(AQW 4350/01)

The Minister of Enterprise, Trade and Investment (Sir Reg Empey): I am aware that a number of businesses in NI are having difficulty in obtaining Public and Employers’ Liability Insurance. I have drawn this problem to the attention of the Economic Secretary to the Treasury; corresponded with the Association of British Insurers about individual cases; and brought it to the attention of the Secretary of State for NI.

Currently my officials are preparing to undertake research to better quantify the scope, nature and scale of the problem as a prelude to developing a strategy to seek to address the causes of high insurance costs – or even its non-availability – and to help stabilise or reduce the rate of increase in premiums.

In the meantime it is important that any businesses experiencing difficulty in obtaining insurance, write directly to the Association of British Insurers, 51 Gresham Street, London EC2V 7HQ to obtain details of potential sources of cover.

(AQW 4351/01)

Sir Reg Empey: The setting up of the new agency was a major logistical task and a number of unforeseen difficulties did occur. Action was taken to overcome any delays and processes are now back on track.

(AQW 4352/01)

Sir Reg Empey: (a) Following the ‘Female Candidates’ advert for the Invest NI Board 166 applications were received and, of these 101 (60.8%) came from females. (b) In this round 51 females met the essential criteria. (c) In this round 10 were shortlisted for interview. (d) In this round 5 females were appointed to the Invest NI Board.

(AQW 4353/01)

Sir Reg Empey: Following the appointments to the Shadow Board, when 9% of applicants were female my Department undertook a specific, targeted outreach initiative to encourage more women to apply in the second round. In this second exercise over 60% of the applicants were women.

In total 205 (64%) males and 115(36%) females applied for positions on the Invest NI Board. 10 (62.5 %) male and 6 (37.5 %) female were appointed to the Invest NI Board. Given the significant difference in numbers of male and female applicants and that all appointments are made on the basis of merit I feel that the gender balance of the Board of Invest NI reflects the applications received.

(AQW 4354/01)

Sir Reg Empey: One of the four essential criteria for both male and female applicants was at least 5 years experience of working at board or senior management level in the private or public sector, or community/ voluntary sector, or in the trade union movement, or in academia. Equal weight was given to all essential criteria. Male and female applicants were assessed equally in respect of the criteria.

(AQW 4355/01)

Sir Reg Empey: The senior management structure of Invest Northern Ireland comprises a Chief Executive, four Managing Directors and fourteen Directors. Three other posts, at sub-senior management level (Property Services, Internal ICT and e-Business and Entrepreneurship and Start-up) have been listed on earlier versions of the organisation chart, which may also have used slightly different job titles.

In line with the legal requirement that existing staff in the predecessor organisations should transfer, with their work, to equivalent posts in Invest NI, 14 officials from within the former bodies were appointed to senior management positions in Invest NI.

The Chief Executive post and three others were filled by means of public advertisement. Of these four, three of the appointees were from outside the former bodies. A further Director post has recently been advertised publicly.

(AQW 4374/01)

Sir Reg Empey: I refer to my answers to Questions AWQ 3947/01 and AWQ 3948/01.

None of the respondents objected to legislation to provide a low cost borrowing mechanism to enable a more efficient financing of costs within the gas and electricity industries, an issue not specifically raised in the paper.

(AQW 4375/01)

Sir Reg Empey: I have received a proposal for a legislative provision enabling a levy to be collected from energy consumers. The proposition is that banks would take greater comfort from such a provision – which could effectively guarantee a revenue stream from consumers to lenders – and would, therefore, be likely to lend at lower rates of interest. These more efficient financing arrangements, it is suggested, could then be substituted for the existing arrangements and consumers would be the beneficiaries of the consequent reduction in repayments.

My advice is that the proposal could provide for an aid favouring undertakings which, as a general rule, is considered to be incompatible with the common market. I am also advised that similar problems are likely to arise if such an arrangement benefited any of the parties to existing financing arrangements. There may also be tax implications related to any refinancing arrangement which, of course, would be likely to reduce benefits to consumers.

Quite apart from these issues, there are conflicting views on the merits of such a mechanism. I have not included it in the draft Energy Bill proposals recently published for consultation.

As I have already indicated in my answer to Question 3949/01, I am currently considering options to reduce electricity prices in Northern Ireland and will announce an action plan in due course. This will now be after the summer recess.

(AQW 4379/01)

(a) The figures below represent grant paid to Northern Ireland cultural projects under Sub-Programme 3 Measure 1 of the EU Special Support Programme for Peace and Reconciliation during the period January 1999-December 2001.

The Measure encouraged inter alia, cultural linkages that were genuinely cross-community focused and was managed by Co-operation Ireland.

(b) ASM Horwarth (Consultants) are finalising for Co-operation Ireland a comprehensive evaluation of the sub-programme which will be presented to their Board for approval in mid July and available to the general public thereafter. The draft report concludes that the Measure has made significant impact on peace and reconciliation in terms of promoting [business and] cultural linkages across the border and across communities.

(AQW 4385/01)

(a) Recent monitoring in the area around Trailcock Road suggests that there has been some movement in the Carrickfergus/International mine and, in the opinion of the Department’s mining consultants, the possibility of a mine collapse has significantly increased. While it is not known when this might occur, computer modelling has been used to determine the likely maximum zone of influence of a collapse event. Local residents, the district council, the Police Service of Northern Ireland, BT and NIE have all been informed.

(b) There is no indication from the regular monitoring of the other abandoned mines that any of them are in imminent danger of collapse.

(c) The only other mine to have collapsed in the last three years is the Maidenmount mine in the Woodburn area of Carrickfergus. It collapsed on 19 August 2001.

(d) An extensive monitoring programme was put in place following the collapse of the privately owned Tennant mine in 1990. There are now approximately 120 monitoring stations in the area of the abandoned salt mines in Carrickfergus. Detailed surveying of these stations can detect very small changes in surface levels. Several boreholes have been drilled into the mine voids and instrumentation installed to detect movement in the underground strata. Such movement would normally be a precursor to a collapse event. The boreholes are also used to monitor water levels within the mines and to carry out periodic CCTV and ultrasonic surveys which monitor changes within the mine voids.

(AQW 4399/01)

Sir Reg Empey: Up-to-date unemployment statistics at ward level are only available from the claimant count. The most recent statistics relate to June 2002 and at that date there were 312 claimants in the Craigavon Central Electoral Area.

(AQW 4409/01)

Sir Reg Empey: Based on computer records held, the amount of the selective financial assistance offered by the Northern Ireland Tourist Board to develop accommodation, amenity and visitor attractions, marketing projects and events support which was spent by Belfast City Council, Coleraine Borough Council and Northern Ireland in each of the last 5 years is a follows:

(1) Figures for 1997/98 and 1998/99 do not include expenditure on events support.

(2) These figures include spend on marketing projects based in Belfast but which have an impact Northern Ireland wide e.g. NI Self Catering Holidays Association, NI Best Kept Secrets, Birdwatch NI and Gardens of NI

(3) These figures include spend on marketing projects in the Causeway Coast and Glens Ltd Regional Tourism Organisation. Expenditure in the Coleraine BC area could not be disaggregated.

(AQW 4411/01)

Sir Reg Empey: I am aware that a number of businesses in NI are having difficulty in obtaining various kinds of insurance cover including commercial and motor insurance. I have drawn this problem to the attention of the Economic Secretary to the Treasury; corresponded with the Association of British Insurers about individual cases; and brought it to the attention of the Secretary of State for NI.

Currently my officials are preparing to undertake research to better quantify the scope, nature and scale of the problem as a prelude to developing a strategy to seek to address the causes of high insurance costs – or even its non-availability – and to help stabilise or reduce the rate of increase in premiums.

In the meantime it is important that any businesses experiencing difficulty in obtaining insurance, write directly to the Association of British Insurers, 51 Gresham Street, London EC2V 7HQ to obtain details of potential sources of cover.

(AQW 4412/01)

Sir Reg Empey: [holding answer 8 July 2002]: The job losses which will result from the decision by Warners (UK) Ltd to place the workforces at its Dromore and Keady factories on protective notice from 14 June are very regrettable and result from a commercial decision by the company in the light of prevailing international market conditions.

My Department, through its agency Invest NI, is committed to attracting new Inward Investment to Northern Ireland and it is one of the key objectives identified in Invest NI’s first corporate plan. While prospective investors are encouraged to locate in more rural areas, many have tended to chose locations in or close to the Belfast and Londonderry conurbations, due to a range of factors. Highlighting the skills and opportunities available in local areas within Northern Ireland to potential investors will be critical to attracting investment to outside of these areas.

Invest NI plans to address this through strengthening the services that are delivered through its local office network including the energising of the effort to attract inward investment to specific localities of Northern Ireland. To initiate this a large amount of work has been carried out already, to develop a local sales message. Workshops have also taken place at five locations throughout Northern Ireland where local stakeholders were brought together to establish how this local sales message can be taken even further.

Invest NI’s annual conference for its Overseas Representatives was held last month and focused on the role of the Local Office Network in the attraction of new inward investment. The Conference included a series of Seminars and Workshops to which local stakeholders were invited and I understand that the Dromore area would have been represented through participation in this event by representatives of Banbridge District Council and Banbridge District Enterprises Ltd.

Invest NI will continue to market all of Northern Ireland as an investment location and as part of this process prospective investors will, where possible, be encouraged to visit all areas of Northern Ireland including locations within the Banbridge District Council area.

(AQW 4439/01)

Sir Reg Empey: The capital underspend of £8.1 million in the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment in 2001/02 comprises a £7.2 million telecommunications initiative which was delayed due to state aids clearance and several minor underspends in projects to purchase office and computer equipment totalling £0.9 million.

(AQW 4413/01)

The Minister of the Environment (Mr Nesbitt): The average waiting time for MOT appointments to each test centre from 1 April 2002 until 29 June 2002 as follows:

* Closed for part of the period for refurbishment.

Action to reduce waiting times includes urgent staff recruitment, use of overtime, deployment of HQ staff to vehicle testing duties and temporary withdrawal of voluntary emission testing. Customers are also being advised of the position through posters in DVTA and DVLNI offices, public notices in the press as necessary and on the Agency web site.

(AQW 4446/01)

Mr Nesbitt: There has been slippage of some £0.5 million in the implementation of the Driver Licencing replacement system. A weighbridge facility adjacent to the proposed Toomebridge bypass costing around £0.2 million cannot go ahead until the construction of the bypass has been completed. There is also slippage of some £0.2million in Energy Efficiency projects undertaken by District Councils for which they receive funding from the Department.

All capital underspend will be re-allocated to the Department in 2002/03 under the End Year Flexibility Scheme.

(AQW 4448/01)

Mr Nesbitt: The Historic Monuments and Archaeological Objects (Northern Ireland) Order 1995 (‘the Order’) provides for the reporting of the discovery of archaeological objects. Some archaeological objects may, upon investigation, be deemed to be ‘treasure’ as defined under the Treasure Act 1996 (‘the Act’).

Under the Order, the reporting of the discovery of an archaeological object does not affect the right of any person to the ownership of it. The Department may give financial assistance to the purchase of an archaeological object subject, for example, to a condition of public exhibition. In relation to the Act, treasure is deemed to be vested in the Crown, although this title may be disclaimed. A financial reward, based upon the treasure’s market value, may be paid to the finder or others with an interest. The Act is administered in Northern Ireland by my Department, by agreement with the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, who has lead statutory responsibility for it.

The main purpose of the Order and the Act, in regard to the discovery of archaeological objects and treasure, is to bring in to the public domain information which such discoveries may yield, to the betterment of our understanding of Northern Ireland’s heritage. Insofar as they are fulfilling this purpose, I have no plans to review the Order.

(AQW 4484/01)

Mr Nesbitt: The expert study which I have commissioned will consider the potential costs, benefits and management implications of establishing one or more National Parks in Northern Ireland taking account of practice and experience elsewhere. The study is not specific to any particular area. This would be for later examination, depending on the outcome of the study and the conclusion I reach.

The Consultants have not been asked to undertake consultation. The study is a general one which is examining the question of establishing National Parks in Northern Ireland in the light of experience of National Parks elsewhere. The consultants will be free to seek the views of relevant people. Widespread consultation is unnecessary at this stage.

I expect to receive a report from Europarc in September. When I have considered the report, I will make a statement on the way forward on this matter.

(AQW 4485/01)

Mr Nesbitt: Environmental Impact Assessment is a statutory procedural requirement the provisions for which are to be found in the Planning (Environmental Impact Assessment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1999. These Regulations implement EC Directives the aim of which is to ensure that when giving development consent for particular types of project my Department makes its decision in the knowledge of any likely significant effects on the environment.

Environmental Impact Assessment is a systematic means of drawing together an assessment of the likely significant environmental effects of a particular project. The outcome of this analysis is the preparation of an Environmental Statement.

The requirements in relation to the preparation and publicity given to Environmental Statements is also laid down by statute and deals with informing certain public bodies, the availability of the Statement to the public and others and the need to advertise the availability of the Statement and amendments to it. Developers are required to make a reasonable number of copies of an Environmental Statement available to the public at a specified address and at a reasonable cost and are required to produce and make available a non-technical summary of the Statement. In practice an Environmental Statement will also be available at the relevant Divisional Planning Office.

Where a planning application for a land-based wind farm is located in or impacts on a "sensitive area," defined as a designated ASSI, AONB, National Park, World Heritage Site, Scheduled Monument or European Site as defined in the Conservation Regulations (NI) 1995, and/or involves the installation of more than 2 turbines or the height of turbine or other structures exceeds 15 metres, an Environmental Statement will be required before planning permission is granted where that proposal is likely to give rise to significant environmental effects. A wind farm located below LWM does not require planning consent.

Under the provisions of Section 75 of the Northern Ireland Act 1998, the Department in carrying out its functions in relation to Northern Ireland is required to have due regard to the need to promote equality of opportunity. Under Schedule 9 of the Act the Department has prepared an Equality Scheme (approved by the Equality Commission) which confirms the range of policies and proposals on which there is currently a commitment to carry out an Equality Impact Assessment.

An Equality Impact Assessment is a thorough and systematic analysis of a policy or piece of legislation to determine the extent of differential impact on relevant Section 75 groups and to determine how any potential negative impacts might be addressed. Existing legislation makes no provision for the conduct of an Equality Impact Assessment on an established statutory procedural requirement.

However, if and when the Planning (Environmental Impact Assessment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1999 are reviewed - there are currently no plans to do so - any new provisions would be screened against the provisions of Section 75 of the Northern Ireland Act 1998. Where a differential impact was identified an Equality Impact Assessment would be carried out.

(AQW 4510/01)

Mr Nesbitt: BAT Reference (BREF) Notes are being produced on behalf of the European Commission by the European IPPC Bureau in Seville. These notes provide information on techniques which represent BAT in each sector and inform national guidance. An operator applying for an IPPC permit will need to demonstrate that the proposals contained in the application represent BAT: enforcing authorities will determine whether additional measures are required before issuing a permit.

A simplified approach is proposed in Northern Ireland for those intensive livestock installations affected by the Directive, in line with the rest of the UK. In this case BAT is effectively defined in a set of ‘Standard Farming Installation Rules’.

The definition of BAT in the IPPC Directive states that economic factors may be taken into account in determining BAT for each sector. In this sense BAT is not a more demanding standard than BATNEEC.

(AQW 4513/01)

Mr Nesbitt: The expert study which I have commissioned will consider the potential costs, benefits and management implications of establishing one or more National Parks in Northern Ireland, taking account of practice and experience elsewhere. The study is not specific to any particular area. This would be for later examination, depending on the outcome of the study and the conclusion I reach.

I expect to receive a report in September. When I have considered the report, I will make a statement on the way forward on this matter, including any need that I may identify for new legislation, designation procedures or management bodies.

(AQW 4518/01)

Mr Nesbitt: Regulation 14(1)(b)(iv) of the Motor Vehicles (Taxi Drivers’ Licences) Regulations (NI) 1991 precludes the grant of a licence if the applicant suffers diabetes subject to insulin treatment.

This is in line with the current guidelines promulgated by the Department for Transport (DfT), formerly the Department of Transport, Local Government and the Regions (DTLR), whose Medical Commission on Accident Prevention has recommended that "Taxi, emergency ambulance and emergency police drivers should be required to meet Group 2 standards".

Group 2 includes vehicles such as lorries and buses and sets higher medical standards than for an ordinary car driver’s licence. In practice this recommendation means that an insulin dependent diabetic should not be permitted to drive a taxi.

I am aware that in 2001, DTLR (now DfT) launched a research programme into individual assessments for Group 2 vehicles, the form of a 3-year multi-centre study. I will examine the recommendations from the review when it is published and consider if changes to the current policy should be made.

(AQW 4180/01)

The Minister of Finance and Personnel (Dr Farren): Intermediary Funding Bodies are responsible for administering 216meuro (£139m) of PEACE II funds covering 14 areas of activity in Northern Ireland and 3 areas of cross-border activity in Northern Ireland and the Border Region of Ireland. The administration costs for Intermediary Funding Bodies in Northern Ireland amounts to just over 22.5 meuro (£14.5m). This does not include all of the administrative costs for measures 2.2 and 2.3 as the contracts with the relevant IFBs responsible for these measures have not yet been agreed with the Special EU Programmes Body.

(AQW 4218/01)

Dr Farren: The EU Structural Funds applications and monitoring database does not hold information regarding the number of jobs proposed by unsuccessful applicants as such data is normally only entered onto the database at approval stage when a Letter of Offer is issued by the Implementing Body.

For the BSP Programme, information supplied by Departments shows that for Measures (throughout all Priorities) which are delivered through existing Government Programmes, and are not open to public calls there are no unsuccessful applications. For those Measures which are open to public calls, Departments, with one exception, report that the current selection processes have not been completed or are at an early stage and therefore they are not in a position to provide data on unsuccessful applications.

The Department for Employment and Learning has provided figures in respect of the number of jobs proposed by unsuccessful projects to BSP Measure 2.6 and 2.8. These are detailed below:

The Managing Authority of the PEACE II Programme, the Special EU Programmes Body (SEUPB) has reported that it is unable to provide this data for unsuccessful applications as it is not currently collected.

(AQW 4219/01)

Dr Farren: The EU Structural Funds applications and monitoring database at this early stage in the implementation of the Operational Programmes shows a total of 268 successful applicants to both Operational Programmes. Available data is limited but indicates the number of jobs proposed to be created by projects based in particular electoral wards for both Operational Programmes is as follows:

For database monitoring purposes successful projects are those where a Letter of Offer has been issued, but full details of projects, including jobs created, are not normally inserted by Implementing Bodies until the Letter of Offer is accepted. Data availability will improve in the Autumn when the Applications and Monitoring Database becomes fully operational. For example, information collected manually by the Department for Employment and Learning confirmed that successful applicants to Measures 2.6 and 2.8 of the BSP Operational Programme proposed the creation of 972 jobs. The following table shows a breakdown of these jobs by electoral ward.

(AQW 4220/01)

Dr Farren: The EU Structural Funds database currently registers 9 approved applications under the BSP Programme and 259 under the PEACE II Programme. The total amount of grant offered to the 9 successful BSP applications is £1,326,597. The total amount of grant offered to the 259 successful Peace applications is £17,548,426. The attached tables provide details of the amounts offered to successful applications by electoral ward where this is available. This information is provided by relevant priority in section A for the BSP programme and section B for the PEACE II Programme.

A copy of the attached table is available to the Member and a copy placed in the Assembly Library.

(AQW 4223/01)

(a) The Measure specific criteria for Measure 2.2 "Developing Children and Young People" have been drawn up in accordance with the PEACE II Operational Programme and are set out in the Programme Complement as agreed by the PEACE II Monitoring Committee. Fifteen applications from youth groups in North Belfast have been received under this Measure. Fourteen of these projects failed to meet the Measure specific criteria. One of the projects met the criteria but due to a low scoring was not prioritised for funding.

(b) Measure 2.2 is considered by the Special EU Programmes Body, the Managing Authority for the PEACE II Programme, to be operating effectively and there are no plans at this stage to amend the Measure specific selection criteria which would require the approval of the PEACE II Monitoring Committee. However, the performance of all the measures and selection criteria will be reviewed within the context of the mid-term evaluation of the Programme, which is due to be completed in June 2003.