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6 Nov 2006 : Column 952W—continued
(iii) the Human Resources Framework for Health and Personal Social Services.
In the Education Sector, the appointment of the Chief Executive (Designate) of the Education and Skills Authority is expected in November 2006 and work continues to complete the legislation proposals for Education Restructuring by April 2007.
In other areas, work is under way on the rationalisation of Non-Departmental Public Bodies (NDPB). Through the merging of some bodies and transferring functions to central or local Government, the number of NDPBs will be reduced from more than 80 to around 50.
The Public Service Commission was established in March 2006 to safeguard the interests of staff affected by decisions of the review.
Rate Relief
Mark Durkan: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will consider extending rate relief to sub-post offices in Northern Ireland. [97837]
Mr. Hanson: The Northern Ireland Executive considered the wider issue of rural rate relief, including that for rural post offices, in 2002. Northern Ireland has had the enabling power since 1998 to introduce a scheme similar to the rural rate relief scheme which operates in Great Britain. Both the Executive and direct rule Ministers decided not to introduce it because analysis showed it did not suit Northern Ireland's more dispersed settlement pattern. It would also potentially have an unfavourable impact from both an equality and New TSN perspective.
The Government, however, are re-examining the case for small business rate relief in April 2007 and support for post offices can be considered as part of this review.
Restorative Justice Projects
Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland when he expects to publish the revised guidelines for community based restorative justice projects in Northern Ireland. [99523]
Mr. Hanson: The Protocol for Community-based Restorative Justice Schemes is currently the subject of a public consultation and equality impact assessment which concludes on 13 December 2006. Following consideration of the consultation responses, the Government will decide on a way forward.
River Pollution
Mark Durkan: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many river pollution incidents in Northern Ireland were caused by private businesses in each of the last five years. [99402]
David Cairns: The number of substantiated pollution incidents attributed to private businesses, including agricultural farms, for each of the past five years was:
| Number | |
This represents 52 per cent. of the overall total number of substantiated incidents investigated by the Environment and Heritage Service during this period.
Roads
Mr. Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what the approximate cost and length of time would be for DRD Roads Service to construct the dualling of the A26 road between Glarryford and the A44 Drones Junction. [99797]
David Cairns: The chief executive of Roads Service (Dr. Malcolm McKibbin) has written to the hon. Gentleman.
Letter from Malcolm McKibbin, dated 6 November 2006:
You recently asked the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland a Parliamentary Question regarding what the approximate cost and length of time would be for DRD Roads Service to construct the dualling of the A26 road between Glarryford and the A44 Drones Junction. As this issues fall within my responsibility as Chief Executive of Roads Service I have been asked to reply.
You will be aware that the improvement to dual carriageway standard of the A26 Glarryford to A44 Drones Road project is one of the Strategic Road Improvements identified in the Regional Strategic Transport Network Transport Plan.
The A26 scheme is in the Roads Service’s Forward Planning Schedule. Schemes within this schedule are expected to be implemented within the next 5-10 years.
Civil Engineering Consultants, Arup were commissioned in April 2006 to assist with the development of the project through to the selection of a preferred route and completion of the statutory procedures (Environmental Statement, Direction Order and Vesting Order). On successful completion of the statutory procedures and an economic appraisal, the scheme will be taken forward to procurement and construction. Subject to the availability of funding at the time, the commencement of that stage is currently anticipated to be early 2010, with completion likely to be late 2012/early 2013. Comprehensive consultation with the public, other interested bodies and public representatives will take place throughout the development of the scheme.
The expanded Strategic Road Improvement Programme 2015 Consultation Document, published earlier this year, estimated the cost of the project to be £33M (at 2005 prices). As work progresses on the project more detail and constraints will be identified and timescales and estimates may be adjusted to suit.
Sentencing
Mr. Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland when he expects to announce changes to the 50 per cent. remission for those convicted of serious offences in Northern Ireland. [96151]
Mr. Hanson: Following a review of the sentencing framework in Northern Ireland, I am considering a range of options, including indeterminate and extended public protection sentences for dangerous violent and sexual offenders. I plan to announce proposals for a new sentencing framework before the end of the year.
Water
Mr. McGrady: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland who will be responsible for granting authorisation for the disposal of land by Water NI Ltd. from 2010. [99642]
David Cairns:
Under article 217(1) of the draft Water and Sewerage Services (Northern Ireland) Order 2006, any company appointed as a water or sewerage undertaker cannot dispose of any of its protected land, except with the consent of, or in accordance with a general authorisation given by, the Department for Regional Development. The Department is currently developing a draft licence under which the company will operate. The terms of the licence will include
provisions regarding the disposal of land. The draft licence will be issued for public consultation later this year.
Mr. McGrady: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will take steps to ensure that the cost of the Affordability Tariff from 2010 is not passed on to water customers through higher bills. [99645]
David Cairns: The Affordability Tariff is being introduced to ensure that no household should need to spend more than 3 per cent. of household income on water and sewerage charges. The cost of the tariff will be met from Northern Ireland public expenditure and not from other customers.
The Affordability Tariff will be reviewed in 2009 by which time it is the Government’s hope and expectation that a devolved Administration will be well established. The Government therefore believe it would be wrong to pre-empt, or prejudge the outcome of the review.
Mr. McGrady: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland (1) what contingency plans are in place to make up the deficit if the five per cent. bad debt provision in the financial planning model for the planned Government-owned company Water NI Ltd. turns out to have been an underestimate; [99647]
(2) if he will ensure that any underestimate of the bad debt provision in the financial planning model for the planned Government-owned company Water NI Ltd. is not paid for by the consumer through higher bills. [99657]
David Cairns: The Department is currently developing a draft licence under which the company will operate. The terms of the licence will determine how variations from the estimated cost of bad debt will be dealt with. The draft licence will be issued for public consultation later this year.
Mr. McGrady: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland to whom any dividend earned by the planned Government-owned company Water NI Ltd. will be paid; and if he will take steps to ensure that any shortfall against the expected dividend is not paid for by the customer through higher bills. [99658]
David Cairns: To properly reflect the fact that capital in Northern Ireland Water Ltd. has a cost, the company will be required to pay a dividend to the Department for Regional Development. In the event that any shortfall in performance by the company reduces its ability to pay the dividend (either in whole or in part), the amount not paid must be covered from DRD’s resource departmental expenditure limit.
Education and Skills
A-levels
Dr. Cable:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills pursuant to the answer of 23 October 2006, Official Report, column 1555W, on A-level mathematics, what assessment he has made of
the success of Curriculum 2000 with regard to mathematics. [99442]
Jim Knight: Entries for A-level mathematics fell with the introduction of Curriculum 2000 largely due to the uneven weighting and level of difficulty in AS maths compared to other subjects. Revisions to address this issue were made to A-level mathematics from September 2004. Entries for A-level mathematics and further mathematics have increased in each of the last two years.
Mr. Vaizey: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many students in the Wantage constituency took (a) chemistry, (b) physics and (c) a modern language at A-level in each year since 1997. [98243]
Bill Rammell: Information on the numbers studying A-levels is not available centrally. The information available relates to those entered for examinations. The number of A-level entries by 16 to 18-year-olds in schools located in the Wantage constituency for each requested subject is given in the following table.
| Chemistry | Physics | Modern languages | |
| (1) Figures for 2006 are provisional and may be subject to change. Note: There are five schools with post-16 results located in the Wantage constituency. | |||
Attendance
Mr. Jamie Reed: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what assessment has been made of the effect of lost school days on attainment levels in secondary schools in Copeland in the last three years. [99717]
Jim Knight: The Department has been collecting absence data at pupil level for the first time through the Pupil Level Annual School Census since January 2006 and is currently analysing the data, including the impact of school absence on attainment. Although the analysis is not yet ready, recent research commissioned by the Department has shown that there does appear to be an association between absence rates and pupil attainment. In schools in Excellence in Cities (EiC) areas higher than average levels of absence were associated with reduced attainment at GCSE and key stage 3.
Mr. Jamie Reed: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what estimate he has made of the number of school days lost to pupils as a result of (a) underage drinking, (b) drug use and (c) substance abuse in Copeland in the last 12 months. [99722]
Jim Knight: The Department does not collect data on absence that is due to underage drinking, drug and substance abuse.
Biometric Technology
Mr. Watson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if he will list the uses for which biometric technologies are used in schools. [99245]
Jim Knight: The Department does not keep a list of the uses of biometric technologies in schools. However I am aware that some schools use biometric technologies for recording the attendance and registration of pupils, and for access to school services such as libraries and school meals.
Building Schools for the Future
Mr. Purchase: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what criteria he uses to decide which local education authorities will be included in early phases of the Building Schools for the Future programme. [99301]
Jim Knight: Building Schools for the Future aims to provide 21st century facilities for all secondary pupils over the long term. In line with this Government’s priorities, we have started with those schools with poorest educational standards and highest social need, where we think the investment can have greatest impact. We chose projects in waves 1 to 3 of Building Schools for the Future using the following published criteria. We selected wave 1 projects by:
ranking local authority proposals according to the data on standards and deprivation across the schools in the proposed geographical area;
assessing whether the strategic proposals were appropriate to address the educational issues of the schools in the area and whether the capital investment would reinforce action/plans/strategies in place for school improvement;
assessing whether the local authority had the capacity to deliver such a large procurement;
assessing the total value of all the proposals with reference to the available budget; and
checking the overall package of proposals to ensure regional market capacity, deliverability and value for money.
We selected wave 2 and 3 projects from local authorities’ expressions of interest according to:
relative educational and social need, as measured by pupils’ GCSE attainment and eligibility for free school meals; and
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