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15 May 2006 : Column 702W—continued
Railway Maintenance
Sammy Wilson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how much has been spent in the past 10 years on maintenance of the railway line between (a) Bangor and Belfast, (b) Larne and Belfast and (c) Lisburn and Newry. [67640]
David Cairns: Information has been provided by Translink on the maintenance costs from 1999-2000 to 2004-05 with estimated costs for 2005-06 as shown in the following table. Other cost details are not readily available and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
| Summary of permanent way, signalling and structures maintenance costs—available costs seven years to 2006 (including estimated costs 2005-06) | ||||
| £000 | ||||
| Line section | ||||
| Belfast-Bangor | Belfast-Larne | Lisburn-Newry | Total | |
The maintenance costs relate to work on the permanent way, signalling and structures but exclude the major works undertaken in recent years for track relays on all these lines.
Regional Development Strategy
Mr. McGrady: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland when he plans to undertake the five year review of the regional development strategy; and what the timetable will be for that review. [68252]
David Cairns: The first five-year review of the regional development strategy commenced with a re-assessment of housing figures. This work was the subject of a public examination in February this year. The intention is to publish revised uplifted figures in May. In addition, the Department will publish a consultation document on all other aspects of the RDS in May for a three-month consultation period. The objective is to publish the final document on these aspects by the end of the year.
Religious Discrimination
David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland pursuant to the answer of 18 April 2006, Official Report, column 501W, on religious discrimination, what the total cost was of investigating complaints of discrimination for religious belief or political opinion in each of the last 10 years. [69238]
Maria Eagle: The Department does not record separately the staff costs of the fair employment tribunal, dealing with religious or political discrimination cases, within the total tribunal service costs. The following table shows the estimated cost of
staff dealing with fair employment cases based on the relevant percentage of the religious and political discrimination cases as a total number of cases received by the tribunal service plus the cost of fees paid to fair employment tribunal part-time panel members.
| Cases of Religious Belief/Political Opinion registered in the year | Cost to Government (£) | |
| (1 )Staff costs element is estimated based on actual figures for subsequent years. |
Road Maintenance/Safety
Sammy Wilson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how much has been spent over the past 10 years on maintenance of (a) the A8 road between Larne and Belfast, (b) the A2 road between Carrickfergus and Belfast, (c) the A1 road between Lisburn and Newry and (d) the A26 road between Antrim and Ballymena. [67639]
David Cairns: 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 Dr. Malcolm McKibbin, dated 12 May 2006:
You recently asked the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland a Parliamentary Question regarding how much has been spent over the past 10 years on maintenance of (a) the A8 road between Larne and Belfast, (b) the A2 road between Carrickfergus and Belfast, (c) the Al road between Lisburn and Newry and (d) the A26 road between Antrim and Ballymena.
As this issue falls within my responsibility as Chief Executive of Roads Service, I have been asked to reply.
Unfortunately the particular information you requested is not available because Roads Service does not record maintenance spend against individual roads or class of roads. We only record expenditure incurred by Roads Service on maintenance activities and on capital (major and minor) road improvement schemes for each District Council area.
Mr. McGrady: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will take steps to ensure that road safety education officers are allowed to attend District Road Safety Community Committee meetings in Northern Ireland. [68250]
David Cairns: The principal aim of the Department of the Environment's Road Safety Education Officers is the education and training of children and young people in road safety and, while not the limit of their activities, this takes up the majority of their time.
The decision to withdraw Road Safety Education Officers from attending Road Safety Committee meetings as a matter of course does not mean that Committees cannot avail of their support and advice.
This is an operational matter and the Department will consider any reasonable request for support on a case-by-case basis balanced against other priorities.
School Buses
Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many school bus accidents there have been in Northern Ireland in each of the last 10 years. [67068]
Maria Eagle: The number of school bus accidents in Northern Ireland in each of the last 10 years is set out in the following table. The vast majority of the incidents/accidents recorded are of a minor nature and do not involve injury to children.
| Financial Year | Number of accidents |
| (1 )Excludes Translink figures which are not currently available. |
The information relates to Education and Library Board vehicles and Translink buses. Details are not available for accidents involving Private Operator vehicles.
School Reductions
Mrs. Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what the (a) timetable and (b) process will be for the reduction in the number of schools in each board area under the Review of Public Administration. [69664]
Maria Eagle: The Review of Public Administration does not require a reduction in the number of schools. Rationalisation of the estate is required because of the reduction in the number of pupils, which is expected to decline further over the coming years. There is no timetable for the reduction in the number of schools in each board area. Where it is proposed to close a school or amalgamate two or more schools, this will follow the normal process, which involves the publication of a development proposal, a two-month consultation period, followed by a decision by the Department for Education.
Schools (Financial Balance)
Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what the end of year financial balance was for each (a) grammar school and (b) non-grammar secondary school in Northern Ireland in the last available year. [68545]
Maria Eagle: The following tables provide details of the financial balance at the end of the 2004-05 financial year for each voluntary grammar and grant-maintained integrated secondary school. Schools in both of these sectors receive their funding directly from the Department of Education.
These tables also cover controlled integrated, controlled grammar and other secondary schools in three off the five education and library boards (the western, north eastern and south eastern). The requested information in respect of schools in the other two boards. (Belfast and Southern) is not available as these two boards have not yet published their 2004-05 local management of schools outturn statements. When these have been published copies will be placed in the Libraries of both Houses.
Copies of the published 2003-04 local management of schools outturn statements for all five education and library boards are available in the Libraries of both Houses.
| Grammar schools—controlled | Year-end financial balance |
| Integrated—schools—grant maintained( 1) | Year-end financial balance |
| (1 )The figures have been extracted from the audited year-end accounting information submitted by schools. |
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