Friday 1 June 2001
Written Answers to Questions

Ms Lewsley asked the Office of the First Minister and Deputy First Minister to detail (a) the circumstances and considerations that caused it to review Community Relations policy (b) the terms of reference for the review (c) who will be conducting the review and (d) when the review will commence.

(AQW 2900/00)

Reply:

(a) The current community relations policy framework dates back to the early 1990s. Since then there have been significant political, social and legislative changes, notably the Belfast Agreement in 1998, the establishment of devolved government and new equality and human rights legislation. The Executive considers that improved community relations have an important role in consolidating peace and political development and wishes to ensure that a strategy is pursued which reflects and builds on the progress that has been made.

The Programme for Government contains the commitment to "by 2002, review and put in place a cross-departmental strategy for the promotion of community relations, leading to measurable improvements in community relations".

(b) The terms of reference for the review of the Community Relations Strategy are as follows:

• to review the background to, and development of, existing community relations policy;
• to identify the aims and objectives of existing community relations policy and the policy instruments used to achieve them;
• to assess the impact and achievements of current policy;
• to examine in the light of relevant developments, including the recently completed evaluations of the District Council Community Relations Programme and the Community Relations Council, whether the aims of community relations policy remain appropriate, and whether changes are required to existing policy instruments;
• to consult with key stakeholders, particularly those working in local communities, to improve community relations;
• to make recommendations on further policy aims and objectives; and
• to recommend a framework for monitoring and evaluating the impact on community relations of future policy and to fulfil the Programme for Government intention that improvements stemming from the new strategy should be measurable.

(c) The review will be led by Dr Jeremy Harbison, who is currently a Deputy Secretary in the Department for Social Development. He will be supported by officers from our Department’s Community Relations Unit.

(d) The review will commence in June; preliminary work is already under way.

Mr Close asked the Office of the First Minister and Deputy First Minister to support a special rebate scheme for petrol retailers in Northern Ireland.

(AQW 2910/00)

Reply: We have made representations on the issue of illicit fuel to the Chancellor of the Exchequer and HM Customs & Excise officials who are well aware of the pressures on legitimate retailers. The British Government has indicated it strongly resists the general concept of subsidies to offset adverse market conditions. As far as a rebate scheme is concerned, we understand that the European Commission ruled that a rebate scheme, designed to reduce the impact of cross-border differentials in retail prices on petrol retailers introduced by the Netherlands in 1997, was incompatible with Community law.

Mr Close asked the Office of the First Minister and Deputy First Minister to detail what assistance they have given to petrol retailers in their efforts to have sites selling illegally imported fuel closed down.

(AQW 2917/00)

Reply: We are very concerned about the serious impact on Northern Ireland petrol retailers of illegally imported fuel. Primary responsibility for combating fuel smuggling lies with HM Customs & Excise and at various meetings with the Chancellor of the Exchequer and Customs & Excise officials we have pressed the need for vigorous action on the matter. We understand that since September 2000, Customs & Excise have increased their resources in Northern Ireland devoted to tackling oils fraud by a factor of four. Initial analysis from Customs & Excise suggests that progress is being made with a doubling of fuel and tripling of vehicles seized in 2000/01 compared with the previous year.

Mr Weir asked the Office of the First Minister and Deputy First Minister to detail whether job vacancies within the office are advertised in the public domain.

(AQW 3038/00)

Reply: Vacant permanent civil service posts in the Office of the First Minister and Deputy First Minister are filled by the lateral transfer or internal promotion of existing staff or by open recruitment. Recruitment is normally by public advertisement in line with the requirements of the Northern Ireland Civil Service Commissioners.

Mr Hilditch asked the Office of the First Minister and Deputy First Minister to detail any discussions with the Secretary of State regarding punishment attacks.

(AQW 3166/00)

Reply: We have not jointly discussed punishment attacks with the Secretary of State.

Mr Weir asked the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development to detail whether job vacancies within her Department are advertised in the public domain.

(AQW 3014/00)

The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development (Ms Rodgers): Vacant civil service posts in the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development are filled by recruitment, internal transfer or promotion of existing staff. Recruitment is normally by public advertisement, in line with the requirements of the Northern Ireland Civil Service Commissioners.

Mr Hussey asked the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, pursuant to AQW 2718/00, to investigate whether producers in Northern Ireland are being treated unfairly, particularly within the ewe trade.

(AQW 3096/00)

Ms Rodgers: There is little I can add to my response to AQW 2718/00. The level of prices paid to sheep producers is a commercial matter between the producers themselves on the one hand and processors on the other.

While Northern Ireland producers will obviously have been affected by the lack of marketing opportunities as a result of Foot and Mouth controls, I have no evidence to suggest they have been treated unfairly. If you have any evidence on this matter you might wish to forward it to the Office of Fair Trading, which is responsible for competition issues.

Mr McClelland asked the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development to detail the estimated cost of foot-and-mouth disease to Northern Ireland’s agriculture industry.

(AQO 1568/00)

Ms Rodgers: My Department has made estimates of the impact of Foot and Mouth Disease under various scenarios. Members will appreciate that a fair degree of uncertainty attaches to any exercise of this sort and the estimates must be treated as illustrative rather than predictive. If we can achieve regionalisation by the end of June, and maintain it thereafter, the net loss to farmers is likely to be less than £10 million, the bulk of it in the sheep sector. If we are unable to achieve regionalisation, and must wait until the UK is free of the disease to export, then losses to producers could be between £15 million and £20 million, about half in the sheep sector. If we were to have an outbreak on the scale of that in Great Britain, then the impact on farmers could rise to somewhere between £60 million and £70 million.

Mr McMenamin asked the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development to detail what steps she is taking to secure regionalisation for Northern Ireland following the closure of our markets as a result of foot-and-mouth disease.

(AQO 1565/00)

Ms Rodgers: I had a very full and frank discussion with Commissioner Byrne about the Foot and Mouth Disease situation in Northern Ireland while I was in Brussels for the May Agriculture Council meeting last week. Again I stressed the importance of export markets to the overall agri-food industry. I also updated him on the disease situation and progress with the serological testing of sheep in the two Surveillance Zones in Ardboe and Cushendall. I urged the Commissioner to use his influence to have Northern Ireland considered as a foot- and-mouth-disease free region as soon as possible.

Commissioner Byrne was very supportive of our case and as a result of my meeting with him I am confident that full regionalisation will be restored to Northern Ireland in early June. This of course will be subject to there being no further cases of foot-and-mouth disease and the final results of the serological testing.

Mr Neesonasked the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development to detail the number of applications received under the Organic Aid Scheme.

(AQO 1552/00)

Ms Rodgers: The Organic Aid Scheme has not been open to new applications since 1998, by which time only three producers had applied under the scheme.

The Organic Farming Scheme was introduced in June 1999. This significantly increased the amount of aid available to prospective organic producers, particularly in the first two years of conversion to organic methods when costs, including additional costs arising due to training and organic certification, are highest.

Since the introduction of the Organic Farming Scheme, 60 producers farming a total of just over 3,330 hectares have been accepted into the Scheme. Payments to producers under this Scheme in the 2000/01 financial year totalled £470,000.

Mr Close asked the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development to detail the number of applications made under the Countryside Management Scheme.

(AQO 1551/00)

Ms Rodgers: The Countryside Management Scheme was introduced in 1999 and opened for applications during the period 24 May to 30 July that year. A total of 1,010 applications were received, of which 435 were eliminated or withdrawn for various reasons following on-farm audits, leaving 575 potential entrants.

However, because of the need to have the Northern Ireland Rural Development Plan approved by the European Commission, these applications could not be taken forward until April this year. Agreements were issued then to the 400 producers who wished to proceed with their applications and some 280 of these have already been signed. I expect this figure to increase further over the coming weeks.

The second round of the CMS opened for applications from 21 May until 31 July 2001. At this stage it is too early to speculate on the total number of applications we can expect to receive.

Mr Bradley asked the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development to review the regulations and licensing of livestock dealers in Northern Ireland.

(AQO 1548/00)

Ms Rodgers: The fallout from the foot-and-mouth disease outbreaks here in Northern Ireland has called into question some of the farming practices we have been using in the past few years. As a result, I have already announced that I will be taking forward a package of measures aimed at preventing, as far as possible, the importation and spread of foot-and-mouth disease. This will include, amongst other things, a review of how livestock dealers operate. I will of course be consulting widely on any proposals I would intend to bring forward, and will take into account the views of the Vision Subgroup which is considering the lessons to be learned from the foot-and-mouth outbreak.

Mr Ford asked the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development what percentage of IACS (Integrated Administrative Control System) forms were returned by 15 May 2001.

(AQO 1553/00)

Ms Rodgers: Of the IACS forms issued to producers for the 2001 scheme year, 95.1% were completed and returned by 15 May, the date by which applications had to be received to avoid penalties for being late. This is very close to the 2000 scheme year when 95% of completed IACS applications were received at the same stage.

Mr ONeill asked the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, as a result of foot-and-mouth disease, to detail what steps she has taken with her Ministerial counterpart in the Irish Government to develop an all-Ireland animal health strategy.

(AQO 1569/00)

Ms Rodgers: I recognise that the question of tackling a disease such as foot-and-mouth disease does require an all-island approach because diseases do not recognise political borders. As such I have been in regular and close contact with Joe Walsh on how to handle the situation and last month, under the aegis of the North/South Ministerial Council, we agreed that sustained co-operation was essential. We have set in train a work programme to develop a strategy for the prevention, containment and eradication of future epizootic disease outbreaks on the island.

Mr Kane asked the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development to detail those representations she has made in order to achieve low incidence BSE status for Northern Ireland.

(AQO 1541/00)

Ms Rodgers: I had a number of meetings throughout last year with Commissioner Byrne to press our case for a relaxation of the beef ban because of our low incidence of BSE. However, the increased level of awareness of BSE and heightened public concerns arising from developments in France and other Member States in the latter part of last year, were such that I decided it would not have been appropriate and could indeed have been counterproductive for me to proceed with the case at that time.

I remain fully committed to obtaining a relaxation of the export ban in Northern Ireland and will raise the case when the conditions are more conducive.

Mr Weir asked the Minister of Culture, Arts and Leisure to detail whether job vacancies within his Department are advertised in the public domain.

(AQW 2981/00)

The Minister of Culture, Arts and Leisure (Mr McGimpsey): I can confirm that vacant civil service posts are filled by recruitment, internal transfer or promotion of existing staff. Recruitment is normally by public advertisement, in line with the requirements of the Northern Ireland Civil Service Commissioners.

Mr Hussey asked the Minister of Culture, Arts and Leisure, pursuant to AQW 2683/00, to list the individual GAA and Association Football projects that received lottery funding, together with the amounts received, since 1995-96.

(AQW 3009/00)

Mr McGimpsey: The information is as follows:

In addition, lottery awards totalling £9.7 million were paid to 167 Gaelic Football Clubs between 1995-1996 and 2000-01.

In addition, lottery awards totalling £4.4 million were paid to 77 Football Clubs between 1995-1996 and 2000-01.

Mr Hilditch asked the Minister of Culture, Arts and Leisure whether the minutes and accounts of the National Museums and Galleries of Northern Ireland (NMGNI) are available to the public or staff.

(AQW 3036/00)

Mr McGimpsey: The Museums and Galleries of Northern Ireland (MAGNI) do not make their minutes available to either staff or the public. However, my officials are currently discussing this issue with MAGNI’s chief executive.

So far as the accounts are concerned, these are in the public domain. Unfortunately, the production of the accounts for 1998/99 has been delayed for technical and other reasons beyond the control of MAGNI and my Department, and these will be put before the Assembly as soon as possible.

Mr Hilditch asked the Minister of Culture, Arts and Leisure to give his assessment on ladies’ soccer in Northern Ireland; and to make a statement.

(AQW 3037/00)

Mr McGimpsey: The sport of women’s soccer is the fastest growing sport in the world and women’s soccer within Northern Ireland reflects this trend, although the level of growth would not match that, for example, in the USA and Scandinavia.

There are, however, issues relating to the administration and development of women’s soccer which need to be addressed and these are being considered in the context of the work being taken forward by my Department to develop proposals for a Soccer Strategy for NI. I recognise the importance of women’s soccer and would like to see it developed to its full potential.

Mr Hilditch asked the Minister of Culture, Arts and Leisure to give his assessment of senior cricket; and to make a statement.

(AQW 3058/00)

Mr McGimpsey: Responsibility for the development of sport in the province rests with the Sports Council for Northern Ireland (SCNI).

The Sports Council is currently engaged with the Northern Ireland representatives of the Governing Body of the Sport, the Irish Cricket Union, in taking forward a development plan for the sport in the province. This will complement the existing All-Island Development Plan, which was drawn up by the Irish Cricket Union.

I am encouraged that the sport is being developed in a strategic way. This should build upon the recent successes of the Irish Under-15 team in winning the European Championship and the Under-19 team in qualifying for the last three World Cups. It is to be hoped that the senior Ireland team will progress to the World Cup Finals through the forthcoming preliminary stages in Canada.

Mr Hussey asked the Minister of Culture, Arts and Leisure, pursuant to AQW 2832/00 and AQW 2833/00, to outline how he can assist those towns volunteering for the Host Town Programme for the Special Olympics World Summer Games in 2003.

(AQW 3093/00)

Mr McGimpsey: The Host Town Programme is being promoted and managed by the Special Olympics World Summer Games Organising Committee with the assistance of the Bank of Ireland, the lead sponsor of the event. Any towns and cities wishing to participate in the Programme should contact their local Bank of Ireland branch for appropriate advice and guidance.

Mr Hilditch asked the Minister of Education to detail the length of time to assess children for special needs tuition.

(AQW 2986/00)

The Minister of Education (Mr M McGuinness): The time specified for statutory assessments in the Special Educational Needs (Amendment) Regulations 1998 is 18 weeks from the date when a Board either writes to parents proposing to carry out an assessment, or parents request one from a Board, until the Board issues a copy of the proposed statement to the parents. The regulations provide that this period of time may be exceeded in certain circumstances, e.g. where exceptional personal circumstances affect the child or his parent during the 18-week period.

Mr Hilditch asked the Minister of Education to detail how frequently assessments for special needs tuition are carried out.

(AQW 2987/00)

Mr M McGuinness: Statutory assessments of special educational needs are carried out as and when required. These are normally instigated when a parent, school or Health and Social Services Board or Trust makes an Education and Library Board aware that a child appears to have special educational needs and requests that a statutory assessment be carried out. Once made, statements of special educational needs are reviewed annually. Reassessments are carried out either as a result of annual reviews indicating that a child’s special educational needs have changed significantly or on request by parents, schools etc.

Ms Lewsley asked the Minister of Education to detail his plans to review current funding mechanisms used by Education and Library Boards in allocating resources to Special Schools in order to eradicate funding anomalies between the Boards and schools.

(AQW 3000/00)

Mr M McGuinness: In 1991 a Working Party was set up to consider the possibility of extending LMS to special schools. It concluded that this was not practicable because of the need for sufficient financial flexibility to meet the wide range of children’s needs and learning difficulties in special schools. It recommended, however, that, rather than a fully delegated budget, special schools should receive, each year, a partially delegated budget, being a sum of money comprising certain items of recurrent expenditure (other than staff costs).

The Working Group’s recommendations were accepted by Government, and these arrangements have been in place since 1993/94. I am aware, however, that there is some inconsistency among Boards in the delegation arrangements. Currently the Boards’ Special Educational Needs Regional Strategy Group has established a Best Value sub-group to undertake a review of Special Education funding arrangements. Their report is expected by the end of the calendar year. I will consider what action needs to be taken after that Group has reported its findings.

Ms Lewsley asked the Minister of Education to consider setting up a Consultation Panel to look at the concept of Partially Delegated Budgets as it applies to Special Schools.

(AQW 3001/00)

Mr M McGuinness: In 1991 a Working Party was set up to consider the possibility of extending LMS to special schools. It concluded that this was not practicable because of the need for sufficient financial flexibility to meet the wide range of children’s needs and learning difficulties in special schools. It recommended, however, that, rather than a fully delegated budget, special schools should receive, each year, a partially delegated budget, being a sum of money comprising certain items of recurrent expenditure (other than staff costs).

The Working Group’s recommendations were accepted by Government, and these arrangements have been in place since 1993/94. I am aware, however, that there is some inconsistency among Boards in the delegation arrangements. Currently the Boards’ Special Educational Needs Regional Strategy Group has established a Best Value sub-group to undertake a review of Special Education funding arrangements. Their report is expected by the end of the calendar year. I will consider what action needs to be taken after that Group has reported its findings.

Ms Lewsley asked the Minister of Education to detail (a) any plans to introduce formula funding to Special Schools and (b) any directions given by his Department to Education and Library Boards to introduce formula funding to these schools.

(AQW 3002/00)

Mr M McGuinness: In 1991 a Working Party was set up to consider the possibility of extending LMS to special schools. It concluded that this was not practicable because of the need for sufficient financial flexibility to meet the wide range of children’s needs and learning difficulties in special schools. It recommended, however, that, rather than a fully delegated budget, special schools should receive, each year, a partially delegated budget, being a sum of money comprising certain items of recurrent expenditure (other than staff costs).

The Working Group’s recommendations were accepted by Government, and these arrangements have been in place since 1993/94. I am aware, however, that there is some inconsistency among Boards in the delegation arrangements. Currently the Boards’ Special Educational Needs Regional Strategy Group has established a Best Value sub-group to undertake a review of Special Education funding arrangements. Their report is expected by the end of the calendar year. I will consider what action needs to be taken after that Group has reported its findings.

Ms Lewsley asked the Minister of Education to detail how much funding is allocated to each Education and Library Board for Special Needs Units/Schools.

(AQW 3003/00)

Mr M McGuinness: My Department gives Education and Library Boards a block grant each year from which they are expected to pay for the various services they provide. Within their block grant Boards are free to establish their own spending priorities. The amount spent on special schools each year falls under the heading of Special Schools and Home Tuition and that for special units is included within Primary and Secondary Schools and is not separately identifiable. The amounts spent by Boards under the Special Schools and Home Tuition heading in the 1999/2000 financial year were approximately as follows:

Ms Lewsley asked the Minister of Education to detail his plans to extend the Local Management of Schools consultation document to cover Special Schools.

(AQW 3004/00)

Mr M McGuinness: The consultation document covers those schools which come within the Local Management of Schools Schemes, i.e. nursery, primary, secondary and grammar, and attempts to devise a common formula for use in all these types of schools. Special schools do not come under these arrangements because of the need to retain sufficient budgetary flexibility to meet the needs of the wide range of children’s learning difficulties and disabilities in those schools and I have no plans to change this situation.

Mr Weir asked the Minister of Education to detail whether job vacancies within his Department are advertised in the public domain.

(AQW 3013/00)

Mr M McGuinness: Vacant civil service posts are filled by recruitment, internal transfer or promotion of existing staff. Recruitment is normally by public advertisement, in line with the requirements of the Northern Ireland Civil Service Commissioners.

Mr Paisley Jnr asked the Minister of Enterprise, Trade and Investment to detail the efforts being made to re-establish Northern Ireland as an attractive tourist/activity destination.

(AQW 2965/00)

The Minister of Enterprise, Trade and Investment (Sir Reg Empey): Since my announcement of £1 million additional funding made available to NITB to counter the impact of foot-and-mouth disease restrictions, an integrated recovery plan is being implemented. The plan contains over 100 actions and is being progressed with a range of trade and industry partners.

Mr Hussey asked the Minister of Enterprise, Trade and Investment to detail, by constituency, the number of teleworkers employed in Northern Ireland.

(AQW 2976/00)

Sir Reg Empey: The most up-to-date estimate relating to teleworkers from the Labour Force Survey refers to the period March to May 2000 and indicates that there were 25,000 teleworkers in employment in Northern Ireland. Data at Parliamentary Constituency level cannot be released as they do not reach the minimum required threshold level for accuracy.

Mr Weir asked the Minister of Enterprise, Trade and Investment to detail whether job vacancies within his Department are advertised in the public domain.

(AQW 3011/00)

Sir Reg Empey: Vacant civil service posts are filled by recruitment, transfer or promotion of existing staff. Recruitment is normally by public advertisement, in line with the requirements of the Northern Ireland Civil Service Commissioners.

Mr Husseyasked the Minister of Enterprise, Trade and Investment to give his assessment on how Northern Ireland enterprises are managing the dynamics of innovation, taking into consideration the European Commission Report, of 26 April 2001, entitled ‘Building an Innovative Economy in Europe’(No 1P/01/610).

(AQW 3031/00)

Sir Reg Empey: In order to gain competitive advantage Northern Ireland’s companies need to improve and fully exploit their innovation capabilities and the Research, Development and Innovation Strategy on which we have recently embarked will provide a framework for achieving this. The Interdepartmental Working Group which is overseeing preparation of the Strategy has initiated a consultation exercise with key stakeholders and has appointed consultants with expertise in the innovation field to assist with this work. The insights on innovation policy contained in the EC Report will certainly help to inform the Northern Ireland Strategy as it evolves.

Mr Hilditch asked the Minister of Enterprise, Trade and Investment to detail what discussions he has had to minimise job losses at C-Mac, Carrickfergus.

(AQW 3162/00)

Sir Reg Empey: I have been taking a keen interest in C-MAC Network Systems, including performing the official announcement of the investment. The announcement to employees on 8 May was disappointing but it was a commercial decision forced on the company by the global downturn in the telecommunication and electronics sectors. I am confident that every effort is being made to minimise job losses.

Mr Hilditch asked the Minister of Enterprise, Trade and Investment to detail what discussions he has had to minimise job losses at Solectron, Carrickfergus.

(AQW 3163/00)

Sir Reg Empey: I have been taking an interest in the situation at Solectron in Carrickfergus even before the company publicly announced its intention on Friday 19 May to enter into a consultative process. My officials are in regular contact with the management team and every effort is being made to minimise the prospective redundancies, primarily by the consultative committee, whose membership includes elected representatives of the workforce.

Mr Hilditch asked the Minister of Enterprise, Trade and Investment to detail what discussions he has had to minimise job losses at Getty Connections, Carrickfergus.

(AQW 3164/00)

Sir Reg Empey: I have been kept abreast of the situation at Getty Connections in Carrickfergus. My officials are in regular contact with the management team. Every effort is being made to minimise prospective redundancies with specific efforts on the identification of additional new customers.

Mr Hilditch asked the Minister of Enterprise, Trade and Investment to detail what discussions he has had to minimise job losses at Nortel, Newtownabbey.

(AQW 3165/00)

Sir Reg Empey: I am meeting with the top management of Nortel Networks’ Monkstown plant on a regular basis and I have been kept abreast of the ongoing situation. The recently announced job losses are the direct result of the worldwide telecommunications downturn which has had a significant effect on Nortel Networks’ global operations. My officials are also in regular contact with the management team. Every effort is being made to minimise lay-offs by ensuring that the Northern Ireland facility is given all possible support to maintain its position as the company’s largest optical plant in Europe and is advantageously placed to secure the ongoing production of Nortel Networks’ key optical internet products.

Next >>