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Lady Hermon: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what assessment his Department has made of whether there will be an effect on child safety of the recent decision of the south eastern education and library board to cut school crossing patrol services within its catchment area. [3620]
Angela E. Smith: Education and library boards apply nationally agreed guidelines to assess the level of risk before reaching decisions on the future provision of specific school crossing patrols. The assessed risk is based on factors such as sight-lines, volume and type of traffic, width of road, availability of footpaths, central refuges/pedestrian crossings/traffic signals, etc. Boards decisions are, therefore, based on ensuring that the safety of pupils is not jeopardised.
Mrs. Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what the longest time was that a special needs child waited to be statemented within each of the education and library boards in Northern Ireland in the last year for which figures are available; and if he will make a statement. [4107]
Angela E. Smith: The majority of statutory assessments are completed and formal statements of special educational needs made within 18 weeks from the date of request, in line with the Education (NI) Order 1996 and the Code of Practice on the Identification and Assessment of Special Educational Needs 1998. However, in some circumstances delays occur for a range of reasons related to the specific case, including levels of parental co-operation with the required process.
The longest times taken from receipt of request to the making of the formal statements are:
Length of time taken from receipt of request | |
---|---|
BELB | 11 years |
NEELB | 41 weeks |
SEELB | 2 years |
SELB | 27 months |
WELB | 64.5 weeks |
Lady Hermon:
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how much revenue was generated by
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speed cameras in each police district command unit area in Northern Ireland in the last year for which figures are available; and how much of this money was spent on road safety initiatives. [3504]
Mr. Woodward: The revenue generated by speed cameras in each police district command unit area is as detailed in the following table. All such fine revenue is paid into the UK consolidated fund. The unique nature of how the PSNI is funded means that the PSNI currently only recovers costs associated with the operation and maintenance of the N.I. Safety Camera scheme. As such, none of the revenue generated by the scheme is returned to PSNI for the express purpose of funding road safety initiatives at present.
Lady Hermon: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many deaths by suicide were recorded in each health trust area in Northern Ireland in each of the last five years for which figures are available. [3475]
Angela E. Smith: The following table gives the number of deaths in Northern Ireland of residents of each health and social services trust area for the years 2000 to 2004, where the cause of death was recorded as either 'suicide and self-inflicted injury' 1 or 'undetermined injury whether accidentally or purposefully inflicted' 2 .
1 International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision codes X60-X84, Y87.0 for years 200104 and Ninth Revision codes E950-E959 for 2000.
2 International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision codes Y10-Y34, Y87.2 for years 200104 and Ninth Revision codes E980-E989 for 2000.
Mr. McGrady: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will introduce a regional strategy for the prevention of suicides in Northern Ireland. [1356]
Mr. Woodward:
The Promoting Mental Health Strategy and Action Plan, launched in January 2003 includes a specific section on preventing suicide. Following the recommendation of the Strategy Implementation Group we have recently established a small group to consider the actions in the strategy relating to suicide prevention. This group has been tasked to make recommendations by the end of October 2005 on what further measures need to be put in place to address the issue.
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Mrs. Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland whether occurrences of surgical site infections are (a) reported and (b) recorded in the Province. [1409]
Mr. Woodward: The Northern Ireland Healthcare Associated Infection Surveillance Centre (HISC) leads on surveillance of surgical site infection (SSI). HISC assists acute trusts in Northern Ireland in undertaking health care associated infection (HCAI) surveillance. A regional surveillance programme for surgical site infection in elective orthopaedics is in place which makes it mandatory for all hospitals in Northern Ireland performing adult elective orthopaedic surgery to provide data on HCAI to HISC. Data can be accessed via website: www.hisc.n-i.nhs.uk. The Royal Jubilee Maternity Unit has piloted post-discharge surveillance of caesarean section site infection. This will be reported on and a regional approach determined.
The 'Strategy for the Prevention and Control of Healthcare Associated Infection (HCAI) In Northern Ireland' is scheduled to be issued for formal public consultation at the end of June 2005. Included in the strategy are a number of recommendations aimed to further develop comprehensive HCAI surveillance programmes in acute trusts in Northern Ireland.
Mrs. Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many successful requests for traffic calming measures are awaiting action by the Department of Regional Developments Roads Service section within the Strangford constituency; what the average time between approval and completion of work was in the last period for which figures are available; and if he will make a statement. [4104]
Mr. Woodward: The Chief Executive of Roads Service (Dr. Malcolm McKibbin) has been asked to write to the hon. Lady in response to this question.
Letter from Dr. Malcolm McKibbin to Mrs Iris Robinson, dated 14 June 2005:
how many successful requests for traffic calming measures are awaiting action by the Department of Regional Development's Roads Service section within the Strangford constituency; what the average time between approval and completion of work was in the last period for which figures are available; and if he will make a statement."
I have been asked to reply as this issue falls within my responsibility as Chief Executive of Roads Service.
As you will be aware, the Strangford Constituency incorporates parts of both our Eastern and Southern Divisions. The schemes currently listed for the 2005/06 and 2006/07 years are as follows:
(No schemes have been listed for our Eastern Divisional area for 06/07 year as their traffic calming programme has yet to be finalised.)
The time between approval of a scheme and completion of the work may vary from two months to one year depending on the consultation process and the contractor's workload and logistics, but an average timescale would normally be six months. However, I should point out that schemes completed in the 2004/05 financial year in the Strangford constituency averaged 8 months due to a problem with the supply of signs that has since been resolved.
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