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May I first say that the fatalities arising from the traffic accidents that have occurred on the Ballybogey Road were most regrettable, and I can assure you that Roads Service gives a very high priority to accident reduction and prevention measures. As you may be aware, Roads Service receives collision reports from the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI), which allows us to regularly carry out assessments of locations and routes, in conjunction with the Road Policing Unit, to identify whether there are appropriate measures that could be undertaken to help reduce road casualties.
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The Ballybogey Road has been assessed both on a regular basis and, along with the Road Policing Unit, following previous fatal collisions. These assessments have not indicated any road improvement measures that could be introduced to help prevent further collisions. A further assessment will be carried out following the latest tragic collision when the outcome of the PSNI investigation into the collision is available.
Unfortunately there are incidents such as this where there may be very little in the way of highway measures that would be of assistance to further help the motorist to drive safely.
Schools: GCSEs
Lord Baker of Dorking asked Her Majesty's Government:
How many pupils took GCSE in history in state secondary schools in 2006 including city technology colleges and academies, but excluding specialist schools and pupil referral units. [HL2321]
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The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Education and Skills (Lord Adonis): In 2006, there were 184,058 pupils in maintained mainstream schools1 at the end of key stage 42 who attempted a GCSE in history.
1. Includes community schools, voluntary aided schools, voluntary controlled schools, foundation schools, city technology colleges and academies.
Schools: Science
Lord Lewis of Newnham asked Her Majesty's Government:
How many students in (a) state, and (b) independent schools have taken GCSE courses in (i) biology; (ii) chemistry; (iii) physics; and (iv) combined science in each of the years 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2006. [HL2286]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Education and Skills (Lord Adonis): The information requested on the attempts in GCSE science is shown in the following table.
| GCSE attempts in science subjects in schools 2002-2006 | ||||||||
| Biology | Chemistry | Physics | Combined Science | |||||
| Maintained | Independent | Maintained | Independent | Maintained | Independent | Maintained | Independent | |
Schools: Secondary Transfer
Lord Maginnis of Drumglass asked Her Majesty's Government:
What is the percentage of all children transferring from primary to secondary schools in each of the past five years who have not achieved their first choice places in (a) England and Wales, and (b) Northern Ireland. [HL2442]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Education and Skills (Lord Adonis): The information requested is not collected centrally. For information on Wales and Northern Ireland, I refer the noble Lord to the Welsh Assembly and the Department of Education, Northern Ireland.
Secretary of State for Scotland
Lord Hanningfield asked Her Majesty's Government:
How many days since 1 December 2006 the Secretary of State for Scotland has spent in (a) Scotland and (b) solely in England; and how many days he visited both Scotland and England during the same day. [HL2186]
Lord Evans of Temple Guiting: Between 1 December 2006 and 23 March 2007, my right honourable friend undertook official engagements in his capacity as Secretary of State for Scotland wholly in England on 26 weekdays and wholly in Scotland on 12 weekdays. On a further six weekdays my right honourable friend had official engagements in both England and Scotland. In addition to this, during weekends and parliamentary recesses my right honourable friend has also executed official responsibilities in both England and Scotland.
Secretary of State for Transport
Lord Hanningfield asked Her Majesty's Government:
How many times the Secretary of State for Transport has (a) flown, and (b) travelled by train between (i) London and Glasgow; (ii) London and Edinburgh; and (iii) London and all other destinations in Scotland since 6 May 2006; and what was the date of each journey. [HL2862]
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Lord Bassam of Brighton: My right honourable friend the Secretary of State for Transport took three flights between London and Glasgow and one flight from the Isle of Mull to London, all in his official capacity during August 2006.
All ministerial travel is undertaken in accordance with the Ministerial Code and Travel by Ministers.
Lord Hanningfield asked Her Majesty's Government:
How many times the Secretary of State for Transport has used the Queen's Flight or other aircraft provided by the Royal Air Force since 6 May 2006; and for each occasion (i) what was the purpose of each journey; (ii) what were the start and end destinations; and (iii) what was the approximate cost of each journey. [HL2863]
Lord Bassam of Brighton: My right honourable friend the Secretary of State for Transport was obliged to fly to London with the RAF at short notice on 9 August 2006 to lead his department’s response to an alleged terrorist bomb plot. He flew from the Isle of Mull to Battersea Helipad. The cost was £13,895.55.
All ministerial travel is undertaken in accordance with the Ministerial Code and Travel by Ministers.
Secure Children's Homes: Inspection
Lord Avebury asked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether, following the transfer of responsibility for inspections of secure children’s establishments to Ofsted under the Education and Inspections Act 2006, they will ensure that inspections continue to be led by persons with previous knowledge and experience of such establishments. [HL2858]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Education and Skills (Lord Adonis): This is a matter for Ofsted. Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Schools, Christine Gilbert, has written to the noble Lord and a copy of the reply has been placed in the Library.
Sport: Ministerial Visits
Lord Luke asked Her Majesty's Government:
What costs were incurred by the Minister for Sport's visit to Australia during the second test match of the Ashes series; and what benefit was gained from this visit. [HL2892]
Lord Davies of Oldham: All ministerial travel is undertaken in accordance with the rules set out in the Ministerial Code and Travel by Ministers, copies of which are available in the Library.
The total cost of travel and accommodation for the visit to Australia of my right honourable friend the Minister for Sport was £20,475.60.
As part of his visit, the Minister undertook a number of official engagements as part of his
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UK Trade and Investment
Lord Clement-Jones asked Her Majesty's Government:
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Trade and Industry (Lord Truscott): The net budget for programme resources for UK Trade & Investment in 2006-07 is £95,329K.
Lord Clement-Jones asked Her Majesty's Government:
What cost savings in terms of activity were made by UK Trade & Investment in the financial year 2005-06 in order to accommodate a reduction in real terms of its budget from the previous financial year. [HL2732]
Lord Truscott: The cost savings made in programme activity by UK Trade & Investment in the financial year 2005-06 against the previous financial year (2004-05) were £4 million, the net resource outturn for 2005-06 being £95.4 million against a net resource outturn for 2004-05 of £99.4 million. The difference was largely due to the planned reduction of the trade access programme (TAP), formerly support for exhibitions and seminars abroad (SESA), together with a number of smaller reductions in other areas—for example, trade marketing and the sales lead service.
UK Trade & Investment also deploys administration resources from the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO). The cost saving made on the DTI administration resource was £1.4 million, a reduction from £47.8 million to £46.4 million. This was largely achieved through reductions in the number of DTI-paid civil servants.
The cost saving made on the FCO administration resource, after technical accounting adjustments, was £9.9 million, a reduction from £138.5 million to £128.6 million, which was mainly achieved through reductions in the resources deployed by UK Trade & Investment in overseas markets.
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