(AQW 584/02)

The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development (Ms Rodgers): European Commission rules provide for payments on most subsidy schemes for the 2002 year to start after the commencement of the new EU funding year on 16 October. The Department of Agriculture and Rural Development’s ( DARD) Annual Profile of Premia Payments for 2002-3 was published on 9 October 2002 and sets out a detailed timetable for payments on each of the farm subsidy schemes. DARD will be taking advantage of the recent Commission decisions to allow 80% advances of bovine scheme payments and 50% advances of arable payments.

Claims will be eligible for payment when the verification checks required under EU rules are completed and scheme retention requirements are satisfied. Eligible claims will then be paid in the date order in which they are received. It is envisaged that the majority of eligible claims for sheep and beef premium received in the period up to the end of July 2002 will be paid by the end of November 2002. Beef subsidy claims received from August onwards will be paid from mid-November in accordance with the published timetable.

(AQW 511/02)

The Minister of Culture, Arts and Leisure (Mr McGimpsey): I have already written to Mr Lennon to congratulate him on his achievement and I understand that Mrs Rodgers has also expressed her congratulations to Mr Lennon, the breeder, Mr Harvey and to the business consortium that owns Liscalgot.

In addition, I am considering hosting a reception for high achievers in major sporting events later in the year and it is hoped that this would include Mr Lennon and those associated with the breeding and sponsorship of his horse.

(AQW 589/02)

Mr McGimpsey: I have asked officials to progress a technical feasibility study of the options for upgrading the fish trapping facilities at Bushmills with a view to identifying practical solutions and the magnitude of costs.

It is difficult at this early stage to predict when final proposals and subsequent funding will be available. The Department will, however, make every effort to have improved counting facilities in place as soon as is practicable and hopefully for the main run of fish in 2004.

(AQW 213/02)

The Minister of Education (Mr M McGuinness): [supplementary answer]: I refer the member to my recent answer to the above question. I am now in a position to provide the information regarding the Education and Library Boards.

(a) The most recent information available in respect of administration costs is from the 2001/2002 financial year as below:

The above expenditure includes the following 5 Board services:

* The administration costs include, aAQW 213/02, 214/02, 513/02 & 551/02part from those relating to the Library Services, administration costs relating to the three funding Departments. They do not include the costs relating to non-industrial school based staff, professional staff or advisory staff.

(AQW 214/02)

Mr M McGuinness [supplementary answer]: I refer the Member to my recent answer to the above question. I am now in a position to provide the information regarding the Education and Library Board.

(a) The most recent available information as supplied by the Education and Library Boards excludes staff in the library service, professional staff and non-industrial school based staff and is as follows:

The above numbers of administrative staff include staff involved in joint Board services as shown below:

(AQW 513/02)

Mr M McGuinness: My Department’s policy is not to release Transfer Procedure test results for individual schools as this could lead to the identification of individual pupils’ test results. I have no plans to change this policy.

(AQW 539/02)

Mr M McGuinness: Whilst the recently published numeracy and literacy targets are by and large lower than those previously published, they envisage higher levels of achievement in all areas compared to the present position. The revised targets do not mean any lessening of commitment, rather, they take account of recent trends and what can realistically be achieved within the resources available. The targets will be further considered in the light of the 2001/02 results and the final budgetary position.

(AQW 551/02)

Mr M McGuinness: I refer the Member to the answer given to the Member for Strangford on 20 September 2002, AQW 85/02.

The Chancery Court has yet to respond to the application made by the South-Eastern Education and Library Board.

(AQW 571/02)

Mr M McGuinness: The number of pupils permitted in a Home Economics class should not exceed 20.

(AQO 307/02)

Mr M McGuinness: While there are no ‘regulations’ as such a number of steps have been taken to ensure that children are protected from receiving pornographic material on the Internet during school hours. My Department has issued guidance to schools about the acceptable use of the Internet. This was issued in September 1999 under cover of a Departmental Circular and encourages schools to draw up a suitable policy. It also made it a pre-condition for a school to demonstrate that it had a suitable policy before staff had ICT training and the school received the Classroom 2000 managed service.

All schools in Northern Ireland have been provided with access to the Internet through NINE Connect. NINE Connect has installed filtering software which operates by blocking thousands of inappropriate web sites and by barring inappropriate items, terms and searches of the Internet.

(AQO 320/02)

Mr M McGuinness: The resources available to the Executive are finite and we inevitably faced difficult decisions on the allocation of funds. This has meant that not all priority bids could be met, including some priority bids for Education.

(AQO 321/02)

Mr M McGuinness: The consultation on the Burns Report showed overwhelming support for the abolition of the Transfer Tests, which have blighted the lives of too many children for too long. I have therefore decided that the last Transfer Tests will be held in November 2004. My Department will be meeting with our education partners over the next few months to develop new arrangements which are fair and enable all our children to fulfil their potential, regardless of their background or circumstances. I am determined that the suspension of the Assembly will not delay this process or prolong the injustice of the Transfer Tests. Our children deserve no less.

(AQO 297/02)

Mr M McGuinness: My Department does have the information requested. From September of this year all schools have been asked to use a common form when notifying the Education and Library Boards about the suspension of a pupil. This form contains a standard of categories for suspension, which include physical and verbal attacks on teachers. An analysis of this information at the end of the 2002/03 school year will provide baseline information against which trends can be assessed. In the absence of good information about the scale and nature of the problem, I cannot give an assessment on the trends.

(AQO 296/02)

Mr M McGuinness: The Inquiry Team expects its interim report to be ready at the end of this month, when I will send it to the School Teachers’ Salaries and Conditions of Service Negotiating Committee for consideration. I will then consider the conclusions reached by both Sides.

I accepted this arrangement for handling the report when both Sides reached agreement on the Inquiry’s terms of reference. It will help to promote good employment relations by allowing both Sides every opportunity to discuss the report’s findings.

When they have completed their discussions, I will also take account of their views on the report’s publication.

(AQO 311/02)

Mr M McGuinness: The North-Eastern Education and Library Board, who is responsible for the planning for the new school for Roddensvale, has advised that initial sketch plans have been prepared and will be submitted to the Department shortly.

(AQO 323/02)

Mr M McGuinness: As I outlined in my statement to the House on 8 October, the consultation has shown clearly that there is overwhelming support for the abolition of the Transfer Tests. There was also strong consensus on a number of the other Burns proposals including the Guiding Principles, the development of a Pupil Profile, the need for greater co-operation and collaboration among schools, a common curriculum to age 14 and for age 14 as a more appropriate age for parents and pupils to consider and make choices about the curricular options or pathways which best meet their needs. A majority (including those whose support was subject to certain conditions being met) favoured the ending of academic selection.

(AQO 308/02)

Mr M McGuinness: My Department is represented on the Rural Proofing Steering Group set up by DARD. The Group is currently considering how best to roll forward the training of all policy developers including those in my Department.

(AQO 282/02)

Mr M McGuinness: Our education system produces high levels of achievement for some pupils but does less well for others. We have the highest A level results and, along with Scotland, have the highest proportion of pupils achieving 5 high grade GCSEs. However, a smaller proportion of our pupils achieve at least 5 GCSE passes at grades A* - G than in England and the recent PISA research showed that the variation between our highest and lowest achievement was greater than for England and among the widest in the 32 countries participating in the study.

(AQO 305/02)

Mr M McGuinness: In the 2002/03 financial year to date my Department has awarded 6 contracts at a total value of just over £420,000. Four of these contracts were for academic research and one for statistical analysis. None of these contracts was considered appropriate for inclusion in the pilot schemes to be determined by the Public Procurement Board. The final contract was for the provision of training materials in electronic format but the procurement process had commenced in the previous financial year.

(AQO 298/02)

Mr M McGuinness: Controlled school provision in the Newtownards area is a matter in the first instance for the South Eastern Education and Library Board. The Board has indicated to my Department that the site of the former Scrabo High School is surplus to the Board’s requirements.

(AQO 319/02)

Mr M McGuinness: As Minister for Education I am fully committed to the implementation of the Good Friday Agreement of which equality and human rights are key tenets.

In delivering its aims and objectives and in pursuing the targets set out in the Programme for Government my Department is committed to promoting equality of opportunity and protecting human rights.

As part of this important work my Department has an extensive programme of equality impact assessments set out in the Department’s Equality Scheme, as approved by the Equality Commission. These will be the key mechanisms through which my Department will fulfil its statutory Equality obligations.

In addition my Department has developed excellent working relationships with both the Human Rights Commission and the Equality Commission. Last year my Department co-hosted major conferences with both Commissions.

The conference reports were launched earlier this year and my officials are continuing to work with both Commissions on the recommendations flowing from the two conferences.

(AQO 335/02)

Mr M McGuinness: I am currently engaged in the important process of making a number of improvements to the provision of services and facilities for children and young people with learning difficulties. These include:

• Legislation which will give children with special educational needs provision which is at least equal to that contained in the Special Education Needs and Disability Act 2001, which places a greater emphasis on inclusive education in a mainstream setting;

• With the Department of Education and Science in Dublin, the creation of an all-Ireland Centre of excellence for the education of children and young people with Autistic Spectrum Disorders (ASD);

• taking forward the recommendations of the Task Groups Reports on Autism and Dyslexia, which I believe will set the agenda for our work in these fields for the foreseeable future;

• the development of a DVD for teachers, and videos for parents, of children with ASD and dyslexia;

• the installation of state-of-the-art communications technology for children with severely limited motor control (Camera Mouse);

• through the Regional Strategy Group (RSG) , the development of consistent assessment and diagnostic criteria for the identification of children with special educational needs, particularly ASD and dyslexia, which will ensure that all children with similar needs have access to similar levels of provision;

• also through RSG, guidance on the inclusion of children with special educational needs in mainstream education;

• guidance to schools, agreed by teachers’ unions, on helping children who have particular medical needs.