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Department of Education

Mr. Beggs: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what the underspend for the Department of Education was for the year 2003–04; and whether there is a projected underspend for the same Department for 2004–05. [198738]

Mr. Gardiner: The proportion of the Department of Education budget unspent at the end of the 2003–04 financial year was 3.3 per cent. (provisional). Under approved End-Year Flexibility arrangements, sums unspent on capital investment, Executive Programme Funds and education and library board resource are carried forward for use in a subsequent year and are thus not "lost" to education. Carry over relates mainly to (a) education and library board resource, principally to facilitate the operation, under Local Management of Schools (LMS) arrangements, of schools' delegated budgets and (b) capital investment, in particular to take account of the rephasing of expenditure on existing projects.

Given the responsibility of the Department to live within its approved annual budget and the End-Year Flexibility arrangements described above, some underspend is expected in 2004–05.

Departmental Advertising Costs

Charles Hendry: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what the cost of (a) creative work, (b) media spend and (c) administration for his Department's advertising activity has been in each financial year since 1997–98, broken down by contractor. [197297]

Mr. Paul Murphy: The information requested by the hon. Member could only be provided at disproportionate cost.

Departmental Publications (Accessibility)

Mr. Goodman: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many and what proportion of publications issued by his Department are available in (a) braille, (b) autoprint, (c) large print and (d) easy read format. [194299]

Mr. Paul Murphy: Northern Ireland Departmental Equality Schemes recognise the need to ensure equality of opportunity in accessing information. This includes the need for access by people with sensory and learning disabilities, many of whom may have particular difficulties with information in print.

All the Northern Ireland Departments and the Northern Ireland Office therefore make their publications available in alternative formats, including braille, large print and easy read format, on request. It is not possible to give significant proportional figures for each document published as uptake of the service has been very low, at the level of one or two copies of a document requested occasionally from some departments.

Due to the resource implications of producing information in alternative formats and the very low uptake, it is normal policy that such documents are produced only on request. In cases where the need for an
 
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alternative format is identified as necessary by virtue of the subject matter and target audience, the format may be produced at the same time as the standard document

Education and Library Boards

Mr. Beggs: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what measures are being taken to address the overspend within the Belfast and South Eastern education and library boards' budgets; and if he will make it his policy that the budget allocations of the other education and library boards will not be cut in order to fund these overspends. [197840]

Mr. Gardiner: The hon. Member will be aware that I have announced a Statutory Inquiry into the overspends in both Boards. While this moves forward, my focus remains on ensuring that both Boards are taking action to contain spending in the current financial year within the budgetary limits voted by Parliament. I have now received containment plans from both Boards setting out the actions they would need to take to keep within budget and am examining these carefully to assess the impact that the proposed actions are likely to have and the scope there might be to minimise any impact on front-line services.

I will not cut the existing budgets of other Boards in any way: that would not be fair to those Boards that are already making difficult decisions to ensure that they stay within their budgets. However, it is clear that any additional support I might be able to identify to give support to Belfast and the South- Eastern Board areas will be money that will not now be available to supplement other Boards' budgets.

Mr. Beggs: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many education and library board buses there are in Northern Ireland; and how many such buses are not fitted with seat belts, broken down by education and library board area. [197841]

Mr. Gardiner: Details of the education and library board bus fleets, including vehicles without seatbelts fitted, are as follows:

Board	No. of buses in Fleet	No. of buses with no seatbelts fitted
BELB	73	0
NEELB	98	16
SEELB	97	7
SELB	172	86
WELB	261	152
Total	701	261

In September 2002 new regulations came into effect requiring seat belts to be fitted to all new coaches, minibuses and other non-urban buses. Accordingly, all new education and library board buses purchased since that date have seatbelts fitted as standard. All ELB buses continue to meet legislative requirements, whether pre-or post-September 2002, and are maintained to a higher standard than the minimum requirement.

Lady Hermon: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what percentage of education and library board buses do not have seat belts fitted, broken down by board. [198283]

 
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Mr. Gardiner: Details of the Education and Library Board bus fleets, including the percentage of vehicles without seatbelts fitted are as follows:

Board	No. of buses in fleet	Percentage without seatbelts fitted
BELB	73	0
NEELB	98	16
SEELB	97	7
SELB	172	50
WELB	261	58
Total	701	37

In September 2002 new regulations came into effect requiring seat belts to be fitted to all new coaches, minibuses and other non-urban buses. Accordingly, all new Education and Library Board buses purchased since that date have seatbelts fitted as standard. All Board buses continue to meet legislative requirements, whether pre- or post-September 2002, and are maintained to a higher standard than the minimum requirement.

Lady Hermon: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what measures are being taken to address the overspend within the South Eastern education and library board. [198276]

Mr. Gardiner: The hon. Lady will be aware that I have announced a Statutory Inquiry into the overspends in both boards. While this moves forward, my focus remains on ensuring that both boards are taking action to contain spending in the current financial year within the budgetary limits voted by Parliament. I have now received containment plans from both boards setting out the actions they would need to take to keep within budget and am examining these carefully to assess the impact that the proposed actions are likely to have and the scope there might be to minimise any impact on front-line services.

Education Initiatives

Mr. Dodds: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what plans he has to produce proposals to tackle under-achievement in education in (a) Greater Shankill and (b) North Belfast. [197103]

Mr. Gardiner: The Department of Education's School Improvement Programme is already helping schools serving North Belfast and Greater Shankill to tackle low and under achievement. Some £3.1 million has been made available from the Programme in the last two years to support schools serving these areas. Also, the Intensive Support Programme for Interface Schools is making available a total of some £2.3 million over the three financial years from 2004–05. A revised bid is being constructed in an effort to obtain funding from the Integrated Development Fund to help tackle further educational underachievement in schools these areas and the new Education Action Zones initiative will also complement existing programmes.

The Essential Skills for Living Strategy provides adults in all areas of Northern Ireland with the opportunity to improve their literacy and numeracy skills to a level which enables them to function and progress in society in general.
 
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There are a number of initiatives currently operating in North Belfast and Greater Shankill, including 15 projects funded under Peace II, to improve the levels of Essential Skills in these areas. The Department is also operating a pilot scheme with Shankill Jobs and Benefits office where Job Seekers Allowance (JSA) claimants are screened for Essential Skills needs.

In addition, Belfast Institute of Further and Higher Education and East Antrim Institute of Further and Higher Education administer a number of outcentres in these areas which provide Essential Skills courses.

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