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19 Oct 2004 : Column 678W—continued
School Transport (Buses)
Mr. Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland when he expects to publish the Regulatory Impact Assessment being carried out into the possible effects of a change in regulations regarding seating and seatbelts for children travelling to school in buses. [192149]
Angela Smith: The Department of the Environment is currently working with the Department for Regional Development and the Department of Education to collate and collect the information needed to carry out the Regulatory Impact Assessments. Due to the complexity of this exercise it is impossible to give a precise timetable, but it is expected that they will be completed during 2005.
Sexually Transmitted Diseases
Lady Hermon: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what assessment he has made of the prevalence of sexually transmitted diseases in Northern Ireland. [191905]
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Angela Smith: Information is not currently available to assess the prevalence of sexually transmitted diseases in Northern Ireland. However, information from Genito-Urinary Medicine clinics throughout the UK is available on the number of new episodes of various sexually transmitted infections recorded in each calendar year.
This information is published by the Health Protection Agency and Northern Ireland figures can be obtained from Table 6 of the Supplementary Tables in "Renewing the Focus: HIV and other Sexually Transmitted Infections in the United Kingdom in 2002. An update: November 2003". A copy of this report has been placed in the House of Commons Library. The report and supplementary tables can also be downloaded from the following website: www.hpa.org.uk/infections/topics az/hiv and sti/publications/annual2003/annual2003.htm.
Small Businesses
Lady Hermon: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what steps he is taking to promote small business in Northern Ireland; and if he will make a statement. [191829]
Mr. Gardiner: Invest NI is actively engaged in encouraging the development of businesses of all sizes and has a broad range of measures which can be tailored to suit the needs of each individual business.
A range of interventions are available which are aimed at improving business competitiveness and Invest NI can provide both advice and financial support for small businesses to develop their capabilities in key areas such as research, product development, innovation, quality, marketing, improvements to operational processes and the development of people skills.
Innovative new support mechanisms such as a £20 million venture capital fund have also been introduced. This fund has been designed to address the current gap in the provision of equity capital in the £250,000 to £1.5 million range for companies in the manufacturing and tradable services sectors. Invest NI also actively encourages small businesses to become more directly involved in R and D activities and there are a wide range of programmes available to assist companies to engage in strategic research, product development and industrial design.
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Another key priority for Invest NI is to encourage and assist small and medium sized companies in the manufacturing and internationally traded services sectors to pursue international market development. This support takes the form of market and product information, export capability development, market access visits and in-market support tailored to company needs.
In terms of new business starts, the Accelerating Entrepreneurship Strategy (AES) was introduced in 2003 as a direct attempt to address the low levels of entrepreneurial activity in Northern Ireland. During 2003–04 Invest NI supported 2,758 new business starts and in the last two years the rate of business starts has increased by 201 per cent.
Sure Start
Lady Hermon: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what funding has been made available to the Sure Start programme since its introduction in Northern Ireland; and what plans he has to extend the Sure Start programme throughout Northern Ireland. [191844]
Angela Smith: When Sure Start was introduced in July 2000, investment stood at £4 million full-year cost (£2 million in-year cost). Investment across subsequent years is as follows:
| £ million | |
|---|---|
| 2001–02 | 5.8 |
| 2002–03 | 6.6 |
| 2003–04 | 8.5 |
| 2004–05 | 8.8 |
The current figure of £8.8 million represents the allocation of all of the funding available for Sure Start in Northern Ireland and there are no current plans for a further expansion of the programme.
University Students
Mr. Hume: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many full-time undergraduate university students normally domiciled in Northern Ireland he estimates will be at university in 2005–06. [192074]
Mr. Gardiner: In 2002–03, the latest year for which information is available, the number of NI domiciled full-time undergraduate students at universities in the UK and the Republic of Ireland stood at 39,009. It is estimated that by 2005–06 this will have increased to around 41,000.