House of Commons Hansard Written Answers for 3 Mar 2005 (pt 15)

3 Mar 2005 : Column 1325W—continued

Schools (Funding)

Mr. Beggs: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what the projected outcome is of the new Common Funding Formula in each school sector in Northern Ireland. [218316]

Mr. Gardiner: All grant-aided schools in Northern Ireland, covered by the Common Funding Scheme, have now received notification of their budget shares for the 2005–06 financial year. The information on allocations by management sector is shown in the following table:
£000

Allocations by sector Total funding in 2004–05⁽⁶⁾ Total common funding 2005–06⁽⁷⁾

Education and Library Board—Controlled 350,659 380,830

Education and Library Board—Maintained 318,380 347,753

Voluntary grammar 168,017 182,112

Grant-maintained integrated 38,719 43,205

Total 875,775 953,900

⁽⁶⁾ Figures taken from 2004–05 Budget Statements plus the Chancellor's ('Budget Addition') funding
⁽⁷⁾ Figures from Common Funding budget share allocations, including the Budget Addition.

Allocations by sector	Total funding in 2004–05⁽⁶⁾	Total common funding 2005–06⁽⁷⁾
Education and Library Board—Controlled	350,659	380,830
Education and Library Board—Maintained	318,380	347,753
Voluntary grammar	168,017	182,112
Grant-maintained integrated	38,719	43,205
Total	875,775	953,900

Mr. Beggs: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what procedures he has put in place to measure the educational outcomes of the allocations made under the new Common Funding Formula system. [218317]

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Mr. Gardiner: The introduction of a Common Funding Formula does not change the fundamental principles of local management of schools (LMS) arrangements: that the decisions on the relative priorities and use of allocated funds are taken by principals and governors of schools. What it does is ensure that schools with similar characteristics receive similar levels of funding, regardless of the area or sector in which they are located.

The Department already uses a wide range of measures of educational outcomes. These measures will continue to be used to inform judgments on educational priorities and the allocation and distribution of resources.

SOLICITOR-GENERAL

Information Technology

Mr. Oaten: To ask the Solicitor-General how the £600 million set aside for case management information technology in the Crown Prosecution Service referred to in the document Justice For All (2002) has been spent. [218854]

The Solicitor-General: The £600 million in paragraph 9.47 of the White Paper Justice for All", was allocated for modernisation of all Criminal Justice System information technology, not for the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) alone. The CPS has paid £56.41 million since 1 January 2002 under its 10-year public finance initiative for its Case Management System COMPASS and for legacy system support.

COMPASS was delivered on time, to specification and within budget. It has improved the way the Crown Prosecution Service works by:

reducing paper handling, increasing focus on operational priorities;

providing an infrastructure which facilitates enhanced communication with other criminal justice agencies.

Over two million cases are registered on COMPASS with over 4,000 users accessing the system daily. It has delivered its contribution to the CJS IT targets and is the IT system selected to support the No Witness, No Justice initiative.

TRANSPORT

A74 (Improvement Scheme)

David Maclean: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what the projected costs of the road improvement scheme for the A74 from Carlisle to Guardsmill were in 1998–99; and what the latest estimate is of the costs. [219528]

Mr. Jamieson: The projected total outturn cost for the original scheme, as designed in 1998–99 was approximately £50 million. That scheme was substantially redesigned to include replacement of the Mossband viaduct. The latest projected total outturn cost for the redesigned scheme is approximately £174 million, including allowances for risk and inflation which were not reflected in the 1998–99 estimate.

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Crossrail

Sue Doughty: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will make a statement on the Superlink proposals for connecting Crossrail to other networks in the South East, with particular reference to Guildford station. [219388]

Mr. McNulty: The environmental statement deposited with the hybrid Crossrail Bill contains details of the analysis that has been undertaken of the Superlink proposals. In summary, we have concluded that Superlink presented significant operational, environmental and consent risks, that it did not appear consistent with planning policies for the South East, and that its costs appeared to be underestimated. We are confident that the scheme in the Crossrail Bill is the best way forward.

Driving Instruction

Mr. Pike: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how much was spent in each of the last 10 years to promote and provide information about Pass Plus courses to (a) newly qualified drivers and (b) those who apply for a provisional driving licence; and if he will make a statement. [218564]

Mr. Jamieson: Driving Standards Agency receives around £22,000 per year in contributions donated by members of the Association of British Insurers.

This budget, along with the money generated from selling Pass Plus packs and re-fill packs, is used for printing leaflets which are distributed to road safety officers, driving test centres and universities and are available at major events. The Agency does not directly target provisional and newly qualified drivers.

The budget for printing takes into account the cost of having the packs and certificates printed as well as any promotional leaflets. The Agency is unable to extrapolate figures solely for advertising.

Gaelic Language

Mr. Alan Reid: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what his Department's policy is on the use of the Gaelic language; and what plans his Department has to prepare and implement a Gaelic language scheme. [217098]

Charlotte Atkins: Action to support the Gaelic language is primarily the responsibility of the Scottish Executive.

The Government attach great importance to the promotion and protection of the Gaelic language in line with the UK's obligations under the European Charter for Regional and Minority Languages.

The Gaelic Language (Scotland) Bill currently before the Scottish Parliament does not extend statutory obligations on UK public bodies in Scotland in relation to the preparation or implementation of Gaelic language plans. However, UK departments and public bodies which operate in Scotland may—like comparable Scottish public bodies—have a role to play in facilitating the use of the language.

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We have been working closely with colleagues in the Scotland Office and the Scottish Executive on the role we can play, voluntarily, in securing the status of Gaelic.

Hauliers (Working Time Restrictions)

Mr. Todd: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what steps he is taking to ensure that hauliers employing non-EU nationals operating in the UK comply with working time restrictions. [219283]

Mr. Jamieson: Any mobile workers employed by UK hauliers will be subject to the new working time rules, regardless of their nationality. The Vehicle and Operator Services Agency will be responsible for enforcement of the new rules.

Newly-qualified Drivers

Mr. Pike: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what research his Department has conducted into the driving performance of newly-qualified drivers; and if he will make a statement. [218773]

Mr. Jamieson: Details of the Department's programme of research on driver behaviour can be found on-line in the Compendium of Road Safety Research Projects 2002/2003" at:

www.dft.gov.uk/stellent/groups/dft_rdsafety/documents/page/dft_rdsafety_022211 .hcsp.

A number of projects have established that newly qualified drivers have a higher risk of collisions than older, more experienced drivers. Relevant research published recently includes:

Monitoring and evaluation of safety measures for new drivers" (TRL525) published in 2002 (www.trl.co.uk/static/dtlr/pdfs/TRL525.pdf);

Novice driver accidents and the driving test" (TRL527) published in 2002 (www.trl.co.uk/static/dtlr/pdfs/TRL527.pdf); and

In-depth accident causation study of young drivers" (TRL542) published in 2002 (www.trl.co.uk/static/dtlr/pdfs/TRL542.pdf).

Copies of these documents are available in the Libraries of the House.

The Department also has under way a Cohort Study of Young and Novice Drivers" looking at the methods used by learners to organise their training and the results of that training in terms of test outcome, accidents and attitudes, aimed at further improving standards of new drivers'. The study updates and extends an earlier Cohort Study, carried out in the late 1980s, and the results will begin to be published from autumn 2005.

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