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4 July 2006 : Column 949W—continued
Nurses and Midwives
Mark Durkan: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many (a) nurses and (b) midwives are employed by the Health Service in each health board area in Northern Ireland. [80943]
Paul Goggins: The information requested is presented in the following table.
| Nursing and midwifery staff employed within the NIHPSS by health board area as at 31 March 2006 | ||||
| Qualified nursing staff | Nursing support staff | |||
| Headcount | WTE | Headcount | WTE | |
| Qualified midwives | Total | |||
| Headcount | WTE | Headcount | WTE | |
| Notes: 1.WTE = Whole-time equivalent. 2. The qualified nursing staff category includes 43 student midwives. Figures include all staff working within the NIHPSS including those working in health boards and agencies such as Central Services Agency, Regional Medical Physics Agency and Regulation and Quality Improvement Authority. 3. Figures exclude bank staff. 4. Nursing figures for Central Services Agency, Regional Medical Physics Agency and Regulation and Quality Improvement Authority are included within the eastern board. Source: Human Resource Management System | ||||
Paedophiles
Mrs. Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many registered paedophiles are at large in Northern Ireland; what measures are taken by the Police Service of Northern Ireland and other agencies to ensure the safety of the public; and if he will make a statement. [78495]
Mr. Hanson: There are currently 646 sex offenders in Northern Ireland subject to the notification requirements of the Sexual Offences Act 2003. Police collate statistics in accordance with the Home Office counting rules which relate to crime type and not to age of victim. The police estimate that some 60 per cent. of sex offenders have committed sexual offences against children. All offenders are subject to individual risk assessment and management under the multi-agency sex offender and risk management (MASRAM) procedures. At an operational level the police and other agencies are fully aware of the nature of each individual offender's offending behaviour including whether this involved offences against children.
Mrs. Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many cases of repeat offending by known paedophiles have occurred in Northern Ireland in the last five years; and if he will make a statement. [80114]
Mr. Hanson: I attach high priority to the protection of the public and particularly children from any risks posed by sex offenders. Statistics from the 2001 adult reconviction dataset indicate that no sex offender was subsequently reconvicted for a sexual offence within two years after their date of discharge in 2001. Reconviction data are not yet available in respect of those convicted after 2001.
People Trafficking
Lady Hermon: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many persons have been (a) arrested for, (b) charged with and (c) convicted of people trafficking offences in Northern Ireland. [81819]
Paul Goggins: The Police Service of Northern Ireland advises that one person was arrested for “people trafficking” in October 2005. He was charged on the 17 October 2005 and on the 23 March 2006 this charge was withdrawn on direction of the Public Prosecution Service.
Legislation introduced in 2004 (The Sexual Offence Act 2003 and the Asylum and Immigration (Treatment of Claimants etc.) Act 2004) include offences related to human trafficking; however, due to the current unavailability of conviction statistics beyond 2003, it is not yet possible to determine the number of persons convicted of such offences under these more recent Acts.
Renewable Energy
Dr. McCrea: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what targets have been set to increase the amount of energy from renewable sources used by Northern Ireland Departments. [77105]
Mr. Hanson: Northern Ireland Departments are expected to purchase at least 10 per cent. of their electricity supplies from renewable (non-fossil fuel) sources by 31 March 2008, in accordance with Government targets set under the Climate Change Programme (Cm 4913) and the Government’s Plan for Action (Cm 6169).
Under the recently launched Sustainable Development Strategy, the Government estate is to be carbon neutral by 2015, and increased use of renewable energy sources will contribute to achieving that target.
Mark Durkan: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland which Northern Ireland departments use renewable energy for some of their energy requirements. [80875]
Mr. Hanson: All Northern Ireland Departments and the Northern Ireland Office use renewable energy for some of their energy requirements.
Roads
Lady Hermon: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland which sections of the Eastern Transport Corridor consist of single lane carriageway; and what plans there are to upgrade them. [81806]
David Cairns: The acting Chief Executive of Roads Service (Mr. Geoff Allister) has written to the hon. Lady in response to this question.
Letter from Mr. Geoff Allister, dated 3 July 2006:
You recently asked the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland a Parliamentary Question regarding which sections of the Eastern Transport Corridor consist of single lane carriageway; and what plans there are to upgrade them.
As this issue falls within my responsibility as Acting Chief Executive of Roads Service, I have been asked to reply.
The Eastern Seaboard Corridor runs from Larne and crosses the border south of Newry. The route is essentially comprised of the A8 Larne to Belfast road, the M2 Motorway, the A12 Westlink, the Ml Motorway, and the Al route to the Border.
On the A8 Larne to Belfast road there is 14 kilometres of single carriageway between Coleman’s Corner, near Ballyclare and Kilwaughter.
As you may be aware, Roads Service has recently completed a package of measures on the A8 route costing £13.3m. Consultants identified these improvements as justifiable in terms of cost and effectiveness, resulting from a wide-ranging study that covered all realistic options for the route.
Included in the package were a number of schemes aimed at improving passing opportunities along the remaining stretch of single carriageway. Following the completion of these works, no further major improvements to the A8 are planned at the moment.
As regards the Al route, there is currently 21 Km of the route between Loughbrickland and the Border which is still single carriageway.
Roads Service is progressing 3 projects for the improvement of these remaining sections to dual carriageway standard. They are:
the Loughbrickland to Beech Hill scheme which is currently under construction and completion is anticipated in the Autumn 2006;
the Beech Hill to Cloghogue scheme, the contract for which is expected to be awarded in Spring 2007. This scheme is progressing through the necessary statutory processes and was the subject of a public inquiry into the Vesting of the land during June 2006. It forms part of our PPP Package 2 with completion expected in late 2009 (subject to satisfactory completion of statutory processes); and
the Cloghogue to the Border section, which forms part of a larger joint cross-border scheme to link Newry to the Republic of Ireland’s Ml north of Dundalk. It is currently under construction with completion anticipated before the end of 2007.
Lady Hermon: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland which junctions of the Eastern Transport Corridor between Larne and Newry do not have a right-hand turning lane; and what plans he has to upgrade these junctions. [81807]
David Cairns: The Acting Chief Executive of Roads Service, Mr. Geoff Allister, has written to the hon. Lady in response to this question.
Letter from Mr. Geoff Allister, dated 3 July 2006:
You recently asked the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland a Parliamentary Question regarding which junctions of the Eastern Transport Corridor between Larne and Newry do not have a right hand turning lane; and what plans he has to upgrade these junctions.
As this issue falls within my responsibility as Acting Chief Executive of Roads Service, I have been asked to reply.
The Eastern Seaboard Corridor is essentially comprised of the A8 Larne to Belfast road, the M2 Motorway, the A12 Westlink, the Ml Motorway and the Al to the Border, south of Newry. I can advise that on the A8 Larne to Belfast road the junctions which do not have a right hand turning lane are those at Ballygowan Road/Deerpark Road and Ballygowan Road South. However, a right turn facility at the Ballygowan/Deerpark Road junction will be constructed later this financial year, and a similar facility will be constructed at the Ballygowan Road South junction during the 2007/2008 financial year. The only other section of the A8 with no dedicated facilities for right turning movements is the section of single carriageway between Coleman's Corner and Ballynure.
You will possibly be aware that the Belfast Metropolitan Transportation Plan supports dualling this section, including the completion of the Ballynure Bypass. Subsequently, the Department has sought, through the Belfast Metropolitan Area Plan, to protect the land required for this scheme. It is currently expected that the implementation of this scheme will be outside the 2015 Plan period. On completion of the dual carriageway, the priority junctions will be reduced to left-in left-out, without the need to perform right turns, other than at the main roundabouts.
On the Al Belfast to Newry road, there are currently two junctions which do not have a right turn facility. These are Ashgrove Road, which is just north of the Damolly Roundabout on the approach to Newry and to the west side of the Al, and Cloughanramer Road which is just north of the Damolly Roundabout and to the east of the A1. However, this section of the Al will be superseded by the planned Beech Hill to Cloghogue dual carriageway upgrade, which is included in Package 2 of Roads Service's Public Private Partnership Project.
Right turn movements at all other junctions along the Eastern Seaboard Corridor are accommodated within the approach lanes to roundabouts, central reserve deceleration lanes, or grade separated junctions with slip roads.
I hope this information is helpful.
Lady Hermon: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many vehicles per day on average use the A8 Eastern Transport Corridor between Larne and Belfast. [81808]
David Cairns: The acting chief executive of Roads Service (Mr. Geoff Allister) has written to the hon. Lady in response to this question.
Letter from Mr. Geoff Allister, dated 3 July 2006:
You recently asked the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland a Parliamentary Question regarding how many vehicles per day on average use the A8 Eastern Transport Corridor between Larne and Belfast.
As this issue falls within my responsibility as Acting Chief Executive of Roads Service, I have been asked to reply.
By way of background, I should explain that Roads Service collects traffic volume data by means of 270 automatic census points strategically located throughout the Northern Ireland road network. The information is recorded for one week in each quarter during the year and an annual average calculated. The results are published in Roads Service’s annual Traffic and Travel Information Report, which presents the traffic volumes in a variety of formats for each site.
Roads Service has automatic traffic-counting equipment at five different locations along the A8 between Larne and Sandyknowes roundabout in Glengormley. The latest data (2005) on the annual average daily number of vehicles using the A8 are shown in the table below.
| Location | Annual average daily flow (two-way) |
I hope this information is helpful.
Special Advisers
Mr. Grieve: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what role is played by special advisers in answering parliamentary questions asked of his Department. [80651]
Mr. Hain: Special advisers conduct themselves in accordance with the requirements of the Code of Conduct for Special Advisers.
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