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|Road
District council |maintenance |Major works<1> |Minor Works
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Antrim |2,213 |1,415 |419
Ards |1,988 |75 |383
Armagh |3,028 |0 |881
Ballymena |1,813 |113 |552
Ballymoney |1,068 |0 |171
Banbridge |1,738 |93 |371
Belfast |6,495 |<2>12,713 |1,037
Carrickfergus |784 |144 |309
Castlereagh |2,018 |82 |582
Coleraine |1,988 |589 |979
Cookstown |2,042 |4 |383
Craigavon |2,617 |40 |535
Derry |2,219 |381 |904
Down |2,628 |128 |644
Dungannon |2,745 |43 |379
Fermanagh |3,128 |16 |596
Larne |1,203 |0 |202
Limavady |1,430 |653 |457
Lisburn |4,530 |597 |909
Magherafelt |1,593 |188 |775
Moyle |905 |0 |152
Newry and Mourne |3,115 |1,270 |890
Newtownabbey |2,877 |156 |963
North Down |1,257 |226 |407
Omagh |3,106 |107 |698
Strabane |2,517 |150 |541
|---- |---- |----
Total |61,045 |19,183 |15,119
<1>Major works are not allocated on a District Council basis. These figures
represent expenditure on specific schemes some of which may have been completed
prior to 1993-94.
<2>Includes expenditure on Belfast Cross Harbour Bridges.
Rev. William McCrea : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what investigations have been carried out in Northern Ireland in relation to the link between the road network and employment and prosperity.
Mr. Tim Smith : While no specific investigations have been carried out by the Department, the link between the road network and the economy is one of the factors considered in the formulation of road policy.
Education Costs
Mr. William Ross : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what is the average cost of educating a child at (a) a controlled primary school, (b) a controlled
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secondary school, (c) a voluntary grammar school, (d) an integrated primary school, (e) an integrated secondary school and (f) an integrated primary school in Northern Ireland.Mr. Ancram : The average expenditure per pupil in Northern Ireland in 1992-93 was as follows :
|£
----------------------------------------
Controlled primary school |1,393
Controlled secondary school |2,294
Voluntary grammar school |2,157
Integrated primary school |1,697
Integrated secondary school |2,268
Public Bodies
Mr. William Ross : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland whether his appointments to public bodies and
non-departmental public bodies are subject to investigation by the Fair Employment Commission.
Sir John Wheeler : The vast majority of appointments made by my right hon. and learned Friend to public bodies in Northern Ireland do not constitute employment within the meaning of the provisions of the Fair Employment Acts, and would therefore lie outside the scope of the investigative powers of the Fair Employment Commission. However, a small number of public appointments, where the chairman of the public body concerned is also the chief executive, would come within the investigative powers of the Fair Employment Commission. Appointments which do not fall within the scope of the Fair Employment Acts are subject to the anti- discrimination provisions of section 19 of the Northern Ireland Constitution Act 1973.
Capital Works
Mr. William Ross : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what sums have been extended in each education board area in Northern Ireland on capital works in each of the last five years for which figures are available on (a) the integrated sector, (b) the voluntary grammar schools, (c) the controlled primary and secondary schools and (d) the maintained primary and secondary schools.
Mr. Ancram : Capital expenditure by education and library boards for each of the years from 1988-89 to 1991-92 is analysed by area and by school sector in the statements and summary of the education and library boards' accounts, Cmnd 1105, 1531, 1977, and 2249, copies of which are available in the Library. The figures for 1992-93 will be published on 27 July 1994, Cmnd No. 2603. Capital grants paid by the Department of Education to grant- maintained integrated schools and voluntary schools over the five year period 1988-89 to 1992-93 are set out in the table :
Board area |Integrated |Voluntary |Maintained
and year |schools |grammar |primary and
|schools |secondary
|schools
|£000s |£000s |£000s
--------------------------------------------------------------
Belfast
1988-89 |Nil |1,368 |1,604
1989-90 |Nil |1,425 |1,816
1990-91 |49 |1,602 |3,301
1991-92 |71 |2,516 |3,045
1992-93 |329 |1,195 |2,556
Western
1988-89 |Nil |864 |1,601
1989-90 |Nil |1,208 |1,749
1990-91 |Nil |2,034 |2,216
1991-92 |406 |4,163 |4,000
1992-93 |19 |5,040 |3,475
North Eastern
1988-89 |Nil |2,073 |1,766
1989-90 |Nil |1,848 |930
1990-91 |650 |2,575 |732
1991-92 |32 |3,976 |896
1992-93 |530 |4,193 |1,167
South Eastern
1988-89 |Nil |509 |922
1989-90 |Nil |1,783 |1,503
1990-91 |101 |1,375 |2,896
1991-92 |1,761 |1,381 |2,225
1992-93 |113 |1,323 |2,189
Southern
1988-89 |Nil |1,972 |1,921
1989-90 |Nil |3,309 |3,063
1990-91 |35 |2,923 |5,318
1991-92 |2 |2,519 |4,499
1992-93 |389 |1,922 |5,399
Perinatal and Neonatal Mortality
Mrs. Bridget Prentice : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what was (a) the perinatal mortality rate and (b) the neonatal mortality rate in each health and social services board for 1985, 1990 and 1993.
Sir John Wheeler : The information is as follows :
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1985 1990 1992
|Perinatal|Neonatal |Perinatal|Neonatal |Perinatal|Neonatal
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Eastern Health and Social Services Board |10.4 |4.8 |7.3 |3.5 |8.7 |3.8
Northern Health and Social Services Board |10.4 |5.2 |7.1 |4.2 |7.6 |3.5
Southern Health and Social Services Board |12.8 |7.7 |6.4 |4.0 |8.5 |3.8
Western Health and Social Services Board |11.4 |5.5 |10.2 |4.9 |7.8 |5.6
Note: 1993 figures are not yet available. Perinatal are per 1,000 live and still births. Neonatal are per 1,000
live births.
Chill Factor Definition
Rev. Martin Smyth : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will define the chill factor which he requires to be taken into account for health provision in Northern Ireland.
Mr. Ancram : The chill factor refers to the requirement for health and social services boards, in planning the provision of services, to ensure that no section of the community would perceive itself to be unduly disadvantaged in terms of its continued access to services as a result of changes in their location.
Countryside Protection Schemes
Dr. Strang : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what was the cost in 1993 in Northern Ireland of payments made under (a) the countryside stewardship scheme, (b) the hedgerow incentive scheme, (c) the countryside premium scheme and (d) the wildlife enhancement scheme ; and what is his estimate of the cost in 1994.
Mr. Ancram : None of the listed schemes apply in Northern Ireland.
Dr. Strang : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what was the cost in 1993 in Northern Ireland of payments under (a) the environmentally sensitive area scheme, (b) the nitrate sensitive area scheme, (c) the farm and conservation grant scheme, (d) the pilot beef and sheep extensification schemes, (e) the woodland grant scheme, (f)) the farm woodland premium scheme, (g) the orchard grubbing scheme, (h) the optional five year set-aside
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scheme, (i) the habitat scheme, (j) the moorland scheme, (k) the countryside access scheme and (l) the organic aid scheme ; and what is his estimate of the cost in 1994.Mr. Ancram : The information in respect of the schemes is as follows :
Scheme |Expenditure|Estimate
|by £'000 |by £'000
|1993-94 |1994-95
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Environmentally sensitive areas |586 |700
Farm and conservation grant |6,250 |4,580
Pilot beef and sheep extensification |15 |15
Woodland grant |729 |842
Farm woodland premium |68 |95
Orchard grubbing |Nil |1
Optional 5-year set aside |63 |34
Nitrate sensitive areas and countryside access schemes do not apply in Northern Ireland, while the habitat improvement scheme, moorland scheme and organic aid scheme will be launched later in 1994 and expenditure will not arise before 1995-96.
Privatisation
Mr. Campbell-Savours : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland which organisations, agencies and other bodies relating to his departmental area of responsibility have been privatised since 1990 ; and what plans he has for further privatisation.
Sir John Wheeler : Northern Ireland Electricity's four generating stations were sold to private interests in 1992, and the remainder of the business--transmission, distribution and supply--was successfully floated in June 1993, thus completing privatisation of the electricity
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supply industry in Northern Ireland. The process of privatising Northern Ireland Airports Ltd. has begun, with a target date of mid-1994 for completion by means of a trade sale.The Government remain committed to the privatisation of water and sewerage services at the earliest possible date but recognise that, for a number of technical reasons, this will not be possible in the lifetime of the present Parliament. Legislation is being promoted to enable ports in Northern Ireland to be privatised, while the Department of the Environment is considering the extent to which the non-core activities of Northern Ireland Railways and
Ulsterbus/Citybus may be sold.
Health Visitors
Ms Primarolo : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many health visitors were employed in each health and personal social services board area in September 1988 and in September 1992.
Mr. Ancram [holding answer 7 July 1994] : The information as requested is not readily available. However, figures for all nursing staff, in the specialty of health visiting is given as follows. Staffing figures prior to 1990 were not collected on a comparable basis.
1990 1992
Health visiting |Number |WTE |Number |WTE
staff in
Northern Ireland
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Eastern Board |124 |117 |234 |209
Northern Board |92 |86 |95 |90
Southern Board |54 |50 |90 |84
Western Board |77 |71 |79 |72
|------- |------- |------- |-------
Northern Ireland
Total |347 |324 |498 |455
WTE-Whole time equivalent.
The following nursing grades are included in the specialty of health visiting and are included in the figures provided : Assistant Director Nursing Services (Grade 1), Assistant Director Nursing Services (Grade 7), District Nursing Sister G, Enrolled Nurse E, Enrolled Nurse F, Fieldwork Teacher H, Health Visitor, Health Visitor (Grade G), Health Visitor (Grade H), Home Care Worker, Nursing Auxiliary B, Nursing Sister/Charge Nurse H, Post Basic Student D, Post Basic Student E, School Nurse E, School Nurse F, Senior Nurse/Nursing Officer I, Staff Nurse E, Staff Nurse F, Student Health Visitor, Team Leader/Health Visitor, Team Leader (Health Visiting/District Nursing), Unit Senior Manager 2.
Contracts
Mr. Byers : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland on what occasions in the last 10 years he or a Minister in his Department has given a direction to civil servants to award a contract against the advice of the civil service ; what was the subject matter of the contract and its value ; and when it was awarded.
Sir John Wheeler [holding answer, 8 July 1994] : The information requested could not be obtained by the Northern Ireland Office in the time available, except at disproportionate cost. However, within the Northern Ireland Departments, the Minister responsible for the Department of Health and Social Services, on one occasion, directed that a contract be awarded to a firm other than that recommended by his officials. This contract, for providing catering facilities, was awarded on 22 November 1990 and was valued at £265,548.
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EDUCATION
Full-time Further Education
15. Mr. Garrett : To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many people applied to study full time for a degree or equivalent qualification at an institution of higher education for the academic years 1992-93 and 1993-94 ; and what are the latest available figures for the coming academic year.
Mr. Boswell : Applicants through central schemes to full-time higher education courses totalled some 395,000 in 1992 and 419,000 in 1993. As at May, applicants for admission in 1994 stood at some 378, 000--virtually the same level as at May last year.
Voluntary Activity
17. Mr. Alan Howarth : To ask the Secretary of State for Education if he will take steps to encourage volunteering on the part of students in schools and further and higher education.
Mr. Boswell : The Government are seeking to promote voluntary activity among all age groups through their make a difference initiative. The make a difference team will be considering the role of young people as part of the development of a United Kingdom volunteering strategy. Many students are already volunteers, and it is primarily for educational establishments to consider what further steps to take to encourage students to volunteer.
Primary Schools (Funding)
18. Mr. John Greenway : To ask the Secretary of State for Education what plans he has to reform the funding of large primary schools.
Mr. Robin Squire : Decisions about funding levels for such schools are for local education authorities to make in the context of their own schemes for the local management of schools.
Road Safety
19. Mrs. Ann Winterton : To ask the Secretary of State for Education what steps he is taking to improve understanding among school pupils of road safety.
Mr. Forth : The Department encourages schools to make full use of opportunities within the national curriculum and the wider school curriculum to teach pupils about road safety.
Grant-maintained Schools
20. Mrs. Dunwoody : To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many times a year he meets chief education officers to discuss grant- maintained schools.
Mr. Robin Squire : My right hon. Friend and other Ministers meet chief education officers throughout the year as the need arises and discuss a wide variety of topics, including grant-maintained schools.
27. Mr. Liddington : To ask the Secretary of State for Education what assessment he has made of the opinions of parents whose children attend grant-maintained schools about the quality of education which those schools provide.
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Mr. Robin Squire : Growing numbers of parents are choosing self- governing schools for their children. Some 70 per cent. of grant-maintained schools responding to a recent survey reported increases in pupil numbers. Pupil numbers at secondary schools which have been grant-maintained for the last four years have grown three times faster than the secondary pupil population as a whole. This is clear evidence of parents' confidence in the quality of education provided by self-governing schools.
School Performance Tables
21. Mr. John Marshall : To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many requests his Department received for copies of last year's school performance tables.
Mr. Robin Squire : Copies of the 1993 tables were sent to schools which appeared in the secondary school tables, and to all maintained primary schools, for distribution to parents and students considering their options for transfer to secondary school or to education post-16. A further 125,000 copies have since been distributed in response to supplementary requests to the Department.
Sixth Forms
22. Sir Michael Neubert : To ask the Secretary of State for Education what percentage of grant-maintained secondary schools have their own sixth form.
Mr. Robin Squire : Of the 594 grant-maintained secondary schools currently operating, 68 per cent. have sixth forms.
Returning Teachers
Mr. Don Foster : To ask the Secretary of State for Education if he will publish figures giving his current estimates on potential returners to the teaching profession, broken down by employment status, age and gender.
Mr. Robin Squire [holding answer 4 July 1994] : The latest available estimates are for 1990-91 :
Thousands, rounded
Employment status |Men |Women |Total
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Part-time and supply teachers in
maintained sector |3 |88 |90
In independent schools or teacher-
related employment |8 |32 |40
Employment other than teaching |70 |92 |162
Not in paid employment |7 |66 |73
|------- |------- |-------
Total |88 |276 |365
Information by age is not readily available. However, these figures exclude out-of-service teachers aged over 55 years as well as those who qualified before 1965 and have not taught after that date and those not resident in England.
Independent And Grant-maintained Schools
23. Mr. Congdon : To ask the Secretary of State for Education what steps he is taking to prevent local education authorities from discriminating against independent and grant-maintained schools.
Mr. Forth : Section 129 of the 1993 Education Act provides that local education authorities, in performing
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their duties and exercising their powers, must treat pupils at grant-maintained schools no less favourably than pupils at schools maintained by a local education authority. The Department will continue to investigate allegations of discrimination against GM schools. Pupils at independent schools are not covered by equivalent statutory protection.Specialisms
24. Sir John Hannam : To ask the Secretary of State for Education what support he proposes to give to those schools which wish to develop a specialism in (a) music, (b) art, (c) languages and (d) other areas of the curriculum.
Mr. Robin Squire : The Government are committed to extending choice and diversity in secondary school provision and want to see more schools develop their own specialisms. We are currently examining in detail how new types of specialist schools can best be supported, within available resources. We expect to make an announcement in due course.
Lecturers (Contracts of Employment)
25. Mr. Pope : To ask the Secretary of State for Education what representations he has received regarding further education lecturers' contracts of employment.
Mr. Boswell : My right hon. Friend and I have received a number of letters on this matter, both directly and through hon. Members.
University Places
26. Mr. Sheerman : To ask the Secretary of State for Education what action he is taking to ensure that all suitably qualified students are offered university places over the next three years.
Mr. Boswell : It is for universities and colleges to decide how many places to offer in the light of maximum aggregate student numbers notified to them by the Higher Education Funding Council for England. They are best placed to judge whether a candidate is suitably qualified for a place. The Government's spending plans allow for the current record proportion of almost one in three young people entering high education to be maintained for the next three years.
Further Education (Funding)
Mr. Hinchliffe : To ask the Secretary of State for Education if he will review the current funding arrangements for further education.
Mr. Boswell : The way in which funds are allocated to colleges in the further education sector is a matter for the Further Education Funding Council to determine, having regard to the funding aims set by Government. The council has, after extensive and detailed consultation with colleges, put in place a new funding methodology for 1994-95, which has been widely welcomed. It is pledged to review the methodology year by year and has already started work for 1995-96.
Pupil Expenditure
Mrs. Ann Taylor : To ask the Secretary of State for Education what was the expenditure on books and equipment in 1992-93 in maintained nursery, primary and secondary schools per pupil.
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Mr. Robin Squire : Separate information is not collected for nursery and primary schools. Local education authorities' spending on books and equipment in 1992-93 was £59 per pupil in LEA-maintained nursery and primary schools and £98 per pupil in LEA-maintained secondary schools. Equivalent information is not available for grant-maintained schools.
Work Experience
Mrs. Ann Taylor : To ask the Secretary of State for Education what discussions he has had with his right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Employment on the subject of ensuring the effective provision of work experience in schools, with particular reference to the issues of health and safety ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Forth : As my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Employment announced on 24 May, Official Report, column 198, the Government are asking training and enterprise councils and their partners to ensure that all pupils in their last year of compulsory education can have at least one week's work experience and will make available an additional £23 million over three years to 1997-98 to support this. Guidance on work experience placements, including health and safety aspects, is contained in the Department for Education booklets "Education at Work".
Higher Education (Access Funds)
Mr. Booth : To ask the Secretary of State for Education what resources will be available for access funds for students in higher education institutions in 1994-95 ; and when he proposes to issue new guidance on the use of the funds.
Mr. Boswell : The Department is making available £20.9 million for access funds for students in higher education in England for 1994-95. The sum is being allocated between the three funds as shown below :
|£ million
-------------------------------------------
Undergraduate Fund |15.30
Postgraduate Fund |5.30
Further Education Fund |0.34
The Department has now written to the Higher Education Funding Council for England with guidance to be given to HE institutions about allocation and use of the funds for 1994-95.
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Portuguese and Spanish
Mr. Dalyell : To ask the Secretary of State for Education in how many schools (a) Portuguese and (b) Spanish are taught ; and how many teachers and pupils are involved.
Mr. Robin Squire : The Department does not have full details on the numbers of schools where Portuguese and Spanish are taught. However, the database of GCSE and GCE A-level and AS-level examination results used for the publication of school and college performance tables for England in November 1993 shows that 162 schools entered 213 pupils for GCSE Portuguese and 1,621 schools entered 25,500 pupils for GCSE Spanish in 1992-93.
The estimates from the 1992 secondary school staffing survey, which covered approximately a 10 per cent. sample of schools in England, showed that at national level there were around 3,400 full-time and part-time teachers teaching Spanish in England in 1992. Figures for teachers of Portuguese cannot be reliably estimated.
Privatisation
Mr. Campbell-Savours : To ask the Secretary of State for Education which organisations, agencies and other bodies relating to his departmental area of responsibility have been privatised since 1990 ; and what plans he has for further privatisation.
Mr. Forth : No organisations within my right hon. Friend's area of responsibility have been privatised since 1990 and there are no plans for privatisation, although the forthcoming periodic review of the Teachers' Pensions Agency will include consideration of the scope for privatising the agency as part of the "prior options" study.
School Inspections
Mr. Don Foster : To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many schools are due to receive Ofsted inspections in the autumn term 1994 ; for those inspections, how many contracts have not yet been awarded ; how many schools have not yet been informed of the date of their inspection ; and how many schools he expects will not receive inspections in the autumn term due to lack of contracts being awarded.
Mr. Robin Squire : This is a matter for Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Schools, who heads the independent Office for Standards in Education. I have asked Professor Sutherland to write to the hon. Member.
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