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16 Oct 2006 : Column 1011W—continued
High Visibility Vests
Mr. Donaldson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland when he plans to introduce legislation to implement the EU legislative requirement that motorists carry a high visibility vest in motor vehicles. [93988]
David Cairns: The Department of the Environment has no plans to introduce a requirement that motorists carry a high visibility vest in motor vehicles and there is no EU directive requiring such legislation.
Higher Education
Sammy Wilson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many students graduated with a Post Graduate Certificate of Education from higher education establishments in Northern Ireland in 2005-06. [93169]
Maria Eagle: The latest data held by the Department refer to the 2004-05 academic year. In 2004-05, 448 students gained PGCE qualifications at the NI Higher Education Institutions. Data for the 2005-06 academic year will be available from the end of January 2007.
Sammy Wilson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many physiotherapy graduates there were from higher education establishments in Northern Ireland in 2005-06. [93171]
Maria Eagle: The latest data held by the Department refer to the 2004-05 academic year. In 2004-05, 78 students gained physiotherapy qualifications at the NI Higher Education Institutions. Data for the 2005-06 academic year will be available from the end of January 2007.
Ministerial Hospitality
Mrs. Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how much was spent on entertainment and hospitality by each Northern Ireland Minister in each year since 1998. [74723]
Mr. Hain: I am unable to provide the information the hon. Lady has requested. To do so would incur disproportionate costs as we cannot easily identify expenditure on entertainment or hospitality for the individuals referred to.
NHS Staff (Assaults)
Mr. Lidington: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many people in Northern Ireland have been convicted in each of the past three years for offences involving (a) violent and (b) abusive behaviour towards NHS staff; and if he will make a statement. [93316]
Paul Goggins: The information requested is not available, as upon conviction, neither the specific HPSS location of where a crime was committed, nor the occupation of the victim, is recorded by the PSNl or the Northern Ireland Court Service.
The Department of Health Social Services and Public Safety (DHSSPS) is fully committed to strengthening the protection of all health and personal social services (HPSS) staff. A number of measures have already been put in place to minimise the risk to staff, including panic buttons, toughened glass, CCTV and personal alarm systems for lone workers. A working group on Zero Tolerance comprising HPSS employers, staff side organisations and departmental officials is currently reviewing all procedures within the HPSS in order to ensure the safety of employees while at work. It recently convened a seminar to raise
awareness and establish best practice. The group’s purpose is to eradicate violence from the HPSS work place.
Mr. Lidington: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will make it his policy to give nurses and doctors in Northern Ireland the right to refuse to treat a violent patient. [93326]
Paul Goggins: The Zero Tolerance working group, which comprises HPSS employers, staff side organisations and departmental officials, has considered a document produced by the NHS in England entitled ‘Withholding treatment from violent and abusive patients in NHS Trusts’. The group concluded that withholding treatment was an emotive issue, which could be considered unethical in a mental health environment. The BMA in Northern Ireland has expressed its reluctance in adopting such a policy as it felt it would have human rights implications.
There have been cases where HSS Trusts have sought and obtained court injunctions designed to prevent patients with a history of violent and abusive behaviour having access to HPSS premises.
Mr. Lidington: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many incidents involving (a) violence and (b) verbal abuse of NHS staff in Northern Ireland took place in each of the last three years. [93328]
Paul Goggins: The detailed recording of incidents broken down between verbal and physical attacks has only formally been collated by the Department since 1 April 2004 and figures are contained in the table.
The table also contains the total number of attacks for the preceding year April 2003 to March 2004.
| 1 April to 31 March each year: | Verbal | Physical | Total |
| (1) Breakdown not available. | |||
NHS Trusts
Mr. Lidington: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will make it his policy to appoint at least one qualified (a) nurse and (b) doctor to the board of each of the new NHS Trusts in Northern Ireland. [93277]
Paul Goggins: Membership of the Boards of Health and Social Services Trusts is set out in the Health and Social Services Trusts (Membership and Procedure) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1991. These regulations require that boards’ executive directors shall include
“a medical or dental practitioner and a registered nurse or registered midwife”.
Northern Ireland Railways
Mrs. Iris Robinson:
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what plans Northern Ireland Railways has to use the locomotive hauled refurbished
Gatwick carriages to provide an enhanced inter-city service between Belfast and Londonderry. [93291]
David Cairns: Northern Ireland Railways has no plans to use the locomotive hauled refurbished Gatwick carriages to provide an enhanced inter-city service between Belfast and Londonderry.
Mrs. Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what the age is of the non-C3k Northern Ireland Railways (NIR) stock which is in regular use on NIR services. [93292]
David Cairns: Translink state that the age of the non-C3k NIR rolling stock which is in use on NIR services is:
Nine Class 450 units—between 19 and 21-years-old.
Six MKII coaches (Gatwick)—33-years-old.
Three Class 80 trains—between 28 and 32-years-old.
Mrs. Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what the planned budget is for (a) Northern Ireland Railways, (b) Ulsterbus, (c) Metro Services, (d) Road Infrastructure (capital) and (e) Road Infrastructure (maintenance) for 2007-08. [93295]
David Cairns: The planned indicative budget for Northern Ireland Railways, Translink bus services, Road Infrastructure (capital) and Road Infrastructure (maintenance) for 2007-08 is shown in the table.
| Planned indicative budget (£ million) | |
The allocation of the bus services budget between Ulsterbus and Metro will not be determined until adoption of the Northern Ireland Transport Holding Company's Corporate Plan in March 2007.
Mrs. Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what discussions Northern Ireland Railways has had with the relevant port authorities on the provision of rail access for freight to the ports at (a) Belfast, (b) Larne and (c) Lishally, Londonderry. [93296]
David Cairns: NIR has had no discussions with the relevant port authorities on the provision of rail access for freight to ports at Belfast, Larne and Lishally, Londonderry.
Rail freight is uncompetitive for short journeys and for this reason rail freight operations ceased in Northern Ireland in 2004. No case has been made to revive it.
Mrs. Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what tonnage of freight was carried on Northern Ireland Railways in 2005. [93324]
David Cairns: No freight was carried on Northern Ireland Railways in 2005.
Mrs. Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many weekday services on the Belfast to Larne rail route in the last (a) three and (b) six months have been provided by the new C3k trains. [93293]
David Cairns: Translink state that on the Belfast to Larne railway line new C3k trains operated 26 services in the last three months and 59 services in the last six months.
Mrs. Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what the average journey time is for trains travelling between Belfast and Londonderry; and what it was (a) five and (b) 10 years ago. [93294]
David Cairns: Translink state that the current average journey time for trains between Belfast and Londonderry is 126 minutes. In 2001 it was 121 minutes, and in 1996 it was 153 minutes.
Mrs. Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many new railway routes are planned to be opened in Northern Ireland in the next 10 years. [93323]
David Cairns: There are no plans to open any new railway routes in Northern Ireland in the next 10 years.
Mrs. Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how much will be allocated in 2007-08 for spending on the Northern Ireland rail network. [93325]
David Cairns: The indicative budget allocation of direct support for the Northern Ireland rail network in the financial year 2007-08 is £64 million.
Racial Equality Strategy
Mr. Donaldson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what proportion of the £7.5 million per annum spent on the Racial Equality Strategy for Northern Ireland relates to (a) on-going work and (b) new initiatives each year; and whether further resources have been allocated to the strategy by other Government departments for (i) 2006-07 and (ii) 2007-08. [93987]
Mr. Hanson: I refer the hon. Gentleman to my previous answer on 5 July 2006, Official Report, column 1184W, when I confirmed that Northern Ireland Departments, Northern Ireland Office and the Police Service for Northern Ireland are planning to spend at least £7.5million per annum, the majority of which relates to on-going work in support of the Racial Equality Strategy Implementation Action Plan for Northern Ireland in each of the years 2006-07 and 2007-08. A further £210,000 has been allocated for English as an Additional Language.
Departments are considering new initiatives and resource requirements for inclusion in the 2(nd) Annual Implementation Action Plan covering 2007-08.
Road Freight
Mrs. Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many road freight journeys are expected to be made in Northern Ireland in each of the next 10 years; and how many such journeys are estimated to have been made in each of the last three years. [93289]
David Cairns: The Chief Executive of Roads Service Dr. Malcolm McKibbin has written to the hon. Lady in response to this question.
Letter from Dr. Malcolm McKibbin, dated 16 October 2006:
We have consulted with officials in other Departments and elsewhere within the Department for Regional Development, but unfortunately the information that you requested is not held. Roads Service does however carry out a vehicle kilometres of travel (VKT) survey each year to estimate the total distance travelled by vehicles on Northern Ireland's road network. This provides a measure of the usage of the various roads and facilitates a direct comparison with the rest of the United Kingdom and other European Countries.
The following table lists the estimated total distance travelled by each of the five different categories of vehicle during the past three years.
| Million | |||
| VKT | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 |
With regard to estimating future road freight journeys no formal forecast exists. However within Roads Service we use transport models to develop traffic forecasts to enable us to assess the viability of proposed road schemes.
From the information we have available I can advise that our forecasts for the growth of all road traffic journeys indicates that the growth rate will fall to under 2 per cent. per annum by 2012.
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