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13 May 2003 : Column 201W—continued

Post Mortems

Mrs. Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland for what reason hospital pathologists in the Royal and the City hospitals are empowered to undertake coroners post mortems. [102018]

Mr. Browne: Article 11 of the Criminal Justice (NI) order 1980 empowers the Secretary of State to approve a list of registered medical practitioners for the performance of Coroner's post mortem examinations. The list is compiled by the Secretary of State on the advice of the State Pathologist.

The current list is made up from forensic pathologists on the staff of the State Pathologist's Dept and named hospital pathologists attached to the Royal Victoria Hospital or the Belfast City Hospital. SPD staff will be engaged to conduct the majority of coroner's cases, especially post mortem examinations involving deaths, which might result in serious criminal charges being prepared, or where medical negligence or neglect has been alleged.

Hospital pathologists currently conduct coroner's cases when the death of a patient has occurred in one of the Belfast teaching hospitals (Royal Victoria Hospital, Belfast City Hospital, Mater Hospital and Ulster Hospital). In some circumstances eg paediatric deaths, autopsies are carried out jointly between a member of the State Pathologist's Department and a paediatric pathologist, while in others, specialist advice such as neuropathology, may be sought by the State Pathologist.

Private Finance Initiative

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will make a statement on the expected saving to future funds from the private finance initiative schemes due to become operational in 2003. [105769]

Mr. Paul Murphy: The Northern Ireland Office do not as yet have any Private Finance Initiative schemes in operation. The information for the Northern Ireland Administration is as follows:

The Classroom 2000 (C2K) project to provide information and communication technology infrastructure needed in schools in Northern Ireland shows a Net Present Value saving against the Public Sector Comparator (PSC) of £12 million, representing 7 per cent. of the PSC; and

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the Driver and Vehicle Testing Agency's Vehicle Testing project to equip vehicle testing centres throughout Northern Ireland with the latest computerised vehicle testing technology fully meeting EU testing obligations has a Net Present Value saving against the Public Sector Comparator (PSC) of £6 million, representing 16 per cent. of the PSC.

Public Relations Consultants

Mr. Dodds: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how much has been spent on public relations consultants in each year since 1997. [100725]

Mr. Paul Murphy: The Northern Ireland Office has not used the services of Public Relations consultants.

Within the Northern Ireland administration the cost of public relations consultants in each year since 1997 is set out in the following table:

Year	£
1997–98	897,537
1998–99	1,110,559
1999–2000	1,311,243
2000–01	1,270,102
2001–02	1,013,129
2002–03	556,370

One department was unable to provide figures in relation to the cost of public relations consultants.

These figures do not include Agencies and NDPBs.

Regional Planning (Enforcement)

Mr. Hume: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many times enforcement action has been taken by the (a) regional planning offices and (b) the sub offices in Northern Ireland in each of the last six years. [108175]

Angela Smith: The Planning Service has a number of options to seek to remedy a breach of planning control. The Planning Service normally seeks to remedy the breach initially through negotiation of remedial works, such as the removal of the unauthorised structure. This approach successfully resolves a high proportion of enforcement cases. If this approach is unsuccessful, the Department will consider formal enforcement action.

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Although statistical records maintained by the Planning Service have historically taken account of enforcement procedures, it is only since 1999 that separate data specifically relating to enforcement action has been recorded. It is not possible to provide a breakdown of enforcement statistics by division. Presented in the table are the total number of enforcement cases for each year since 1999. These figures appear in the Agency Annual Report and Accounts for the years 1999–2002. Figures for the present year are not yet available.

	Cases investigated	Cases resolved	Enforcement Notices issued	Stop Notices issued
2001–02	3,800	1,634	50	4
2000–01	3,500	1,422	54	3
1999–2000	2,678	1,167	82	2

A review of the current system, to allow information to be readily collated on a divisional and sub-divisional basis, will be undertaken as part of Modernising Planning Processes.

Road Accidents

Reverend Martin Smyth: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many people have been (a) injured and (b) killed in road traffic accidents in Northern Ireland since 1 January. [109973]

Angela Smith: The collection of road traffic data is the responsibility of the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI). Full details for the year to date are not yet available but PSNI has provided provisional figures and these are set out in the table.

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Period	Number of deaths/fatalities(18)
1 January—14 April 2003	50 killed
1 January—28 February 2003	35 killed
1 January—28 February 2003	225 serious injuries
1 January—28 February 2003	1,420 slight injuries

⁽¹⁸⁾ provisional figures

School Closures

Mr. Beggs: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will list by (a) name, (b) location and (c) education and library board area those schools that have been closed in each of the last five years. [110570]

Jane Kennedy: A total of eight primary, one special and one post-primary schools have closed in the past five years. These schools are:

Education andlibrary boardarea	School and location	Date of closure
BELB	Jaffe Special School, Belfast	23 June 2001
	St. Anthony's PS, Willowfield, Belfast	31 August 2001
NEELB	Dunamuggy PS, Templepatrick	31 August 1999
	Millbrook PS, Larne	31 August 2000
	Mosside PS, Ballymoney	31 August 2002
SEELB	O'Neill Memorial PS, Crossnacreevy,Belfast	31 August 2002
SELB	Star of the Sea PS, Kilkeel	31 August 1998
WELB	Cavanacaw PS, Omagh	31 August 2001
	Glengorland PS, Donemana, Strabane	31 August 2001
	Dungiven HS	31 August 2002

In addition, in this five year period a number of schools have received approval to amalgamate, namely:

Education andlibrary board area	Schools	Approval given
BELB	Fernhill PS and Glencairn PS, Belfast	1998
	St. Comgall's PS and St. Joseph's PS, Belfast	1999
	St. Paul's PS and St. Mary's PS, Belfast	2000
	Holy Trinity Boys PS and Holy Trinity PS	2000
	St. Catherine's PS, St. Gall's PS and St. John's PS	2000
NEELB	Antrim HS and Ardnaveigh HS	1998
	Coleraine Boys HS and Coleraine Girls HS	2000
	Cambridge House Boys Grammar and Cambridge House Girls Grammar, Ballymena	2001
SEELB	Maze PS Lisburn, St. James PS	2000
	Hillsborough and St. Johns PS, Hillsborough	2001
	Clough PS, Downpatrick and Downshire PS, Dundrum	2001
	St. Mary's Boys PS and St. Mary's Girls PS, Newcastle	2002
	Hillsborough PS and Newport PS, Hillsborough	—
SELB	Lurgan Cahone PS, Rathfriland and St. Colman's PS, Glassdrummond	1998
	St. Clare's Convent PS and St. Mary's PS, Keady	1998
	St. Clare's PS and St. Colman's Abbey PS, Newry	1999
	Our Lady's PS and St. Mochuas PS, Keady	2000
	Ballygawley PS and Innismagh PS, Ballygawley	2001
	St. Josephs Infants PS, St. Peter's Boys PS and Sacred Heart PS, Lurgan	2001
WELB	St. Patrick's Broys HS and St. Patrick's Girls HS, Dungannon	1998
	St. Michaels PS and St. Theresa PS, Enniskillen	2001
	Bready PS and Sandville PS, Strabane	2002

Secondments

Dr. Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many individuals have been seconded to his Department from the private sector, in each case listing (a) from which organisation and (b) dates of secondments in 2002–03. [108074]

Mr. Paul Murphy: Within the Northern Ireland Office during the period 2002–03 no individuals have been seconded from the private sector.

Within the Northern Ireland Administration there were five secondments from the private sector to the Northern Ireland civil service during the period 2002–03. Details are as follows.

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Organisation	Dates of Secondment
GFW Price Consultancy	10 July 2001-current
Partnership UK	6 January 2003-current
Partnership UK	4 February 2003-current
SERCO	17 February 2003-current
IBM	24 February 2003-current

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