| Previous Section | Index | Home Page |
31 Oct 2005 : Column 792W—continued
Perinatal Mental Illness
Mr. Peter Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many women in Northern Ireland were diagnosed with a perinatal mental illness in each of the last five years. [22815]
Mr. Woodward: The information is not collected in the form requested and is therefore not available.
Operation Viper
Mr. Peter Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland (1) what method the Police Service of Northern Ireland uses when choosing the area to target in a motoring offence operation such as Operation Viper; [21174]
(2) if he will list the streets and roads in the greater Belfast area used by the Police Service of Northern Ireland during Operation Viper. [21250]
Mr. Woodward: The aim of Operation Viper is to reduce the number of road deaths and identify drivers who break the law. Through Operation Viper the Police Service of Northern Ireland target dangerous and careless drivers, motorists travelling with excess speed or without wearing seatbelts and drivers under the influence of alcohol or drugs.
All 12 urban region district command units were patrolled as part of Op. Viper on the most recent occasion. Providing details of the precise areas patrolled would diminish operational effectiveness.
Police
Mr. Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many officers from police forces in (a) England, (b) Scotland and (c) Wales have taken up duties with the police in Northern Ireland in the last three years. [23231]
Mr. Woodward:
Information held centrally does not disclose what police force officers left to join PSNI. To obtain this information would involve a manual trawl of records held by the PSNI recruitment contractor and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
31 Oct 2005 : Column 793W
A total of 54 officers have been recruited on a permanent basis as follows:
41 officers recruited via recruitment competitions for Constables (50/50) who were from other UK police forces.
10 Detective Constables were appointed from other UK forces having been successful in a competition run by Consensia in 2003. The purpose of this competition was to address experiential gaps prevailing at that time in the organisation.
Three officers entered in ranks other than Constable via our nationally advertised promotion competitions. All entered at the rank of Sergeant. All three came from the metropolitan police service.
In addition six officers have been seconded in this period, including two recently seconded chief inspectors to the historical enquiry team.
Post-primary School Admissions
Sammy Wilson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what the cost was of the recent consultation on new admissions arrangements for post-primary schools. [22644]
Angela E. Smith: The cost of the consultation on new admissions arrangements for post-primary schools to date is £71,971.
Private Security Industry
Mr. Peter Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what progress is being made in developing proposals for the regulation of the private security industry in Northern Ireland. [22806]
Mr. Woodward: Work is under way in developing a permanent regulatory regime for the private security industry in Northern Ireland as my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland announced in his Written Statement to the House on 24 May 2005. We intend to publish proposals for consultation as soon as detailed work has been completed. Meanwhile the industry continues to be regulated under the temporary scheme contained in Schedule 13 to The Terrorism Act 2000.
Public Libraries
Mr. Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many public libraries were open in each of the education and library board areas in Northern Ireland at the end of 2004; and how many are expected to be open in each board area by the end of 2006. [23234]
Mr. Hanson: There were 126 branch libraries in 2004.
A table showing the comparative breakdown by education and library board is as follows.
| Board | 31 December 2004 | October 2005 |
|---|---|---|
| WELB | 16 | 15 |
| SEELB | 26 | 24 |
| BELB | 21 | 21 |
| NEELB | 38 | 29 |
| SELB | 25 | 24 |
| Total | 126 | 113 |
Currently no decisions have been made to close further libraries.
31 Oct 2005 : Column 794W
Education and Library Boards
Sammy Wilson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, how many posts were declared redundant in each of the education and library boards in each of the last three years; and how many of these posts were filled again within one year. [21235]
Angela E. Smith: The information provided in the following table is in respect of compulsory and voluntary redundancies for non-teaching staff in each of the education and library boards and includes school based and non-school based staff. I am assured by boards that none of the posts declared redundant was filled again within one year.
| 2003–04 | 2004–05 | 2005–06(20) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| NEELB | 28 | 38 | 41 |
| BELB | 15 | 61 | 49 |
| SELB | 16 | 16 | 61 |
| WELB | 20 | 21 | 36 |
| SEELB | Not available | 50 | 109 |
(20) This is the position at 24 October 2005 on redundancies that have been approved by the boards. Boards are still examining the position in regard to further redundancies.
Sammy Wilson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what the total cost of redundancy packages has been in each of the education and library boards in each of the last three years. (21236) [21236]
Angela E. Smith: The information provided in the following table are the costs in respect of compulsory and voluntary redundancies for non-teaching staff in each of the education and library boards and includes school based and non-school based staff. The costs include redundancy pay, compensatory lump sum and actuarial costs. The long term savings for each board as a result of these redundancies will be significantly in excess of the redundancy costs.
(21) Not all invoices from NILGOSC in respect of actuarial costs for redundancies in 2005–06 have yet been received.
Respiratory Diseases
Mr. Peter Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how much was spent on respiratory disease in the NHS in Northern Ireland in each of the last five years. [22990]
Mr. Woodward: The information requested is not available.
Road Commuting
Mr. Gregory Campbell:
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what his estimate is of the change in commuting time for motorists between Sandyknowes
31 Oct 2005 : Column 795W
roundabout and Belfast city centre during the morning rush hour period, from 7.45 am to 9.15 am, over the last 10 years. [23233]
Mr. Woodward: The chief executive of Roads Service (Dr. Malcolm McKibbin) has been asked to write to the hon. Gentleman in response to this question.
Letter from Malcolm McKibbin to Mr. Gregory Campbell, dated 31 October 2005:
You recently asked the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland a Parliamentary Question regarding his estimate of the change in commuting time for motorists between Sandyknowes roundabout and Belfast City Centre during the morning rush hour period, 7.45am to 9.15am, over the last 10 years.
I have been asked to reply as these issues fall within my responsibility as Chief Executive of Roads Service.
Roads Service monitors journey time surveys on the strategic routes in Northern Ireland including the routes from Larne to Belfast to Newry (A8, M2, Ml and Al). These surveys commenced in 1996 and the most recent information available is for 2003.
Unfortunately, we have no journey time information that relates to the specific journey between Sandyknowes and Belfast City Centre. However, a comparison of journey times between Sandyknowes and the Divis Street junction on Westlink would suggest that the average journey time in the morning peak over this section has increased by 2 to 3 minutes between 1996 and 2003.
This excludes the significant delays experienced by southbound traffic approaching Sandyknowes on the M2. Roads Service acknowledges that these delays are a direct result of capacity restrictions downstream of Sandyknowes where only 2 traffic lanes are available to cater for both mainline M2 traffic and the considerable flow joining the motorway from Sandyknowes roundabout. Consequently we plan to widen the Belfast-bound carriageway of the M2 motorway to create an additional southbound lane between the Sandyknowes and Greencastle junctions. This will make it easier for traffic to join the M2 from the Sandyknowes junction, particularly during the morning peak traffic, and also provide greater capacity on the Belfast-bound section of the M2 towards Greencastle. Construction of these improvements on the M2 is expected to start during 2008.
The £30 million M2 Widening Scheme is one of three schemes forming part of the £100 million Roads Service Design, Build, Finance and Operate Package 1, along with the Ml/Westlink Project and the Antrim Hospital slip roads.
I can also advise that the Belfast Metropolitan Transport Plan proposes modifications to the Sandyknowes roundabout to minimise conflicts between different traffic movements and afford greater priority to the strategic M2 and A8 movements. Roads Service is currently investigating various design options.
| Next Section | Index | Home Page |