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28 Oct 2005 : Column 656W—continued
Rented Accommodation
Dr. McCrea: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how much private sector rented accommodation is available in Northern Ireland, broken down by parliamentary constituency. [21649]
Mr. Hanson: Information is collected on a district council rather than on a constituency basis. The most recent data currently available, from the housing executive's house condition survey 2001, is as follows:
Road Safety
Dr. McCrea: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what advertising campaigns relating to (a) drink driving and (b) speed reduction have been planned for the Christmas and new year periods in Northern Ireland. [21646]
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Angela E. Smith: It is planned to run an anti-drink-drive advertising campaign from 23 November 2005 to 1 January 2006 as research, which is used to target government's road safety campaigns to when they are most effective, indicates that there are raised dangers resulting from drink driving over the Christmas and new year period.
There are no plans to run an anti speeding campaign over the Christmas/new year period because research shows that June and October are the peak periods for speed related road traffic collisions.
Road Tax Detection
Mr. Peter Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many people have been caught byroad tax detection devices in each of the last three years. [19451]
Angela E. Smith: On-the-road detection of vehicle excise duty evasion is undertaken by the PSNI, traffic wardens and through Driver and Vehicle Licensing's (DVLNI) Automated Number Plate Readers (ANPRs).
Figures for ANPR detection in the last three years are 2002–03—5,501, 2003–04—6,024 and 2004–05—12,543.
School Buses
Dr. McCrea: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will seek to legislate to limit thenumber of pupils travelling on school buses to the number of seats fitted on each bus. [21617]
Angela E. Smith: The Department of the Environment is currently considering in detail the implications of implementing such a proposal in its assessment of the four key recommendations of the Northern Ireland Assembly's home to school transport public inquiry. It is expected that the findings of this work, which is being carried out in partnership with the Department for Regional Development and the Department of Education, will be published later this year. No decisions on the way forward will be made until this assessment is complete.
Dr. McCrea: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will make a statement on seat belts in school buses. [21618]
Angela E. Smith:
Education and Library Boards are providing a range of measures to improve the safety of their bus fleets. 65 per cent. of Board buses now have seat belts fitted compared with 47.5 per cent. in 2001. In all new Board vehicles, seatbelts are fitted as standard. The Department of Education has also provided Boards with funding of £4.25 million this year to replace existing school buses which have passed their replacement date. A further £1.4 million was made available to purchase additional Board vehicles to cover bus routes which are currently serviced by more expensive operators.
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The Department of the Environment is also currently considering in detail the implications of the provision of seat belts in all school buses in its assessment of the four key recommendations of the Northern Ireland Assembly's home to school transport public inquiry. It is expected that the findings of this work, which is being carried out in partnership with the Department for Regional Development and the Department of Education, will be published later this year. No decisions on the way forward will be made until this assessment is complete.
Secondary Schools
Mrs. Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many applications there have been to open integrated (a) primary and (b) secondary schools in Northern Ireland this year; and what the requirements for additional (i) primary and (ii) secondary school places were in the areas where applications for schools were made. [19945]
Angela E. Smith: To date this year the Department of Education has received three applications in relation to integrated primary schools—for awarding grant-maintained integrated (GMI) status to Lir Integrated Primary School in Ballycastle (currently operating independently) and for the establishment of two new GMI primary schools one in the Moira/Hillsborough area and one in the Clogher Valley area. There has been one post-primary application—for a new GMI school in the Saintfield/Carryduff area. These are recently published proposals which are still subject to public consultation and therefore no decisions have yet been made on them.
There is a statutory duty on the Department to encourage and facilitate integrated education and to respond to parental demand for integrated education. In making an assessment of each proposal he Department will consider a number of factors including the projected enrolments of the proposed schools and the pupil population in the surrounding area.
Social Workers
Dr. McCrea: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many social workers have been recruited in each trust area in Northern Ireland in each of the last five years. [21629]
Mr. Woodward:
Information on the number of social workers recruited by HSS Trusts is not available. However, figures detailing the number of Social Services staff that have joined the HPSS in each of the last five years are given in the following tables. These figures include qualified social work staff and other social care staff such as day centre and unqualified residential workers (the figures do not include domiciliary workers or home helps). It has not been possible to provide a specific breakdown of the Social Services staff due to the complexity of the grade codes and the recent change in the title protection of the term 'Social Worker'.
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Source:
Human Resource Management Systems
Source:
Human Resource Management Systems
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