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Traffic Calming

Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what proportion of claims against local authorities in each of the last five years related to incidents involving (a) speed humps and (b) other methods of traffic calming; and if he will make a statement. [165057]

Mr. McNulty: Information about claims against local authorities is not held by the Department for Transport.

Transport for London

Mr. Redwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what the capital allocation to Transport for London for (a) 2003–04 and (b) 2004–05 was, broken down by (i) bus and (ii) Underground. [164832]

Dr. Howells: My Department provides block funding to Transport for London through the GLA Transport Grant, and it is for the Mayor to determine how much of this grant should be allocated for capital investment in buses or London Underground. The GLA Transport Grant was £l,681.932 million in 2003–04, and will be £2,224.556 million in 2004–05.

Urban Light Rail

Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what assessment his Department has made of the potential of urban light rail to help relieve congestion and pollution. [163054]

Mr. McNulty: We recognise that urban light rail is one of the possible measures that can help relieve congestion and pollution. A number of light rail schemes are under development. These are appraised according to the Departments' New Approach To Appraisal framework which assesses how significant these impacts are alongside other criteria and whether a scheme represents value for money.

Vehicle Excise Duty

Mr. Greg Knight: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many motor vehicles have been crushed in the last six months for which figures are available for

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non-payment of vehicle excise duty; in how many of these cases the owner initially objected thereto; and if he will make a statement. [165170]

Dr. Howells: Between 1 October 2003 and 30 March 2004, DVLA and local authorities with devolved clamping powers clamped 30,500 unlicensed vehicles. Of these 14,600 were disposed of by crushing as they were in too poor a condition to put back on the road.

No figures are available for the number of vehicle keepers who initially objected. However crushing is treated as the final option when disposing of vehicles. Every effort is made to contact the current keeper when unlicensed vehicles are clamped and vehicles are kept in pounds for a minimum of seven days for this purpose. It is only after it becomes clear that the keeper cannot be identified or they provide a disclaimer that vehicles are disposed of by crushing.

NORTHERN IRELAND

Community Relations Core Funding Scheme

Lady Hermon: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will meet representatives from the Christian Education Movement to discuss the new round of the Community Relations Core Funding Scheme 2004 to 2007. [164389]

Jane Kennedy: I understand that the Christian Education Movement is currently in the process of pursuing the formal appeal process in connection with the Department of Education's decision not to provide funding under the Community Relations Core Funding Scheme for the period April 2004 to 2007. In the circumstances, it would not be appropriate for Ministers to intervene.

Lady Hermon: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland when the advisory group established to hear appeals from unsuccessful applicants for the Community Relations Core Funding Scheme 2004 to 2007 will meet; who its members are; and on what basis each member was chosen. [164391]

Jane Kennedy: The members of the Advisory Panel, which was set up to assist the Department of Education in considering applications for funding from the Community Relations Core Funding Scheme are:

Member
Tom McCready	Non-scoring Chairman, Head of Youth Services and Community Relations Branch, DE
Phyllis Richardson	Community Relations Branch, DE
Walker Ewart	Education and Training Inspectorate, DE
Norman Richardson	Lecturer, Stranmillis College
Gerard Doran	Youth Officer, Southern Education and Library Board
June Neill	Assistant Advisory Officer, Western Education and Library Board
Brendan Hartop	UNESCO Centre, University of Ulster

The members of the Advisory Panel were appointed from a broad spectrum of educational interests because of their expertise in community relations policy and practice.

The Advisory Panel also has a role in assisting the Department in its consideration of formal appeals against the Department's decision not to fund certain organisations. The Advisory Panel will consider and offer advice to the Department on each appeal as it arises and on the basis of its individual merits. There will be no single meeting held to consider all appeals received.

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Electricity

Mr. Trimble: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what reports he has received on proposals to generate electricity from lignite in Northern Ireland. [164055]

Mr. Pearson: None.

Health Services

Mrs. Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what proportion of (a) residential care and (b) nursing home places in Northern Ireland are provided by independent charities or non-profit organisations. [164914]

Angela Smith: Information on the number of residential care and nursing home places according to whether they are provided by independent charities or non-profit organisations is not collected centrally. However, information is available on total places provided by all voluntary organisations. At 31 March 2003, 29 per cent. of available residential care places and nine per cent. of available nursing home places were provided by such organisations.

Mrs. Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many allergy sufferers he estimates there are in the Province. [164926]

Angela Smith: The information requested is not available.

Mrs. Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many Duchenne muscular dystrophy sufferers he estimates there are in the Province. [164927]

Angela Smith: Research conducted in 2003 indicates that there are 62 Duchenne muscular dystrophy sufferers in the province, a prevalence of 3.5 per 100,000 population.

Hospital Funding

Lady Hermon: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will list (a) the meetings he has held and (b) the correspondence he has had with representatives from (i) The Ulster Hospital, Dundonald and (ii) The Ulster Community and Hospitals Trust in relation to the funding shortfall within the Trust. [164534]

Angela Smith: I have not had any meetings with the Ulster Community and Hospitals Trust nor received any correspondence on this issue. Meetings regarding funding would normally take place between the Board and Trust, with the Department regularly updated on progress and any relevant issues.

Illegal Dumping

Mrs. Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what assessment he has made of the costs resulting from illegal dumping in Northern Ireland; and if he will make a statement. [164850]

Angela Smith: The term "illegal dumping" may be taken to include a wide range of illegal waste management activities ranging from small-scale

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dumping, referred to as 'fly-tipping', through to the use of sites to dispose illegally of significant quantities of waste.

An illegal site containing in the region of 10,000 tonnes of waste may cost approximately 1,000,000 to remediate by waste removal. The total number of such sites in Northern Ireland is not known. However, my Department's Environment and Heritage Service is currently investigating 20 sites ranging in capacity from 5,000 to 26,000 tonnes.

In addition to the cost of remediation of illegal sites, illegal dumping also impacts adversely, in competitive terms, on those operating legitimate waste management businesses.

Invest NI

Mr. Trimble: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what steps are taken by Invest NI to establish whether companies applying for grants have a solvent pension scheme. [164069]

Mr. Pearson: The issue of solvency of the pension fund of a company seeking assistance from Invest NI only arises in relation to larger operations that provide defined benefit schemes to their employees.

From an industrial development perspective, the important issue is the ability of an applicant company to demonstrate that it can fund its proposal for assistance in the context of all of its liabilities, including those relating to the pension scheme. Under Financial Reporting Standard (FRS) 17, the statutory accounts of a company must disclose full details of any liability to the pension fund. Invest NI would therefore become aware of any pension scheme insolvency issues through a company's most recent statutory accounts.

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