove the possibility of a group receiving funding.

(ii) Neighbourhood Renewal Action Plans, developed by Neighbourhood Partnerships to identify and prioritise local needs have not been reclassified as Agendas for Change. These plans remain central to the successful implementation of Neighbourhood Renewal. Whilst some of the actions in these plans lend themselves to early implementation, others will require further discussion with relevant statutory bodies to ensure they provide the most appropriate and effective response to the identified need. As such, these Action Plans provide what is sometimes referred to as an "agenda for action" in each neighbourhood. Neighbourhood Renewal funding is not guaranteed for any service or group, all funding decisions depend on the extent to which services are identified as necessary to meet locally prioritised needs.

Disability Living Allowance Appeals

Mr J Shannon asked the Minister for Social Development to detail the number of Disability Living Allowance appeals that were held in Newtownards in (i) 2004; (ii) 2005; (iii) 2006; and (iv) 2007.

(AQW 1545/08)

Ms M Ritchie: The number of Disability Living Allowance appeals which have been held in Ards Small Business Centre, Newtownards during the years 2004 to date are set out in the table below.

Year	No. of appeals
2004	258
2005	295
2006	331
2007	160 to date

Pension Credit

Mr P McGlone asked the Minister for Social Development to detail (i) the number of applications for Pension Credit that are currently being processed; (ii) the number of these applications that have taken longer than 12 clearance days to be processed; and (iii) the specific causes for the delay in cases where processing has taken longer than 12 clearance days.

(AQW 1552/08)

Ms M Ritchie: Pension Credit applications cannot be processed until all supporting evidence has been received. At 31 October 2007 Pension Service had 335 applications with all supporting evidence and a further 1299 awaiting information from customers.

(ii) It is not possible to provide information on individual cases which are over 12 days, as the clearance time for processing Pension Credit new claims is measured as an Actual Average Clearance time from the point at which claimants have supplied all necessary supporting evidence.

(iii) The main reason for delay in processing Pension Credit applications is because the customer has not provided all supporting evidence to meet the legislative requirement.

Housing Executive Properties

Mr W Clarke asked the Minister for Social Development to detail the number of houses built by each NI Housing Executive district office area in each of the last five years.

(AQW 1562/08)

Ms M Ritchie: The table below details the new build starts in each Northern Ireland Housing Executive district office area in each of the last five years.

NIHE District	2002/03	2003/04	2004/05	2005/06	2006/07
	Units	Units	Units	Units	Units
Antrim	2	16	14	35	41
Armagh	0	19	23	0	11
Ballycastle	0	2	0	0	0
Ballymena	20	0	1	11	0
Ballymoney	2	32	11	0	0
Banbridge	1	0	0	38	0
Belfast East	57	99	60	158	83
Belfast North	209	300	196	312	121
Belfast South	42	78	45	144	88
Belfast Shankill	38	15	86	68	15
Belfast West	101	192	335	321	101
Bangor	27	76	29	9	99
Carrickfergus	30	56	19	26	5
Castlereagh	0	4	14	39	82
Derry (Collon Terrace)	30	61	43	50	146
(Derry) Waterloo Place	15	6	104	10	0
(Derry) Waterside	4	15	1	0	0
Coleraine	45	60	0	40	3
Cookstown	0	6	0	5	0
Downpatrick	7	39	30	22	13
Dungannon	0	7	10	0	22
Enniskillen	59	53	37	4	42
Larne	0	1	14	0	0
Limavady	7	21	1	6	0
Lisburn Antrim Street	22	43	56	93	46
Lisburn Diary Farm	91	210	76	39	50
Lurgan & Brownlow	0	27	20	0	4
Magherafelt	6	0	3	0	0
Newtownabbey 1	0	0	0	0	0
Newtownabbey 2	0	0	5	27	0
Newry	33	19	52	27	34
Newtownards	4	10	5	28	17
Omagh	22	32	7	7	0
Portadown	18	0	1	0	0
Strabane	8	27	19	0	9

TOTALS	900	1,526	1,317	1,519	1,032

Homelessness

Mr W Clarke asked the Minister for Social Development to detail the amount of funding that has been provided by her department to tackle homelessness in each of the last two financial years.

(AQW 1563/08)

Ms M Ritchie: Expenditure on the Social Housing Development Programme in 2005/06 and 2006/07 amounted to £122.7m and £131.7m respectively. Outside of the Development Programme the amount of funding provided through my Department to tackle homelessness in each of the last two years was as follows:

	2005/2006	2006/2007
Temporary accommodation provision*	£8.75m	£8.6m
Funding for voluntary bodies**	£1.67m	£2.03m
Supporting People programme***	£18.8m	£19.6m

* Expenditure on temporary accommodation provision (including housing benefit provision). This does not include those homeless applicants who self referred to voluntary sector accommodation.

** Funding to a range of voluntary bodies for special projects to tackle and prevent homelessness, demonstrating the Housing Executive’s continued commitment.

*** The Supporting People programme (totalling £56m in 2006/07), provided funding across a range of floating support services and supported accommodation schemes. The proportion of the Supporting People budget outlined in the table includes services to the homeless, victims of domestic violence and vulnerable young people affected by homelessness.

Pension Credit

Mr S Hamilton asked the Minister for Social Development to detail the number of pension credit applications that are currently outstanding.

(AQW 1566/08)

Bookmaker's Licencing

Mr P Butler asked the Minister for Social Development if she will review the Betting, Gaming, Lotteries and Amusements (Northern Ireland) Order 1985, in light of recent comments by the Lord Chief Justice for Northern Ireland, in relation to the transfer of a bookmaker's licence to new premises and to the need for new legislation.

(AQW 1588/08)

Ms M Ritchie: The issue of a change in the law to allow the transfer of a bookmaking office licence from one premises to another has been noted for detailed consideration. Given that any changes would need to be considered in relation to the licensing of gambling more widely, and involve changes to primary legislation, this would be best undertaken when an opportunity arises for a wider review of gambling law.

Disability Living Allowance

Mr J Dallat asked the Minister for Social Development to detail the number of women recovering from breast cancer who have been refused Disability Living Allowance.

(AQW 1594/08)

Ms M Ritchie: My Department does not hold the information requested, as any data held refers to awards of benefit only and not to cases that have been disallowed.

Hospitality Expenditure

Mr S Moutray asked the Minister for Social Development to detail her department's expenditure on official hospitality in each of the last five years.

(AQW 1630/08)

Ms M Ritchie: The Department’s expenditure on official hospitality in each of the last five years is detailed below.

2002/03	2003/04	2004/05	2005/06	2006/07
£20,392.36	£19,513.85	£27,978.66	£27,255.31	£27,883.93

Disability Living Allowance

Mr R Beggs asked the Minister for Social Development to detail the number of people per 1000 of working age, who are in receipt of Disability Living Allowance, broken down by (i) local government ward area; and (ii) parliamentary constituency.

(AQW 1634/08)

Ms M Ritchie: My department does not hold all the information requested, however I have placed in the Library tables giving information on the number of people per 1000 of working age, who are in receipt of Disability Living Allowance, broken down by Ward area, Parliamentary Constituency, and Local Government District. Also included is the number of Disability Living Allowance recipients expressed as a percentage of Parliamentary Constituency and Local Government District population, however we do not have the population figures available at Ward level.

The figures given reflect the number of claims where an amount of Disability living Allowance is in payment at the date of extract.

Renewing Communities Programme

Mr A Bresland asked the Minister for Social Development to detail the names of groups and amounts of funding that have been made available under the Renewing Communities programme.

(AQW 1653/08)

Ms M Ritchie: The Renewing Communities Action Plan, launched in April 2006, identified over 60 actions spread across 8 individual Departments. The total value of the proposed actions, which included a number of major mainstream and baseline funded programmes, was in excess of £200m. Additional funding, however, of £28.6m was secured to support a number of innovative pilot projects spread over the two years from April 2006 to March 2008.

Details of all indicative allocations made from this additional funding on a Departmental basis have been placed in the Library. The details on allocation of funding and monitoring of expenditure for specific actions are held by each lead Department and their delivery agencies. Furthermore a list of groups supported under Renewing Communities Actions for which DSD is the lead Department has also been placed in the Library.

Bereavement Allowance

Mr A Bresland asked the Minister for Social Development to detail (i) the number of people in receipt of Bereavement Allowance; and (ii) the amount of money paid out in Bereavement Allowance, in each of the last three years.

(AQW 1656/08)

Ms M Ritchie: (i) My Department is unable to provide the specific information requested on the number of recipients of Bereavement Allowance. The relevant data currently provided on this area combines the numbers of the recipients for Bereavement Allowance together with the recipients of other widows and bereavement related benefits e.g Widowed Parents Allowance etc, therefore the requested information is not separately available.

(ii) Expenditure on Bereavement Allowance is as follows:

Financial Year	Expenditure
2004/2005	£12.7m
2005/2006	£11.5m
2006/2007	£10.9m

Regeneration Programmes

Mrs M O'Neill asked the Minister for Social Development to detail her department's current role in funding regeneration programmes in cities, towns and villages; and whether or not this has changed in recent times.

(AQW 1657/08)

Ms M Ritchie: My Department’s role is to improve the physical, social and economic well-being of cities and towns across Northern Ireland by maximising investment potential and attracting more people back to work, shop and socialise in them. The Department undertakes this work in settlements with a population of more than four and a half thousand residents using a mix of public and private sector investment and contributions from the European Union’s Structural funds and the International Fund for Ireland.

Responsibility for funding regeneration programmes in villages rests with the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development.

The key change in recent years has been the move by my Department to a more strategic approach to regeneration, identifying and tailoring solutions as opposed to the previous "react and repair" nature of our work.

This is underpinned by the Neighbourhood Renewal strategy and the recently launched good practice guide, "Vital & Viable", which sets out my Department’s suggested approach to the regeneration of city and town centres using an overarching framework.

Regeneration Programmes

Mr M Storey asked the Minister for Social Development what plans she has for the regeneration of (i) Ballymoney; (ii) Ballycastle; and (iii) Moyle.

(AQW 1669/08)

Ms M Ritchie: In Ballymoney, my Department will complete the ‘Experience Ballymoney’ project funded under the Town Centre Promotions and Marketing Programme; take forward a small number of projects under the Urban Development Grant pilot scheme and work up plans for an environmental improvement scheme on the Main Street and Castlecroft in conjunction with our colleagues in DRD Roads Service.

In Ballycastle, the Department has provided support for the appointment of a Project Officer to produce and implement a regeneration strategy for Ballycastle. It is expected that the strategy will be completed by the end of March 2008. Any future DSD activity in Ballycastle will depend on the contents of the regeneration strategy.

As Ballycastle is the only part of Moyle District which is designated as an urban settlement, my Department has no plans for regeneration activity in any part of the district outside Ballycastle.

Disability Living Allowance

Mr J Dallat asked the Minister for Social Development to detail the number of cancer patients who have undergone surgery or been treated with chemotherapy/radiotherapy, and who have been refused Disability Living Allowance.

(AQW 1730/08)

Ms M Ritchie: My Department does not hold the information requested as any data held refers only to awards of benefit and not to cases that have been disallowed. Where benefit has been awarded the data held relates to the main disabling condition that gives rise to the current award of benefit and not to the treatment undertaken.

Freedom of Information Requests

Mr G Robinson asked the Minister for Social Development to detail the cost to her department of dealing with Freedom of Information requests, in each of the last five years.

(AQW 1738/08)

Ms M Ritchie: The Department for Social Development – in common with all NI Departments – does not normally calculate or record information on the cost of individual FOI requests. In short, this information is not held.The NICS position corresponds to that of the Whitehall Departments.

Warm Homes Scheme

Ms C Ní Chuilín asked the Minister for Social Development to detail the number of people living in North Belfast who will benefit from the Warm Homes Scheme this year.

(AQW 1824/08)

Ms M Ritchie: Since April 2007 in North Belfast, BT14 and BT15 postal code areas, there have been 52 heating installations and 111 house insulations completed. There are 40 more heating installations and 29 house insulations in progress in the area. There are a further 66 heating installations which have been surveyed and most of these will be completed before the end of March 2008. Therefore by the end of the year there should be a total of 158 heating installations completed in North Belfast homes.

CORRIGENDA

Written Answer Booklet of 26 October 2007

(Volume 24, No WA5)

In page WA245, col 2, replace the answer to question (AQW 1085/08) with;

I have been advised that the amount spent by each Education and Library Board in the 2005/06 and 2006/07 financial years is:

2005-06	BELB	NEELB	SEELB	SELB	WELB
	£	£	£	£	£
Refurbishment of Offices	10,000	71,031	-	5,000	387,218
Travel expenses of Administrative staff	14,000	91,845	34,391	130,000	100,443
Travel expenses of Advisory staff	42,000	157,114	92,127	217,000	237,680

2006-07	BELB	NEELB	SEELB	SELB	WELB
	£	£	£	£	£
Refurbishment of Offices	33,000	-	-	28,000	148,334
Travel expenses of Administrative staff	16,000	108,027	35,218	108,000	103,166
Travel expenses of Advisory staff	35,000	144,092	92,693	184,000	222,845

Written Answer Booklet of 16 November 2007

(Volume 25, No WA 2)

In page WA65, col 1, replace the answer to question (AQO 735/08) with;

All Ministers are already accountable to the Assembly through a range of mechanisms. There are the scheduled question times for each Minister and the normal procedures for answering Written questions; Ministerial statements and their subsequent questions sessions; the statements presented to the House following each North South Ministerial Council and British Irish Council meeting; and of course each Minister’s interaction with their Departmental Committee.

As co-chairs of the Executive, we ensure that all relevant Executive decisions are shared with the Assembly immediately after the Executive meeting in which they are taken.

In addition, we have given Junior Ministers responsibility for co-ordinating all Executive business in the Assembly and have asked the Assembly to consider allowing written Ministerial statements, a step which would facilitate the timely reporting of all Ministerial and Executive business.

We consider that collectively these processes provide a robust mechanism by which Ministers can be held to account. We do not believe it necessary to consider any further measures at this time.

Year	Number of pupils
2002/03	13,782
2003/04	14,134
2004/05	14,262
2005/06	14,239
2006/07	14,030

Friday 23 November 2007

Written Answers to Questions

Office of the First Minister and deputy First Minister Agriculture and Rural Development Culture, Arts and Leisure Education Employment and Learning Enterprise, Trade and Investment Environment Finance and Personnel Health, Social Services and Public Safety Regional Development Social Development

Office of the First Minister and deputy First Minister

Victims' Groups

Year

Amount (£)

Junior Ministers

Draft Programme for Government 2008-11

Byron Review - Children and New Technology

Pledge of Office

Agriculture and Rural Development

Community Facilities at Seskinore Forest, Co. Tyrone

Forestry

Tourism on the Foyle River

Agri-Food and Biosciences

Castlederg Nursery

Construction of Gabions

Response to Correspondence

From

Days taken to Reply

Coastline Defences

Bovine Tuberculosis and Brucellosis

Tuberculosis and Brucellosis in Livestock

Culture, Arts and Leisure

National Memorial Committee

National Memorial Committee

National Memorial Committee

Comprehensive Spending Review

Table 1 : Resource Bids

Bid

Title

Resource amount required

2008-09

2009-10

2010-11

Total

5.337

5.883

10.315

21.535

11.825

21.323

25.447

58.595

4.685

7.366

9.319

21.370

10.349

11.755

12.176

34.280

Bid

Title

Resource amount required

2008-09

2009-10

2010-11

Total

Priority Funding

5.194

5.228

5.264

15.686

Accessing and Connecting

Collections - Digitisation

1.694

2.154

2.325

6.173

RPA and Reform

7.746

8.110

4.145

20.001

Salmon and Eel

management

1.300

2.170

Office of the First Minister and deputy First Minister
Agriculture and Rural Development
Culture, Arts and Leisure
Education
Employment and Learning
Enterprise, Trade and Investment
Environment
Finance and Personnel
Health, Social Services and Public Safety
Regional Development
Social Development