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House Sales

Mr. Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will support the restriction of house sales to local people in areas of Northern Ireland where the local economy depends upon tourism, with particular reference to (a) Portballintrae, (b) Portstewart and (c) Castlerock, in a manner similar to that recently proposed by the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority. [210931]

Mr. Spellar: There are no plans at present to introduce the restriction of house sales to local people along the North Coast of Northern Ireland.

The house sales schemes of housing associations and the Northern Ireland Housing Executive give adequate protection for retaining housing in local areas as only the sitting tenant, with others living in the house, may buy that dwelling, and, in the event of re-sale within 10 years from the date of purchase, the dwelling must be offered to the social landlord from whom it was bought.

IT (Disciplinary Procedures)

Mr. George Osborne: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many staff in his Department have (a) received official warnings and (b) faced disciplinary procedures following breaches of IT policy in each year since 1997. [205810]

Mr. Pearson: The information is in the table.

	Number of staff receiving official warnings (verbal)	Number of staff who faced disciplinary procedures
1997	Nil	—
1998	Nil	—
1999	Nil	—
2000	2	1 formal
2001	4	1 informal/1 formal
2002	3	2 informal/1 formal
2003	12	—
2004	1	1 formal

John Lewis Store

Mr. Lidington: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland (1) what his policy is on the proposal for a John Lewis store and associated development at Sprucefield; [210610]

(2) what plans he has for public consultation on the proposal for a John Lewis store at Sprucefield. [210939]

Angela Smith: Proposals for any retail development at Sprucefield must be judged against policies contained in the Regional Development Strategy, the current statutory development plan [Lisburn Area Plan 2001], the recently-published Draft Belfast Metropolitan Area
 
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Plan 2015 (BMAP) and relevant Planning Policy Statements, in particular PPS5—retailing and Town Centres—a key objective of which is to sustain and enhance the vitality and viability of town centres.

Public consultation on the proposed development has been on-going for some time with the published notices in the local press in respect of the planning application and supporting documentation. The applicants are preparing further information requested by the Department and on receipt of this information a further public advertisement will be placed in the local press. Third parties will have at least 28 days to respond. As the application is being dealt with under the special procedures set out in Article 31 of the Planning (Northern Ireland) Order 1991, the Department can ask the Planning Appeals Commission to hold a public inquiry if this is considered appropriate. No decision on a public inquiry has been taken at this stage.

Listed Buildings

Mr. Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many buildings in Northern Ireland have been newly listed by the Environmental and Heritage Service over the last three years. [210447]

Angela Smith: The total number of newly listed buildings in Northern Ireland from 1 April 2002 to date is 103. There were 44 new listings in 2002–03, 47 new listings in 2003–04 and 12 new listings in 2004–05 to date.

A list of the buildings newly listed during the period has been placed in the Library.

Ministerial Visits

Mr. Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many visits by the President of the Irish Republic to Northern Ireland have taken place over the past three years; and what protocol was followed prior to each visit. [210445]

Mr. Paul Murphy: President McAleese visited Northern Ireland on 33 occasions during the three years 1 January 2002 to 31 December 2004. Nine of these visits were in a private capacity. For the remainder a Lord-Lieutenant or their representative greeted the President. Members of Parliament were advised, for information only, of the President's attendance at all public venues within their constituency.

Waiting Times (Orthopaedic)

Mr. Dodds: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what the average waiting time for patients in Northern Ireland to see an orthopaedic consultant is, broken down by Health and Social Services Board area. [211176]

Angela Smith: Waiting list information is collected by time band. It is therefore not possible to calculate the arithmetic mean length of time waiting. It is however possible to identify the median or mid-point waiting time band.
 
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The median time band for patients currently waiting for a first outpatient appointment in the trauma and orthopaedics specialty at 30 September 2004 for each Health and Social Services Board

Purchaser board	Median time band (months)
Eastern	12–14
Northern	3–5
Southern	3–5
Western	3–5
Other	6–8
Northern Ireland	6–8

Mr. Dodds: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what the longest time is that a patient has had to wait to see an orthopaedic consultant in Northern Ireland since 1997. [211177]

Angela Smith: The information requested is not available and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

However, the longest period that a patient was waiting for inpatient admission to the trauma and orthopaedic specialty at 31 December 2004 is 2,495 days.

The longest period that a patient was waiting for initial outpatient assessment to the trauma and orthopaedic specialty at 31 December 2004 is 2,254 days.

Peace Funding

Mr. Donaldson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what assessment he has made of whether there has been a disparity in the allocation of peace funding in the last five years. [210885]

Mr. Pearson: European peace funding is governed by the general principles of equality of opportunity and targeting social need that apply to all public expenditure and not on the basis of shares to any one group or community.

School Transport

Mrs. Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland whether the Department of Education or an education and library board have been subject to judicial review on home to school transport policy. [210772]

 
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Mr. Gardiner: In the current financial year the Department and the North-Eastern Education and Library Board have jointly been party to one judicial review relating to the home to school transport policy. The application was dismissed.

Neither the Department nor the Education and Library Boards have been involved in any other judicial reviews this year in respect of the transport arrangements.

Special Units

Mrs. Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland for what reasons (a) official publications referring to post-primary enrolments and (b) his Department's figures in the Costello Report exclude pupils in special units. [210771]

Mr. Gardiner: Departmental publications containing actual enrolments in mainstream schools normally include pupils in special units. When calculating school population projections, pupils in special units are projected and presented separately and therefore were not included in the projections presented in the Costello Report.

The inclusion or exclusion of pupils in special units has no impact on the year-on-year change in projected enrolments, as the number of pupils in special units is held constant in the calculations. If pupils in special units were included in the calculation of the projections, the projected decline of 2.1 per cent. in the post-primary school population from 2002–03 to 2004–05 would be the same.

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