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10 Jul 2003 : Column 948W—continued

Presidential Visit

Mr. Dodds: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland which agencies and Departments bore the costs associated with President Bush's visit to Northern Ireland. [120364]

Mr. Paul Murphy: The costs associated with President Bush's visit to Northern Ireland, which included visits by the Prime Minister and the Taoiseach, were borne by the NIO, PSNI, and the MOD.

River Pollution

David Burnside: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many incidents of pollution there were in each river in Northern Ireland in (a) 2002, (b) 2001 and (c) 2000, broken down by (i) industrial, (ii) farming and (iii) sewage incidents. [125327]

Angela Smith: In the time available it has not been possible to provide the information to the level requested. However, I have asked the Chief Executive of the Environment and Heritage Service (EHS) of the Department of the Environment to extract the information in respect of Northern Ireland's major rivers and tributaries and to write to the hon. Member.

In the meantime the following table details the number of pollution incidents in each of the nine areas used by EHS for water pollution management purposes. The boundaries of these areas are shown in the attached map, which will be placed in the Library.

10 Jul 2003 : Column 949W

Areas/year	Industry	Farming	Sewage
2000
1	142	123	111
2	26	61	23
3	59	51	37
4	51	28	46
5	50	33	97
6	41	57	83
7	18	43	19
8	12	32	15
9	53	96	47
Total	452	524	478
2001
1	103	83	89
2	26	47	22
3	29	43	47
4	47	29	51
5	56	42	100
6	28	66	70
7	27	33	23
8	11	46	14
9	36	98	56
Total	363	484	472
2002
1	105	125	119
2	34	46	18
3	30	37	27
4	32	20	40
5	35	39	92
6	21	38	48
7	33	24	10
8	12	14	21
9	47	117	54
Total	349	460	429

Road Tax

Mr. Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many vehicles on the roads of Northern Ireland are estimated not to have road tax paid on them; and what assessment he has made of how this figure compares on a pro-rata basis with the other nations and regions of the United Kingdom. [124185]

Angela Smith: A UK wide roadside survey on Vehicle Excise Duty evasion in 2002 estimated that there were 76,900 unlicensed vehicles in Northern Ireland, 74,700 in the Private and Light goods tax class (cars and small vans) and 2,200 in the Goods vehicles class. These represent evasion rates respectively of 7.3 per cent. and 8.2 per cent.

The evasion rates for cars and small vans in traffic in other parts of the UK were:

	Percentage
East of England	3.1
East Midlands	2.2
Greater London	4.5
North East	2.4
North West	2.8
Scotland	1.6
South East	2.8
South West	2.6
Wales	2.8
West Midlands	2.3
Yorkshire and Humber	2.4
All Great Britain	2.7

A regional breakdown of Great Britain evasion rates is not available for the Goods vehicle class. The overall figure for Great Britain in the 2002 survey was 2.1 per cent.

10 Jul 2003 : Column 950W

School Accommodation

Mr. Dodds: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what assessment he has made of the physical condition of accommodation of schools in North Belfast. [123957]

Jane Kennedy: The Chief Executive of the Belfast Education and Library Board has advised that physical condition surveys of all controlled and maintained schools in the Belfast Board area, including those located in North Belfast, have been completed in the previous four years. These surveys detail the condition of the schools throughout the estate and provide the basis for the Board's annual maintenance programme. Each year the Board carries out re-surveys of 25 per cent. of the schools' estate.

In addition, under the Department's annual capital allocation process, school authorities are responsible for identifying schools requiring major capital investment. The Department is currently in the process of updating the list of schools that it has accepted as requiring such major works with the aim of publishing the list on its website at the end of July 2003. There are currently six major works schemes underway at schools in the North Belfast area.

Schools (Capital Expenditure)

Mr. Peter Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what the level of capital expenditure on schools was in the last two financial years. [123793]

Jane Kennedy: Capital expenditure on schools in each of the last two financial years is set out in the table.

	£ million
2001–02	104.4
2002–03	125.2

South Eastern Education and Library Board

Mrs. Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will take steps (a) to ensure that the South Eastern Education and Library Board carries out a suitable scheme of upgrading and securing the Movilla High School recreation area in Newtownards and (b) to encourage a partnership approach with Ards borough council in developing the site. [123467]

Jane Kennedy: I understand from the Chief Executive of the South Eastern Education and Library Board that meetings have taken place between the school, the Board, Ards borough council officials and local representatives about the sports/recreation area at Movilla High School.

Steps have been taken in the past to improve the fencing of the site in order to deter vandalism, but these have proved ineffective. The Board has, therefore, commissioned a study to examine the feasibility of moving the fencing back from the existing perimeter

10 Jul 2003 : Column 951W

and, in partnership with the council, to provide some facilities for public use around the perimeter of the area. These proposals will be considered as part of the Board's minor works programme for the next financial year.

Student Support

Mr. McGrady: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what steps he will take to ensure increased levels of financial support for students from disadvantaged backgrounds; and if he will make a statement. [123967]

Jane Kennedy: Following the review of student support in Northern Ireland, means-tested bursaries were introduced for higher and further education students from low-income families. From September 2003, I will increase the maxima of these bursaries from £1,500 to £2,000, while also increasing the income threshold from £15,000 to £20,000. I will also increase the threshold used for assessing a contribution to tuition fees from £20,480 to £20,970 from 1 September 2003.

Telecommunication Masts

Mr. Peter Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many telecommunication masts have been erected within Northern Ireland in the last 10 years, broken down by council area; and how many acts of vandalism upon masts have been perpetrated during that period. [123712]

Angela Smith: The number of planning approvals granted for telecommunication masts, broken down by council area, is as follows:

District council area	Total applications approved 1994–to date
Antrim	62
Ards	60
Armagh	57
Ballymena	71
Ballymoney	15
Banbridge	31
Belfast	196
Carrickfergus	22
Castlereagh	39
Coleraine	48
Cookstown	28
Craigavon	64
Derry	53
Down	43
Dungannon	80
Fermanagh	106
Larne	37
Limavady	46
Lisburn	71
Magherafelt	27
Moyle	30
Newry and Mourne	53
Newtownabbey	39
North Down	79
Omagh	55
Strabane	26
Total	1,438

Information on the number of approvals for telecommunication masts in 1993 is not available.

10 Jul 2003 : Column 952W

Planning Service does not hold information on the number of telecommunication masts erected following receipt of approval.

The Police Service of Northern Ireland has advised that it is not possible from the statistics available to identify the number of offences relating to criminal/malicious damage caused to telecommunication masts.

Under Planning Policy Statement 10—Telecommunications—Planning Service requires service providers to show that site sharing of an existing mast has been investigated and that new mast proposals will only be acceptable to the Department where it is proven it is not possible to share. This is in order to limit the visual intrusion of phone masts across Northern Ireland. The process usually involves placing additional equipment to an existing mast, and, unless de minimus, would require planning permission. As a result of this, it is possible that more than one planning approval could pertain to a single mast.

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