Mr Gibson asked the Minister of Enterprise, Trade and Investment to detail discussions he has had with other Departments to reduce the regulatory burden on small businesses.

(AQW 1567/00)

The Minister of Enterprise, Trade and Investment (Sir Reg Empey): I attach great importance to reducing regulatory burdens on small businesses. All Government Departments are required to carry out regulatory impact assessments for any legislation affecting business. These are required to be signed off by the Department’s Minister.

I have instigated recently a series of consultations with business representatives about the aspects of regulation most in need of action and I intend to put a paper with my recommendations to the Executive within the next few months.

(AQW 1576/00)

Sir Reg Empey: My Department’s policy is to promote competition in the Northern Ireland energy market within the wider all-island and European context. Competition already exists in the well-established coal and oil sectors. Action has been taken to implement the EU Directives on the liberalisation of the electricity and gas markets. The required level of opening up of the electricity market will be achieved two years before the April 2003 deadline. The gas market is already open to competition beyond the level required by the EU Gas Directive.

Current action aimed at extending competition in the energy sector includes: a further stage in opening up the electricity market on 1 April 2001; the securing of EU financial assistance for the construction of the Moyle electricity interconnector with Scotland with 75% of the capacity open to immediate third-party access and the further strengthening of the links between the NIE and ESB networks; the regulator’s invitation for applications for gas licences outside the Greater Belfast area; the ongoing discussions with the Government of the Republic of Ireland on North/South gas interconnection; and the support for the development of renewable energy sources and combined heat and power projects.

(AQW 1577/00)

Sir Reg Empey: My Department is entirely committed to assisting the development of a knowledge-based economy in Northern Ireland.

The IDB’s activities in attracting inward investment now target the knowledge-based sectors of software, telecommunications, network services and e-business. Significant recent achievements include the investments by companies such as Acer Inc, CMAC, Avalanche Technology, Gem.com and TeleTech, which together represent a total investment of £50 million and offer the prospect of 2,089 new jobs.

The IDB and LEDU encourage existing businesses, including those in traditional industries, to develop their capabilities by embracing technology. They do this by providing support that will enable local companies to achieve the highest standard of business excellence, to embrace e-business and to expand sales overseas.

New programmes such as enterprise excellence and fast forward finance have been developed to ensure that those small knowledge-based businesses which offer high growth potential are provided with appropriate development assistance and financial support.

I was also delighted recently to be able to launch an industry trade guide for the Northern Ireland Tourist Board (NITB) to promote the introduction of e-commerce among the small and medium sized (SME) sector of the tourism industry.

The Department has also made significant progress with its leapfrog to the information age initiative which aims to increase the use of ICT by business and to encourage the development of Northern Ireland’s ICT sector. The results of the Department of Trade and Industries (DTI) annual ICT benchmarking survey for the year 2000 show that Northern Ireland has moved from bottom of the list in terms of businesses going online to equal sixth within the 12 UK regions. Businesses accounting for 75% of Northern Ireland employees are now online, and Northern Ireland has shown the fastest growth of any UK region.

My Department is also continuing to improve the infrastructure for a knowledge-based economy. The Industrial Research and Technology Unit (IRTU) is currently developing a strategy for the provision of a world-class telecommunications service in Northern Ireland. IRTU is also taking the lead in the development of co-ordinated regional research and development (R&D) and innovation strategies which will provide the appropriate framework to deliver a knowledge-based economy successfully. These include R&D programmes of support, the science park development, the creation of R&D centres of excellence, and the expansion of the teaching company scheme.

DETI has also been working closely with the Department of Higher and Further Education, Training and Employment to ensure that our education and training systems produce the skills that businesses need in the knowledge-based economy.

(AQW 1591/00)

Sir Reg Empey: I continue to follow events closely in relation to progress of this conditional contract between Harland & Wolff and AWSR Shipping Ltd for construction of two ro-ro ferries at the shipyard. I recently met senior management at Harland & Wolff to discuss a number of aspects with regard to the company’s continuing negotiations with AWSR. I and the Secretary of State have also made representations on the company’s behalf to Ministers at the Ministry of Defence and Department of Trade and Industry. My Department has made an outline offer of shipbuilding intervention aid grant to the company towards the estimated build costs of the two vessels and is also assisting with costs of a benchmarking and performance review study at the shipyard in preparation for work on the building project.

(AQW 1592/00)

Sir Reg Empey: Harland & Wolff have a contract with the Training and Employment Agency to deliver modern apprenticeships within the Jobskills programme. Apprentices recruited by the company in 1998-99 and 1999-2000 are continuing in training at the shipyard. Relevant payments made to the company amounted to £117,649 in 1998-99 and £118,549 in 1999-2000.

(AQW 1601/00)

Sir Reg Empey: In the year to December 2000, there were 2,019 redundancies within the textiles and clothing industry confirmed to the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment. Information by parliamentary constituency area is not currently available. However, the 2,019 redundancies can be shown by job centre area (see table 1 below):

* under the Employment Rights (Northern Ireland) Order 1996 companies are only legally required to notify the Department of impending redundancies of 20 or more employees.

(AQW 1611/00)

Sir Reg Empey: Recent press releases from the Department of Public Enterprise in the Republic of Ireland show that a number of projects have been approved to install new broadband connections in Donegal. These developments were also highlighted in the report ‘Telecommunications for e-Business’ published in November last year which was sponsored by the CBI, the Irish Business and Employers Confederation, the Department of Public Enterprise in Ireland and my own agency, the Industrial Research and Technology Unit. This report showed current and projected broadband connections for the whole of Ireland including enhancements to Northern Ireland’s telecommunications network. The draft Programme for Government recognises the importance of broadband services to the progressive development of a knowledge-intensive, business-based economy.

(AQW 1630/00)

Sir Reg Empey: I have made two visits to the Strangford constituency in the last 12 months, both of which were inward investment related.

The number of visits to other constituencies and those relating to inward investment are shown below in annex A.

The figures include announcements of new inward investment projects or expansions and visits to externally owned companies or related promotional events and meetings at which inward investment would have been raised

(AQW 1635/00)

Sir Reg Empey: The IDB’s expenditure over the last financial year on selective financial assistance (grants, loans and shares) and on property capital works is set out in the following tables.

Similar analysis of trade international expenditure could only be attempted at disproportionate costs.

(AQW 1647/00)

Sir Reg Empey: InterTradeIreland, the trade and business development body, has carried out a number of activities to promote cross-border trade and business development throughout the island of Ireland. A major e-commerce event ‘Building Your E-Business’ was held in Enniskillen in June 2000 and a road show event was held in Londonderry in November 2000. The two events together attracted almost 300 business people drawn primarily from the west and the north-west.

(AQW 1650/00)

Sir Reg Empey: ‘Into the West’ is an excellent example of a group of councils coming together with a statutory organisation, LEDU, to address particular needs identified through the experience of all parties concerned. I am aware that a number of the councils in Antrim have come together in an organisation known as CORE and in counties Down and Armagh a similar organisation known as SEED exists. Both CORE and SEED are at different stages of development from Into the West and also may not exactly follow its model. However, they are examples of council groupings that are working in partnership with agencies such as LEDU to allow experience and best practice to be shared and maximise the use of public funds.

For this reason I currently have no proposals to replicate this particular initiative in Antrim or Down. However, I would encourage the councils to continue to work on areas of collaboration and I would assure the Member that LEDU will promote this and seek to identify opportunities from initiatives such as ‘Into the West’ with a view to further collaboration in the future.

Ms Hanna asked the Minister of the Environment to detail what representations he has received on the safe routes for schools schemes and to give his assessment of the initiative.

(AQW 1595/00)

The Minister of the Environment (Mr Foster): I have received one written representation from two organisations and one Assembly question about the safer routes to schools initiative. To the best of my knowledge, these are the only representations I have received on this subject.

From the evidence available in Great Britain, I am of the opinion that there may be considerable merit in this initiative. I therefore intend to promote, through the aegis of the school travel advisory group and in conjunction with other Northern Ireland Departments and external organisations, at least five safer routes to schools pilot projects across Northern Ireland.

(AQW 1618/00)

Mr Foster: Over the last five years my Department has placed two tree preservation orders on individual trees considered worthy of special protection. These were a redwood tree at Dergmoney House in Omagh and a horse chestnut tree at the junction of Woodburn Road and Upper Road, Carrickfergus.

Mr K Robinson asked the Minister of the Environment to detail (a) the number of prosecutions brought against developers for breaching tree preservation orders and (b) the number of prosecutions that have been successful in each of the last five years for which figures are available.

(AQW 1620/00)

Mr Foster: There have been no prosecutions brought for breaching tree preservation orders in any of the last five years.

Mr K Robinson asked the Minister of the Environment to detail the number of trees, protected by tree preservation orders, which have been removed or damaged by developers in each of the last five years within the borough of Newtownabbey.

(AQW 1621/00)

Mr Foster: The Department does not compile overall figures on the number of trees protected by tree preservation orders nor does it have figures for the number of trees which have been removed or damaged by developers.

(AQW 1622/00)

Mr K Robinson asked the Minister of the Environment to detail the number of planning applications for apartments and town houses that have been submitted for sites within the Newtownabbey Borough Council area in each of the last five years for which figures are available.

(AQW 1624/00)

Mr K Robinson asked the Minister of the Environment to detail the number of planning applications for apartments and town houses that have been refused within the Newtownabbey Borough Council area in each of the last five years for which figures are available.

(AQW 1625/00)

Mr Foster: The information requested is not available and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

The Department does not routinely record separately the precise nature of dwellings proposed in housing developments involving a range of house types. To identify accurately the information requested would require a manual scrutiny of all planning applications for housing development submitted in the Newtownabbey Borough Council area in each of the last five years. There are currently more than 600 planning applications per year in the Newtownabbey Borough Council area.

(AQW 1626/00)

Mr Foster: There are at the moment two areas of townscape character within the Newtownabbey Borough Council area. These are the Lenamore area of townscape character and the Lenamore (extended) area of townscape character (designated on 5 October 1992 and 20 July 1998 respectively), both of which are located in the Jordanstown area of the borough.

I have recently launched the Belfast metropolitan area plan, which will involve a widespread consultation exercise. This will offer the opportunity for the public to make suggestions with regard to areas within Newtownabbey, and indeed throughout the Belfast metropolitan area, which may merit special protection because of their heritage value.

It is not possible to anticipate the outcome of that exercise as it will affect Newtownabbey or any specific proposals for designations that may be brought forward. My Department will, however, address any proposals on their planning and heritage merits.

(AQW 1645/00)

Mr Foster: One of the key requirements of the Northern Ireland waste management strategy is for district councils to prepare waste management plans. The plans must ensure that there are adequate facilities available for recycling and recovery to allow the targets in the strategy to be met.

These plans will determine the nature, extent and systems of segregation which represent the best practicable environmental option for meeting materials recycling targets.

Plans are currently in preparation by three council groupings covering all 26 district council areas in Northern Ireland. My Department has provided financial assistance to support these joint planning partnerships.

My Department will also make available an extra £3·5m for waste management in the incoming financial year. The distribution of these funds, including any assistance for waste segregation, will be informed by the waste management plans which district councils submit.

(AQW 1646/00)

Mr Foster: I have no plans at present to amend the Transport Act (Northern Ireland) 1967 which provides for the regulation and licensing of bus services in Northern Ireland.

However, the European Commission is currently pursuing proposals for a Regulation on public service requirements and the award of public service contracts in passenger transport. The United Kingdom Government have broadly welcomed the thrust of this proposal.

I will therefore be keeping the matter of the legislation governing the licensing of bus services in Northern Ireland under review in the context of developments on the proposed European Regulation.

(AQW 1651/00)

Mr Foster: Compliance with European Directives is a matter between individual member states and the European Commission in the first instance. It is ultimately for the European Court of Justice to decide if a Directive has been properly implemented.

It would not be appropriate for me to raise, with my counterpart, matters that lie between the Republic of Ireland and the European Commission and in which Northern Ireland does not have a direct interest.

I would also refer Mr Robinson to the answers that I gave, on 8 December 2000, to AQWs 799/00, 800/00, 801/00 and 802/00 and, on 26 January 2001, to AQWs 1171/00, 1174/00 and 1254/00.

(AQW 1665/00)

Mr Foster: The use of sewage sludge in agriculture is regulated under the Sludge (Use in Agriculture) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1995, which implement EU Directive 86/278/EEC. The Regulations place a responsibility on sludge producers to maintain registers of sewage sludge use in agriculture. They are complemented by a UK code of practice for the agricultural use of sewage sludge.

Within Northern Ireland, the only sludge producer under the terms of the Directive is the Department for Regional Development’s Water Service. The Water Service is required to ensure that sludge provided to farmers for spreading, and the fields to which it is to be applied, meet the requirements of the Regulations.

Audit checks undertaken by the Environment and Heritage Service of my Department indicate that the procedures and records kept by the Water Service conform to the requirements of the Regulations.

The Regulations are enforced not only in the border regions but across all of Northern Ireland.

(AQW 1654/00)

Mr Foster: I have no plans to establish a specific task force for this purpose.

The most comprehensive way of dealing with these developments is through clear planning policy and associated planning guidance, the preparation of which follows the actual experience of the impact of these developments. Planning policy and guidance will reflect this experience within its recommendations for the integration of future proposals within the urban fabric.

My Department is currently finalising, following public consultation, a planning policy statement to provide a policy context against which the design of proposed housing developments both on greenfield lands and within existing urban areas can be considered, including their locational context. The Department is also preparing, for consultation, supplementary planning guidance in the form of a development control advice note giving design guidance specifically related to proposals for small-unit housing within existing residential areas. I hope to publish both documents in the spring.

The Department for Regional Development will be preparing a regional planning policy statement entitled ‘Housing in Settlements’. This will go through the normal consultation arrangements for the preparation of planning policy which afford the opportunity for specific issues to be raised for consideration.

(AQW 1682/00)

Mr Foster: Information on the levels of recycling of individual waste types by district council area is not held by my Department.

My Department carried out a survey of municipal waste in all district council areas for the 1998-99 financial year. The survey revealed that the average domestic waste recycling rate is 4·9% with a total of 42,300 tonnes being recycled.

My Department has now commissioned another study of the waste arisings to provide further information to support district councils in the development of their waste management plans.

(AQW 1700/00)

Mr Foster: Recycling is principally a responsibility of district councils. All councils now employ recycling officers who liaise closely with schools in their area to promote recycling. Magherafelt District Council has set a good example by introducing a paper recycling scheme for all schools in its district. I would encourage all other councils to consider similar action.

One of the aims of my Department’s waste management strategy, published in March 2000, is to effect a cultural shift towards recycling. To achieve this it will be necessary to motivate all members of society, not least schoolchildren.

Recycling is promoted as an important aspect of sustainable development by my Department’s Environment and Heritage Service. The service’s educational strategy aims to promote good environmental practice, including recycling, through partnerships with district councils, community groups and environmental bodies.