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BSE-free Herds

18. Mr. Gordon Prentice: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what plans he has to introduce BSE-free certified herds in Northern Ireland. [7333]

Mr. Ancram: Certified herds are specifically referred to by the Florence agreement as a stage in the removal of the export ban. The Agriculture Departments are actively exploring possibilities for a UK-wide certified herds scheme with the Commission so that we can submit formal proposals shortly. We will be pressing for these to be discussed at the earliest opportunity.

12 Dec 1996 : Column: 350

Security Situation

19. Mr. Soley: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will make a statement on the security situation. [7334]

26. Mr. Spring: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what assessment he has made of the current security situation in the Province. [7341]

Sir John Wheeler: I refer the hon. Member and my hon. Friend to the answer I gave my hon. Friend the Member for Sheffield, Hallam (Sir I. Patnick) earlier today.

Fish (Lough Neagh)

20. Mr. Clifford Forsythe: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what was the redd count of migrating fish in the Lough Neagh catchment area for (a) 1993-94, (b) 1994-95 and (c) 1995-96. [7335]

Mr. Ancram: The redd count for salmon in the Lough Neagh catchment area in 1993-94, 1994-95 and 1995-96 was 42, 73 and 55 respectively. It is not possible to provide migratory trout (dollaghan) redd counts as these are indistinguishable from resident brown trout redds.

Irish Language

22. Mr. Flynn: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what plans he has for improving the educational materials for use in teaching the Irish language. [7337]

Mr. Ancram: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave him on 14 November 1996, Official Report, column 345.

Inward Investment

23. Mr. John Marshall: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will make a statement about inward investment in Northern Ireland. [7338]

Mr. Ancram: I refer my hon. Friend to the answer I gave him on 14 November, Official Report, columns 342-43. There has been no significant change in the position and I remain confident about increasing interest shown in Northern Ireland as an investment location.

Elective Surgery

25. Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what are the current waiting times for elective surgery for patients in the Eastern health board area. [7340]

Mr. Moss: The following table records the number of those waiting for elective admission at 30 September 1996 in surgical specialties with trusts located in the Eastern health and social services board area together with the time spent on the waiting list at that date.

12 Dec 1996 : Column: 349

Time on waiting list for surgical specialties

	6 months	6 to 11 months	12 to 17 months	18 to 23 months	24 months+	All durations
General surgery	2,603	992	415	130	22	4,162
Urology	1,557	480	192	73	64	2,366
Trauma	2,301	1,583	196	33	15	4,128
ENT	2,085	760	82	9	10	2,946
Ophthalmology	2,284	1,057	156	9	0	3,506
Oral surgery	337	144	49	22	12	564
Paediatric dentistry	60	8	1	2	0	71
Neurosurgery	123	95	47	32	50	347
Plastic surgery	845	769	513	289	136	2,552
Cardiac surgery	333	157	25	6	0	521
Paediatric surgery	490	334	244	132	141	1,341
Thoracic surgery	102	46	22	13	0	183
Anaesthetics	301	153	57	1	3	515
Total waiters(17)	13,421	6,578	1,999	751	453	23,202
Percentage of total waiters	57.84	28.35	8.62	3.24	1.95	100.00

(17) Includes a total of 351 cases who were awaiting elective admission to surgical specialties having previously self deferred.

12 Dec 1996 : Column: 351

12 Dec 1996 : Column: 351

Water Leakages

27. Mr. William O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what is the estimated current loss of water in the water supply system in Northern Ireland; and if he will make a statement. [7342]

Mr. Moss: Total losses of water in the water supply system in Northern Ireland are currently estimated to be 10.95 cu m per kilometre of main per day.

Terrorism

29. Mr. Jacques Arnold: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what assessment he has made of the capability of the Provisional IRA to mount a terrorist campaign. [7344]

Mr. Booth: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what assessment he has made of the current level of IRA terrorist risk. [7329]

Sir John Wheeler: Our assessment is that the Provisional IRA is capable of mounting a sustained terrorist campaign both in Northern Ireland and elsewhere and that there is currently a high risk of attack from PIRA. The security forces remain vigilant to prevent such attacks, and have achieved a number of important recent successes.

Sectarian Killings

Mr. Nicholas Winterton: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will make a statement on sectarian killings which have taken place in the last 12 months. [7339]

Sir John Wheeler: There have been 17 murders in Northern Ireland between 10 December 1995 and 10 December 1996 arising from the security situation, of which two are believed to have had a purely sectarian motive. These, like all murders, are cruel crimes without any justification, and the Government condemn them unreservedly.

Every effort will be made to bring those responsible for these and all other crimes to justice. To date, one person has been charged in connection with one of the sectarian murders.

Traffic (Comber)

Mr. John D. Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland when the last traffic census was

12 Dec 1996 : Column: 352

conducted on roads leading to Comber, County Down; and what is the volume of traffic on each road at Comber.[8336]

Mr. Moss: Responsibility for the subject in question has been delegated to the Roads Service under its chief executive, Mr. W. J. McCoubrey. I have asked him to arrange for a reply to be given.

Letter from G. P. Fraser to Mr. John D. Taylor, dated 11 December 1996:

The Secretary of State for Northern Ireland has asked the Chief Executive of Roads Service to reply to your question about volumes of traffic on roads leading to Comber. In the Chief Executive's absence I am responding on his behalf.
Roads Service has automatic traffic counters which constantly record traffic volumes on three roads leading to Comber. Traffic information from these counters for 1995 was as follows:-

Location	Average daily traffic flow
A21 Newtownards Road	14,550
A22 Killyleagh Road	6,640
A22 Comber Road, Dundonald	8,840




I hope you find this information helpful.

Manse Road, Castlereagh

Mr. John D. Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what are the arrangements for salting Manse road, Castlereagh; what account is taken of whether the road is used by school buses in making such arrangements; what was the cost of salting Manse road (a) in 1995-96 and (b) in 1996-97; and if he will make a statement. [8337]

Mr. Moss: Responsibility for the subject in question has been delegated to the Roads Service under its chief executive, Mr. W. J. McCoubrey. I have asked him to arrange for a reply to be given.

Letter from G. P. Fraser to Mr. John D. Taylor, dated 11 December 1996:

The Secretary of State for Northern Ireland has asked the Chief Executive of Roads Service to reply to your question about arrangements for salting Manse Road, Castlereagh. In the Chief Executive's absence I am responding on his behalf.
There are 2 Manse Roads in Castlereagh--the C369 which runs from the Four Winds roundabout to the Ballygowan Road, and the U193 which runs from the Clontonacally Road to the Saintfield Road. During periods of ice and snow the C369 is salted along its

12 Dec 1996 : Column: 353

entire length together with the section of the U193 from Cadger Road to Saintfield Road. The recent review of the gritted network had no effect on either of these roads.
While school bus routes are not automatically salted Roads Service applies a weighting factor for buses when assessing the traffic flow on each route. By way of illustration, a 40 seater bus is considered equivalent to 20 cars.
The estimated cost of salting these roads was as follows:

Financial year	C369	U193
	£	£
1995-96	1,000	680
1996-97 (to date)	380	260

I hope you find this information helpful.

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