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4 Dec 2002 : Column 820W—continued

Car Crime

Mr. Dodds: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what plans he has to increase penalties for joy riders and car thieves. [84381]

Mr. Browne: The Government are committed to undertaking a comprehensive review of the law relating to road traffic penalties in Northern Ireland. This will include the offence of aggravated vehicle taking.

Preparatory work is under way on a consultation paper in anticipation of this review. I hope to be in a position to issue this document to a wide range of interested parties early in the coming new year.

Any decision on the future of these penalties must be made on the basis of the recommendations of the review.

Mr. Dodds: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what plans he has for a review of penalties available to courts dealing with the perpetrators of car thefts and joy riding in Northern Ireland. [83113]

Mr. Browne: The Government are committed to undertaking a comprehensive review of the law relating to road traffic penalties in Northern Ireland. This will include the offence of aggravated vehicle taking.

Preparatory work is under way on a consultation paper in anticipation of this review. I hope to be in a position to issue this document to a wide range of interested parties early in the coming new year.

Nursing Staff

Mrs. Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what action is being taken by the Department of Health to ensure that there are enough specialised nursing staff to monitor patients on drugs. [83039]

Mr. Browne: I recently announced an additional £100,000 recurrent funding to improve the staffing infrastructure needed to support services for people who suffer from Multiple Sclerosis (MS)

Electronic Tagging

Lady Hermon: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what proposals he has to introduce electronic tagging for certain categories of criminals in Northern Ireland. [84478]

Mr. Browne: I have no immediate proposals to introduce the electronic tagging of criminals. The Criminal Justice Review recommended that electronic monitoring be kept under review in the light of developing experience elsewhere, including in England and Wales. The issue is currently being considered as part of a review of the Northern Ireland sentencing framework.

Fertiliser Industry

Mr. McGrady: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what discussions will be held with the Irish Government regarding the loss of 200 jobs in the fertiliser industry in North Belfast; and what action will be taken to ensure that all staff statutory requirements

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are met in respect of pension fund, redundancy payments and the issuing of statutory notices of employment. [82043]

Mr. Pearson: As well as meeting with Richardsons' management and Unions representing the work force, I have written to the company shareholders, including the Irish Government, expressing my concern over the treatment of the work force. I have met with ICI and a representative of the Irish Government. Further I hope to meet Mary Harney TD Deputy Prime Minister, Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment shortly.

The issues relating to pensions are complex. There are four different pension schemes and the shareholders have asked the trustees of each scheme to establish the

facts and options to mitigate the impact on members. The shareholders are proposing to meet with the four pension fund trustees and while the Government's influence in relation to the operation of private pension schemes may be limited, I will await the outcome of this meeting with interest.

In relation to statutory payments, former employees at the Belfast plant may make an application to the Department for Employment and Learning for statutory redundancy payments. If the employees believe that IFI, Richardson's parent company, failed to consult about the redundancies in proper time they can bring a complaint to an industrial tribunal.

Inward Investment (Strangford)

Mrs. Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what action he is taking to support inward investment in the Strangford area, in particular (a) Newtownards and (b) Killyleagh. [82025]

Mr. Pearson: The Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment, through its Agency Invest Northern Ireland, is actively seeking to attract high quality knowledge-based investment to Northern Ireland. Invest Northern Ireland is working with district councils, including the Ards and Down councils and other local stakeholders to develop regional propositions that will promote the key benefits of those areas. As part of this process Ards council facilitated a meeting last month to develop a sales proposition for the area and follow-up actions are under way.

Research Base

Mrs. Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what plans he has to give Northern Ireland an improved research base; and how he plans to achieve this. [82031]

Mr. Pearson: An improved research base, which is dependent on the combined efforts of Government, academia and the private sector, is critical for the development of a modern, competitive, knowledge based economy in Northern Ireland. I launched a draft Regional Innovation Strategy for public consultation on 21 November 2002. Entitled Xthink, create, innovate" it identifies a series of actions to build on Northern Ireland's strengths and address its weaknesses. It also seeks to ensure that there is a strategic framework for action by all the key

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stakeholders. The public consultation phase will end in January 2003 and I intend to publish the final version in March 2003.

Scallops

Mrs. Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will provide compensation to the Northern Ireland scallop industry following the recent imposition of a retrospective ban on the Irish Sea scallop grounds; and when he intends to re-open the fishery. [84456]

Mr. Paul Murphy: No. It remains Northern Ireland policy not to pay compensation during such outbreaks. The ban in the Irish Sea does not extend to the North Sea or Strangford Lough where scallops may still be caught by fishermen subject to the requirement that they be taken to an approved processing plant for shucking under a movement permit.

It is not possible at this stage to indicate when the fishery will reopened.

Teachers' Pay

Lady Hermon: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will extend the consultation period for submissions on the Teachers' Pay and Conditions Inquiry in Northern Ireland. [85034]

Jane Kennedy: A letter from the Inquiry's Chairman was sent to all schools on 2 December informing them that it has decided, following representations from school governors, to extend the date for the receipt of evidence for its main report to 31 January 2003.

SOLICITOR-GENERAL

Official Travel

Mr. Chope: To ask the Solicitor-General what the total expenditure of (a) her Department and (b) its agencies was on official travel in 2001–02. [84801]

The Solicitor-General: The total expenditure of the Legal Secretariat to the Law Officers on official travel in 2001–02 was £65,919.

The total expenditure of the Crown Prosecution Service on official travel in 2001–02 was £4,255,472.

The total expenditure of the Treasury Solicitor's Department on official travel in 2001–02 was £22,151.

The total expenditure of HM Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate on official travel in 2001–02 was £89,096.

The total expenditure of the Serious Fraud Office on official travel in 2001–02 was £356,000.

Since 1999 the Government have published an annual list of all visits overseas undertaken by Cabinet Ministers costing £500 or more during each financial year. The Government have also published on an annual basis the cost of all Ministers' visits overseas.

Details of travel undertaken during the period 1 April 2001 to 31 March 2002 was published on 24 July 2002, Official Report, 1374–75W).

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EDUCATION AND SKILLS

Employment Delays

Mr. Andrew Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what delays are being experienced by schools between employing (a) teaching, (b) classroom support, (c) voluntary and (d) other staff and their deployment into activities with children, arising from delays in screening by the Criminal Records Bureau. [85068]

Mr. Miliband: My Department has not been made aware of any delays in schools deploying staff or volunteers to work with children since we issued advice about interim arrangements in September. Those arrangements allow new staff and volunteers in schools for whom a Criminal Records Bureau Disclosure is required to be deployed to work with children while awaiting the Disclosure at the discretion of the Head teacher. Schools should check my Department's list of people who are barred from working with children in the education service (List 99) and complete other recruitment checks such as taking up references, before staff or volunteers start work.

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