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Regulatory Impact Assessments

Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will make a statement on his Department's Regulatory Impact Assessment procedure; and how many RIAs have been reviewed in respect of the Department over the last year. [120822]

Mr. Pearson: A Regulatory Impact Assessment (RIA) must be completed for all policy proposals that have a potential impact on businesses, charities or the voluntary sector.

The procedure for conducting Regulatory Impact Assessments in Northern Ireland is set out in the Northern Ireland Better Regulation Strategy, which was approved by the Northern Ireland Executive in December 2001.

The Strategy incorporates a requirement on Northern Ireland Departments introducing new legislation to complete a review RIA within an appropriate period (not exceeding 10 years) of the introduction of the legislation. There have not yet been any reviews of RIAs undertaken in Northern Ireland.

Roads

Mr. Dodds: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland which contractors are engaged by the

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Department of Regional Development to carry out (a) road works and (b) other works in (i) Belfast and (ii) Northern Ireland. [119469]

Mr. Spellar: The Chief Executive of the Roads Service has written in response to the hon. Gentleman's Question. A copy of the letter has been placed in the Library.

School Funding

Lady Hermon: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what the total funding for schools in (a) Northern Ireland and (b) North Down was in each year since 1997. [121930]

Jane Kennedy: The General Schools Budget for schools in Northern Ireland in each year since 1997 is as follows:

	£ million
1997–98	829.5
1998–99	853.6
1999–2000	916.5
2000–01	954.3
2001–02	1,016.7
2001–03	1,055.3

The General Schools Budget represents the total amounts made available for school recurrent funding and the details are published annually in the Budget Statements produced by each of the Education and Library Boards for controlled and maintained schools and the Department in respect of Voluntary Grammar and Grant Maintained Integrated schools.

Although the Budget Statements list the formula allocation to individual schools amounts held centrally for support services are not identifiable at individual school level. None of the information is collated by parliamentary constituency and this could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

School Sports

Lady Hermon: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what steps he is taking to promote increased participation in sport in schools in Northern Ireland. [121923]

Jane Kennedy: Physical Education is compulsory within the Northern Ireland curriculum for all pupils from age 4 to 16 and this shows the degree of importance which is attached to the subject. It is essential that pupils develop an understanding of the importance of physical activity to a healthy lifestyle in later life. Schools themselves determine how much time is devoted to PE in the curriculum, but they have been encouraged to give pupils at least two hours PE per week. The PE Programme of Study is also flexible enough to enable teachers to adjust the activities available to cater for developing the particular sporting interests of all pupils and so make the subject enjoyable for them. The Northern Ireland Council for the Curriculum, Examinations and Assessment (CCEA) is currently carrying out a review of the curriculum, and PE is being considered as part of this review.

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Teenage Pregnancy

Lady Hermon: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what action he is taking to tackle teenage pregnancy in Northern Ireland. [121929]

Angela Smith: We have recently published the Teenage Pregnancy and Parenthood Strategy and Action Plan which contains challenging targets to reduce teenage pregnancies. A multi-agency Implementation Group has been established to take the Strategy forward. The Group met on 29 May and identified education support, confidentiality, services and parent/child communication as priority areas for action.

Train Derailment (Castlerock)

Mr. Peter Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland when he will publish the findings of the inquiry into the derailment of the Northern Ireland Railway's train at Castlerock on 4 June 2002; and if he will make a statement. [119300]

Mr. Spellar: The Inspector's report into the derailment is being printed. I will shortly make a written statement to the House on the matter and arrange for copies of the report to be made available.

Transport

Mr. Peter Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will make a statement on progress on plans for a rapid transport system for Belfast. [122366]

Mr. Spellar: Work is in progress to assess the potential for a rapid transit network in the Belfast Metropolitan area, and in particular, an EWAY-type pilot scheme along the Belfast–Newtownards corridor. This work is being taken forward in the context of preparing the Belfast Metropolitan Transport Plan, which is due to be published later this year.

Mr. Peter Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what estimate he has made of the annual cost of extending the free fares scheme to all those over 60 in Northern Ireland. [122374]

Mr. Spellar: We estimate that the cost of extending the Northern Ireland Concessionary Fares Scheme to provide free travel on public transport for all those over 60 would be about £3.3 million in the first year, taking account of set-up costs, and about £2.9 million per annum thereafter at current fare levels.

Wildlife (Northern Ireland) Order

Mark Tami: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what plans he has to amend the Wildlife (Northern Ireland) Order 1985. [121594]

Angela Smith: The Department of the Environment plans, at the earliest opportunity, to amend the definition of a 'wild bird' in the Wildlife (Northern Ireland) Order 1985 to comply with the European Union Habitats Directive.

On the wider front, the Department is currently carrying out a review of the Order and a full report is expected in the autumn. A decision will be taken at that time on the need for further amendment to the Order and the timing of any such amendments.

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DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER

Agency Workers

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how many agency workers have been employed by the Department in each of the last two years; and at what cost to public funds. [115202]

Yvette Cooper: The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister was created following machinery of Government changes on 29 May 2002. From that date to 30 April 2003 the amount spent on the hire of agency workers has been as follows:

Amount spent on hire of agency workers£

Department	Cost
ODPM	1,710,964
Executive Agencies
QEII	15,000
Planning Inspectorate	99,309
The Rent Service	829,000
Total(22)	2,654,273

⁽²²⁾ 2002–03

The Fire Service College records agency staff on a different basis.

Agency staff (average per month)

Department	Number
Fire Service College	21

The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister records the total amount spent on agency staff but not the actual number of workers. Figures on numbers of agency workers could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Allotments

Mr. Pickles: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what plans he has to increase the number of allotments; and if he will make a statement. [121814]

Keith Hill: The provision of allotments is determined locally by allotment authorities. The Small Holdings and Allotments Act (1908) places a duty on local authorities to provide sufficient allotments, according to local demand. In addition Planning Policy Guidance note 17: Open Space, Sport and Recreation, indicates that local authorities should assess the existing and future needs of their communities for all open spaces of public value, including allotments. Local authorities should then plan to meet those identified needs.

Audit Commission

Mr. Pickles: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister, how many conferences staff of the Audit Commission attended in each of the last five years; what the (a) cost and (b) purpose was in each case; and how many were overseas conferences. [113553]

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Yvette Cooper: The costs of attending conferences are not separately recorded by the Audit Commission. These costs are included in the Commission's overall training costs, which for the last five years were as follows:

Conference attendance by staff of Audit Commission£ million

	Total training costs(23)
1997–98	1.5
1998–99	1.7
1999–2000	2.7
2000–01	2.8
2001–02	3. 6

⁽²³⁾ At constant 2001–02 prices.

Mr. Pickles: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how many publications have been issued by the Audit Commission in each of the last five years; and what the cost was of each. [113556]

Yvette Cooper: Information on the number of publications issued by the Audit Commission and the cost of publication over the last five years is as follows:

Number and cost of publications issued by Audit Commission

	Publications issued	Approximate net publication costs£ million(24)
1997–98	50	0.35
1998–99	67	0.55
1999–2000	49	0.84
2000–01	47	0.51
2001–02	71	0.70

⁽²⁴⁾ At constant 2001–02 prices.

The number of publications issued includes about 20 each year which are unpriced. These are items the Commission wish to disseminate widely or where the comments from stakeholders are requested, including consultation papers and the Commission's annual report. The Commission actively markets its priced publications and receives income of between £0.3 million and £0.4 million per annum from the sale of its publications. This income is used to offset partially the costs of production.

Mr. Pickles: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how many equivalent full time employees there were in the Audit Commission, (a) when it was first established and (b) on 1 May 2003. [113557]

Yvette Cooper: The total number of staff employed by the Audit Commission in its first full financial year, ending on 31 March 1984, was 524. The number currently employed is 2,532.

The Commission has taken on a significant number of new responsibilities since 1984. In 1990 the Commission's role was extended to include the external audit of national health service bodies. Other new responsibilities are those derived from the Local Government Act 1999 on local authority performance, including the setting up of the best value inspection service and the development of the comprehensive performance assessment process.

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