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Students

Mr. Worthington: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what percentage of higher education students with homes in Northern Ireland go to Great Britain or Irish institutions to study; and what percentage return for employment in Northern Ireland on completion of their studies. [2064]

Mr. Ancram: In 1994-95 32 per cent. of Northern Ireland domiciled full-time undergraduate new entrants to higher education went to institutions in Great Britain and 7 per cent. to institutions in the Republic of Ireland; 19 per cent. of Northern Ireland domiciled full-time undergraduates who graduated from Great Britain higher education institutions in 1994-95 returned to Northern Ireland to take up employment.

No information is available on the destinations of Northern Ireland domiciled graduates from Republic of Ireland institutions.

Education Budget

Mr. Worthington: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will list in (a) cash and (b) constant price terms the resources that have gone into education in each year since 1979, and the percentage of the departmental budget which has been devoted to education in each year. [2065]

7 Nov 1996 : Column: 683

Mr. Ancram: The information is set out in the table:

				Education as percentage of
Year	Education cash	Expenditure(32) 1996-97 prices	(a) NI expenditure(33)	(b) NI managed block(34)
	£m	£m
1979-80	388	1,017	15.9	20.5
1980-81	458	1,014	15.8	20.6
1981-82	499	1,008	15.5	20.7
1982-83	534	1,007	15.3	20.8
1983-84	556	1,002	14.6	20.3
1984-85	580	995	14.1	19.7
1985-86	602	979	14.1	20.2
1986-87	695	1,097	15.4	22.4
1987-88	750	1,124	15.5	22.3
1988-89	812	1,141	15.9	20.7
1989-90	898	1,179	16.6	21.8
1990-91	1,004	1,221	18.2	24.5
1991-92	1,124	1,284	18.7	25.5
1992-93	1,203	1,319	18.3	25.3
1993-94	1,248	1,330	17.6	24.9
1994-95	1,295	1,356	17.5	25.1
1995-96	1,350	1,380	17.3	25.0
1996-97 planned	1,395	1,395	17.4	25.5

(32) Includes youth training programme expenditure prior to 1992-93, when responsibility for this activity transferred to the Department of Economic Development.

(33) NI expenditure is the total expenditure within the Secretary of State's responsibility within the control total. It includes NIO expenditure, and for the years prior to 1988-89, cyclical social security benefits.

(34) Includes expenditure by the NIO and NI Departments, excluding national agricultural and fisheries support, and most social security benefits expenditure.

Local Management of Schools

Mr. Worthington: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will make a statement on the percentage of education and library boards' budgets which must be delegated to schools; and what plans he has to change it. [2066]

Mr. Ancram: The LMS arrangements in Northern Ireland do not provide for fixed levels of delegation, but list specific areas of expenditure which boards either must delegate or may delegate to schools. Under these arrangements, education and library boards presently delegate to individual schools 86 per cent. of the funds capable of delegation. The boards retain resources to cover centrally funded services, such as landlord maintenance, curriculum advisory and support services, home-to-school transport, and educational welfare and psychology services. Levels of delegation are reviewed annually.

Colleges

Mr. Worthington: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what is his target date for the implementation of his proposals for the incorporation of colleges. [2489]

Mr. Ancram: For planning purposes, the target date for the incorporation of colleges is 1 August 1997.

7 Nov 1996 : Column: 684

School Assessments

Mr. Worthington: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what progress he has made in incorporating a value added element into the assessment of schools. [2490]

Mr. Ancram: It will not be possible for value added to be determined until the assessment outcomes for a cohort of pupils at consecutive key stages can be compared. Assessment of pupils' attainments at the end of key stages 1, 2 and 3 became a statutory requirement from 1 September 1996; it will be a further three years before the best means of establishing value added measures can be determined.

University Places (Costs)

Mr. Worthington: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will list the per capita cost of a full-time university place excluding student support in (a) real and (b) constant price terms in each of the past 10 years. [2492]

Mr. Ancram: The recurrent cost per full-time equivalent student, excluding student support, at universities in Northern Ireland has been as follows:

	(a) Cash price (£)	(b) Constant 1993-94 prices (£)
1986-87	4,290	6,345
1987-88	4,501	6,320
1988-89	4,553	5,966
1989-90	4,929	6,064
1990-91	5,187	5,908
1991-92	5,275	5,653
1992-93	5,232	5,392
1993-94	5,185	5,185
1994-95	5,059	4,958

Source:

Universities statistical record data (1996-87 to 1993-94); HESA data (1994-95).

School Transport

Mr. Worthington: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will make a statement on his Department's policy on school transport; what savings he expects to make in a full financial year as a result of policy changes; from which school sectors; and what impact he assesses this will have on enrolment. [2493]

Mr. Ancram: From the beginning of the 1997-98 school year, assistance will be provided only to pupils who are unable to gain a place in a suitable school or institution of further education within statutory walking distance of their home. Statutory walking distance is defined as two miles for primary school pupils and three miles for other pupils.

It is estimated that savings of some £3.4 million per annum in total will be achieved when the policy is fully implemented.

The estimated savings in each sector are:

	£ million
Primary	0.5
Secondary/Grammar	2.5
Further education	0.4

The policy change is not expected to affect overall enrolment figures, although variations to enrolments at individual schools are expected. The extent of these will be determined by whatever choices parents make for their children in response to the new transport arrangements.

7 Nov 1996 : Column: 685

Fireworks

Mr. Worthington: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what powers exist for (a) Customs and Excise and (b) other authorities to prevent the importation of illegal fireworks through ports into Northern Ireland. [2495]

Sir John Wheeler: Where Customs and Excise officials know that cargoes include fireworks, they check for compliance with the British standard and routinely advise the Health and Safety Executive and the Royal Ulster Constabulary. If, however, random searches at ports reveal fireworks which have not been listed as such, officials detain them and notify the RUC.

Fireworks coming into ports in Northern Ireland must comply with the Explosives Act 1875, as amended, and they must be authorised and appear on the "List of Authorised Explosives" issued by the Health and Safety Executive. They must also be classified in accordance with the Classification and Labelling of Explosives Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1991 and it is an offence under the Health and Safety at Work Order 1978 not to comply with these regulations.

The Placing on the Market and Supervision of Transfers of Explosives (Enforcement) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1996 give an inspector appointed under article 21 of the Health and Safety at Work Order 1978 the power to seize and detain, in accordance with section 74 of the Explosives Act 1875, fireworks which he has reasonable cause to believe will be unlawfully acquired, used or dealt in.

Mr. Worthington: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what representations he has received from the RUC about its powers to deal with fireworks in Northern Ireland. [2496]

Sir John Wheeler: When consulted on the draft Explosives (Amendment) (Northern Ireland) Order 1996 the Chief Constable indicated that he would wish to have various, additional powers to enter, stop, search and seize in relation to offences committed under the new regulations.

The Secretary of State gave this request the most careful consideration, but was not persuaded that such additional powers, which Parliament has reserved solely for the prevention and detection of serious and violent crime, were wholly appropriate to offences committed under the fireworks legislation.

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