Mr Carrick asked the Minister of Enterprise, Trade and Investment to outline the progress made to provide natural gas for industry in the south-east region of Northern Ireland.

(AQO 628/00)

The Minister of Enterprise, Trade and Investment (Sir Reg Empey): I am continuing to encourage the development of the gas industry outside the Greater Belfast area, including the south-east region. This development is, however, primarily a matter for the private sector.

(AQO 615/00)

Sir Reg Empey: The new Tourism Company is owned jointly by the Northern Ireland Tourist Board and Bord Fáilte. Half of its board, including the chairman, are Northern Ireland nominees. There will also be clear guidance that the company’s promotional efforts should take account of the need to develop tourism in Northern Ireland against the background of the problems faced by our industry over the past 30 years.

(AQO 614/00)

Sir Reg Empey: A project implementation team has been now established to take this work forward. Work has commenced on the drafting of the necessary legislation and the process of appointing board members and recruiting a chief executive designate will begin as soon as possible.

(AQO 627/00)

Sir Reg Empey: I have had initial discussions with Bord Gais Eíreann about its interest in bringing gas to Northern Ireland from the Republic of Ireland.

(AQO 623/00)

Sir Reg Empey: Success by my Department in promoting economic growth will improve wage levels overall; but Departments need to work together to ensure that men and women benefit equally. My Department will be fully involved in developing cross-departmental policies to tackle gender inequality as set out in the Programme for Government.

(AQO 603/00)

Sir Reg Empey: The viability of such pipelines can only be assessed if and when fully costed private sector projects are submitted.

(AQO 633/00)

Sir Reg Empey: The Department of Enterprise Trade and Investment has no figures relating to the loss to Northern Ireland business resulting from the purchase of illegally imported tobacco and fuel. Responsibility for controlling illegal imports lies with HM Customs & Excise.

(AQO 613/00)

Sir Reg Empey: I would like to offer my thanks to Mr Roy Beggs MP who secured the opportunity to host a ‘Best of Northern Ireland’ exhibition.

This provides an excellent opportunity to promote Northern Ireland and in particular to emphasise examples of innovation and excellence drawn from all aspects of Northern Ireland life.

(AQO 609/00)

Sir Reg Empey: DETI’s website is currently being updated, and it is expected that the initial design and construction work will be complete by mid-February. The web site will include extensive links through to existing agency web sites and ultimately to the new single agency web site.

(AQO 624/00)

Sir Reg Empey: My Department owns 906 acres of land in the Belfast metropolitan area of which 404 acres remain available for development by IDB and LEDU client companies.

There are also significant industrial landholdings not in DETI’s ownership; including the Belfast Harbour Commissioners’ land and the Harland & Wolff land at Queen’s Island and the former Howden Sirocco site at Short Strand.

Mr Paisley Jnr asked the Minister of the Environment to outline when the rebate for road hauliers will be paid.

(AQW 1323/00)

The Minister of the Environment (Mr Foster): Vehicle excise duty (VED) is an excepted matter under the Northern Ireland Act 1998 and is the responsibility of the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions.

However, collection of VED, including the adminis- tration of any associated rebates are carried out in Northern Ireland by Driver and Vehicle Licensing Northern Ireland, an agency within DOE, under the terms of a formal agency agreement between my Department and the Department of Environment, Transport and the Regions.

In Northern Ireland approximately 9,000 hauliers were eligible for rebates. An invitation letter, incorporating an application form, has been issued to all those identified as eligible.

As at 22 January 2001, applications had been received from 86% (7,741) of those eligible, and rebate payments had been made to 82% (7,416). Payments to the remainder will be dispatched within 10 working days of receipt of their application.

(AQW 1390/00)

Mr Foster: I am pleased that my Department has been given an extra £3·5million for waste management in the 2001-02 Budget.

In November 2000 I wrote to all district councils indicating that most of this additional funding would be made available to assist them with the implementation of their waste management plans. The precise amounts and mechanism for distribution will depend on the proposals presented.

My officials are in the process of completing the arrangements for the appointment of the Waste Management Advisory Board. The board will play a key role in guiding the market development programme set out in the Northern Ireland waste management strategy.

The programme, which will involve my Department, the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment and other key stakeholders, will assist eligible projects designed to develop sustainable markets for recycled materials and products.

(AQW 1416/00)

Mr Foster: The European Commission has recently sought views through a communication on the Internet about its plans for the revision of this Directive.

Once my Department has assessed the initial implications it will write to all district councils within the next few months to inform them about the Commission’s proposals and to seek their views.

Mr Dodds asked the Minister of Finance and Personnel to give his assessment of the increase in the rates bill next year for (a) domestic ratepayers and (b) non-domestic ratepayers following the 8% increase in the regional rate.

(AQW 1296/00)

The Minister of Finance and Personnel (Mr Durkan): It is not possible to give a final assessment of the increase in the rates bill next year, until the regional rate increase is confirmed by the Assembly in March and the district rate struck by each district council becomes known, sometime after 15 February. However, given the proposed 8% and 6·6% regional rates increases for domestic and non-domestic ratepayers respectively, it is possible to provide a projection of the likely increases in regional domestic and non-domestic rate bills. The estimated increases are £16 for domestic regional rate bills and £299 for non-domestic regional rate bills. Domestic ratepayers on low incomes may be eligible for housing benefit to offset their bills in whole or in part.

(AQW 1346/00)

Mr Durkan: It is not possible to assess precisely the impact of the aggregates tax on departmental budgets and capital programmes from April 2002 and beyond as these have only been set inductively. The future price of aggregates is also uncertain. However, based on current spending patterns I have been advised that the greatest impact would fall on the Department for Regional Development where the initial assessment is that the tax would impose additional costs of about £7 million per annum. Most of these costs would be borne by the Roads Service maintenance and capital programmes where the introduction of the tax is expected to increase costs by 7·5% (£5 million to £6 million). It is further estimated that the Water Service will face additional costs of some £1 million.

Other Departments with significant capital programmes including Education and Health, Social Services and Public Safety expect their total construction costs to rise by less than 1%. The Department of Agriculture and Rural Development estimates that the Rivers Agency will incur additional costs of around £80,000 per annum. The remaining Departments do not expect a significant increase in their costs.

(AQW 1347/00)

Mr Durkan: Information regarding work stocks is based on the financial year rather than the calendar year. Unfortunately, therefore, information is not available on the outstanding registrations at these dates. However, there were 13,603 outstanding registrations as at 31 March 2000 compared to a current figure of 18,850 as at 17 January 2001.

(AQW 1422/00)

Mr Durkan: The numbers of suicides recorded in each local government district area between 1990 and 1999 are given in the table below. The more detailed information requested has been placed in the Assembly Library.

(AQW 1432/00)

Mr Durkan: European Union regional aid to Northern Ireland over the last five years has been primarily channelled through the 1994-99 Northern Ireland single programme, worth some £930 million. In addition, assistance was provided through the European Union special support programme for peace and reconciliation (EUSSPPR) and nine Community initiatives. These were worth almost £300 million and some £97 million respectively.

During the next round of funding – 2000-06 – it is anticipated that the total assistance available will be approximately some £866 million encompassing the transitional Objective 1 programme, Peace II programme and the Community initiatives (respectively £540 million, £258 million and £68 million).

(AQW 1439/00)

Mr Durkan: I refer you to my answer to AQW1252/00, and in particular to paragraphs (c) and (d).

(AQW 1533/00)

Mr Durkan: I will ensure that the relevance to Northern Ireland of the proposals in the White Paper ‘Our Countryside: The Future, A Fair Deal for Rural England’ are fully considered in the context of the wider rating policy review to which Programme for Government commits us.

(AQO 705/00)

Mr Durkan: The departmental office estate is the responsibility of Accommodation and Construction Division of the department of Finance and Personnel.

The Department has been pursuing the target set for all Government buildings of a 20% improvement in energy efficiency by the end of March 2000, judged against 1990-91 levels. Over that period, performance by the departmental office estate improved by about 8%.

This result, while disappointing, has been achieved against a background of constantly rising demand, in particular for electricity arising from the vastly increased use of IT equipment – often accompanied by air conditioning – and other forms of office equipment.

(AQO 733/00)

Mr Durkan: In January I announced that Sir Herman Ousely has agreed to chair the review team. Other nominations to the review team have been contacted as to their availability and membership is now being finalised. I will be bringing proposals back to the Executive Committee before making a public statement on the arrangements for the review, terms of reference and composition of the review team. It is my intention that the review will commence in early March and be complete in approximately six months.

The proposed terms of reference of the review have been cast relatively broadly to maximise the opportunity which the review provides. The review provides an opportunity to address not only the practical ways of speedily enhancing the representation of under-represented groups, but also to consider the efficiency of procedures against the business needs of Ministers and officials in a devolved Administration. It also provides an opportunity to consider the roles of Ministers, civil servants and Civil Service Commissioners and other issues such as perceived obstacles to participation including nationality requirements

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