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| Thursday 31 August 2000 Sewerage (Tullyroan) Mr Berry asked the Minister for Regional Development what plans exist to improve the sewerage works at Tullyroan in County Armagh. (AQW 756/99) The Minister for Regional Development (Mr P Robinson): The need to replace or upgrade the Tullyroan waste-water treatment works is accepted, and a scheme has been included in the Water Service’s capital works programme. An appraisal of options is being carried out. This includes the possibility of a new site for the works. Work on site is programmed to commence in 2001, subject to the availability of funding and the acquisition of any land that may be required. Road Schemes (Newry/Armagh) Mr Berry asked the Minister for Regional Development what is the current capital allocation for road schemes in Newry/Armagh. (AQW 759/99) Mr P Robinson: The capital resources available to my Department’s Roads Service include funds for major and minor capital works. These funds are not allocated on a constituency basis. In the case of major capital works, funds are not apportioned on an area basis, and schemes included in the Roads Service major works preparation pool have been prioritised following their assessment against a broad range of criteria, such as strategic planning policy, traffic flows, number of accidents, potential travel save times, environmental impact and value for money. In the current year the Roads Service has some £11·5 million available for major capital works. In the case of minor capital works, funds are apportioned to each of the four Roads Service divisions, which, in turn, suballocate across district council areas. The allocation process is carried out with a needs-based priority approach, using criteria which take account of the length of roads, traffic flows, number of accidents et cetera. Of the £10 million that is available for minor capital works (excluding street lighting and car parks) in the current year, a total of some £820,000 has been allocated to the district council areas of Newry and Mourne, and Armagh. Road Safety (Portadown-Armagh Road) Mr Berry asked the Minister for Regional Development how many accidents on the main Portadown to Armagh Road have been recorded for each of the last 10 years and what steps have been taken to improve safety on this road. (AQW 760/99) The Minister for Regional Development (Mr Campbell): The provision of information in relation to road accidents is a reserved matter. I have therefore asked the Northern Ireland Office to respond directly on this issue. As regards the steps that have been taken to improve safety on this road, my Department’s Roads Service has: 1. completed an accident remedial scheme at the Artabrackagh Road junction in 1996 (this scheme involved the widening of the Portadown to Armagh road to provide facilities for right-turning traffic and the provision of new and improved street lighting); 2. constructed a roundabout at the Legacorry Road junction (Stonebridge) near Richhill in 1996 to regulate traffic movements at this busy junction; 3. completed an improvement scheme at the Sandymount junction earlier this year to improve visibility; and 4. carried out a number of traffic management measures along the route over a number of years, including the provision of edge-of-carriageway road studs to improve visibility for drivers at night, warning signs on the dual section of road near Armagh and bend warning signs near the Cloghan Road junction. In addition the Roads Service has carried out regular routine maintenance along the route, including resurfacing, winter gritting and the maintenance of signs, verge marker posts, street lighting and roadmarkings, and has engaged consultants to carry out a study of the road to identify the need for further improvements. Road Schemes (Capital Allocation) Mrs I Robinson asked the Minister for Regional Development what is the current allocation of capital for road schemes in each of the 18 constituencies. (AQW 763/99) Mr P Robinson: The capital resources available to my Department’s Roads Service include funds for major and minor capital works. These funds are not allocated on a constituency basis. In the case of major capital works, funds are not apportioned on an area basis, and schemes included in the Roads Service major works preparation pool have been prioritised following their assessment against a broad range of criteria, such as strategic planning policy, traffic flows, number of accidents, potential travel save times, environmental impact and value for money. In the current year the Roads Service has some £11·5 million available for major capital works. In the case of minor capital works, funds are apportioned to each of the four Roads Service divisions, which, in turn, suballocate across district council areas. The allocation process is carried out with a needs-based priority approach, using criteria which take account of the length of roads, traffic flows, number of accidents, et cetera. The table below shows the Roads Service allocation for minor capital works (excluding street lighting and car parks) in the current year across district council areas. Roads Service Minor Capital Works Allocation 2000-01 (£,000)
Roads Service Property: Mr Ford asked the Minister for Regional Development how many flags have been removed by the Roads Service from public property under its responsibility in each of the last five years. (AQW 795/99) Mr P Robinson: My Department’s Roads Service does not maintain records of the numbers of flags removed from its property. A small number of flags and banners have, however, been removed in recent years. The former where there was strong support from local residents and following advice from the RUC and the latter where they were deemed to be a danger to road users. Mr Ford asked the Minister for Regional Development what policy he will pursue in relation to paramilitary flags on Roads Service property; and if he will make a statement. (AQW 797/99) Mr P Robinson: I refer the Member for South Antrim to the answer I gave to the Member for North Down, Mrs E Bell, in response to oral question 278/99. My answer is detailed on pages 181 and 182 of the Hansard for19 June 2000. Suffolk/Black’s Road Estate Mr Maskey asked the Minister for Social Development to detail, in relation to housing in the Suffolk/Black’s Road estate, Belfast, (i) how many dwellings have been demolished, (ii) how many dwellings remain; (iii) how many dwellings are unoccupied; (iv) how much has been spent on refurbishment of housing stock, associated landscaping and groundworks. (AQW 772/99) The Minister for Social Development (Mr Morrow): When the Housing Executive took over responsibility for Suffolk/Black’s Road estate in 1973 there were 544 properties, of which 151 have since been demolished. Currently 393 properties remain in the estate, and 14 of these are unoccupied. Since the 1980s, a total of £2·542 million has been spent on refurbishment of dwellings, and £161,000 on associated landscaping and ground work. Disability Living Allowance/ Mr Shannon asked the Minister for Social Development whether he has plans to introduce legislation to enable those who have been refused disability living allowance or incapacity benefit to continue receiving full benefit until the appeal process is concluded. (AQW 789/99) Mr Morrow: The legislation relating to payment of benefit and appeals in Northern Ireland is identical with that in Great Britain. There are no plans to introduce legislation to enable those people who have failed to satisfy the conditions of entitlement for receipt of either disability living allowance or incapacity benefit to continue to receive benefit paid in full until the result of the appeal is known. It would be an inappropriate use of public funds to continue to pay benefit once a decision had been made that entitlement should stop. People appealing against a decision to disallow incapacity benefit may register as available for work, and can qualify for jobseeker’s allowance pending the outcome of the appeal. Doing so would not prejudice their appeal. People who do not make themselves available for work pending the appeal may claim income support, but a reduced personal rate is payable. Income support is made available in these cases in recognition that claimants who do not agree that they are capable of work would not necessarily wish to work, or present themselves as well enough to work, until their appeal had been decided. Housing Executive Property: Mr Ford asked the Minister for Social Development what policy he will pursue in relation to paramilitary murals on Housing Executive property. (AQW 836/99) Mr Morrow: I will continue with the current policy whereby the Housing Executive undertakes the removal of these murals. The Housing Executive’s consultation paper ‘Towards a Community Relations Strategy’ will, in addition, put in place new procedural arrangements to ensure effective delivery of a community relations/community safety plan. The plan stresses the need for inter-agency working when tackling the issue of sectarianism on an incremental basis and always with community support. A number of local inter-agency partnerships have been set up to co-ordinate their efforts and to strategically target resources on given estates. The plan also includes provision for the removal of graffiti and symbols, by providing assistance to the local community, and for action to be monitored and reported on by April 2001. Mr Ford asked the Minister for Social Development how many paramilitary murals have been removed by the Housing Executive from public property under its responsibility in each of the last five years. (AQW 837/99) Mr Morrow: This is a matter for the chief executive of the Housing Executive, who has advised me that murals have been removed as follows:
While the number of sectarian murals removed is small, districts are continually working with community groups in cleaning up sectarian graffiti on estates. Districts either arrange for graffiti removal through measured term contracts or provide paint and brushes to communities that will do the work themselves. Community endorsement and a desire to remove sectarian graffiti from estates underpin all this ongoing work. No record of this type of activity is maintained. Assembly Computer Systems Mr Gibson asked the Assembly Commission if failures have occurred in Assembly computer systems since devolution and to confirm that systems to be installed for the use of Members of the Assembly will be secure. (AQW 808/99) Reply: The computer systems used by Members within Parliament Buildings are secured against unauthorised use by the application of a number of security countermeasures, which afford varying degrees of protection depending on their adoption by the Members and their staff. The Assembly’s computer network is protected against unauthorised access and use from within and outside the network by a number of sophisticated security systems. These systems also monitor attempted breaches of security. We are aware that there has been one unsuccessful attempt to breach security. The Member may be interested to know that we are currently implementing a new user accreditation process (using an electronic identification system) and data encryption services which will provide even stronger defence against unauthorised access to information processed, communicated and stored by the Assembly’s network. The computer systems to be supplied to Members for use in constituency offices will be equipped with security systems similar to those employed within Parliament Buildings. They will offer protection of the computer systems and the telecommunication links with the Assembly’s network. |