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During the same period the Department of Education, under the specialist accommodation programme, approved the refurbishment of the ICT and business studies accommodation at the school at a cost of £46,000.
The school did not apply to the department for any capital works projects to upgrade the school during the period 2000 to date.
Lord Hylton asked Her Majesty's Government:
How many school places in Northern Ireland were unfilled on the most recent date for which figures are available; whether they will provide a breakdown of the total showing primary, secondary and other schools separately; and how many of the unfilled places were at (a) Roman Catholic schools; (b) Protestant schools; (c) integrated schools; and (d) other schools.[HL6837]
Lord Rooker: In the 2005-06 school year there were an estimated 53,050 surplus places in schools in Northern Ireland: 34,390 in primary schools and 18,660 in post-primary schools.
The breakdown of this information by school sector and type is as follows.
| Sector | Surplus places in primary schools | Surplus places in post-primary schools |
Controlled schools in Northern Ireland are generally attended by pupils from a Protestant community background. Maintained schools are attended generally by pupils from a Roman Catholic background.
Shopping Trolleys
Lord Laird asked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether they have made an assessment of the number of shopping trolleys and similar items of retail equipment in the stretch of the Connswater river that runs through the Connswater shopping centre in Belfast, and in the other designated parts of that river maintained by the Rivers Agency, downstream from the confluence loop at Beersbridge Road to the bridge at the Sydenham bypass; and whether they have any plans to remove the items.[HL6745]
Lord Rooker: The Connswater river in the vicinity of the Connswater shopping centre is a designated watercourse which is maintained by the Rivers Agency as necessary to ensure free flow.
While no precise assessment has been made of trolleys in the river, I can confirm that it is subject to annual inspection and maintenance or more frequently in response to complaints about accumulation of debris.
Any dumped items, including shopping trolleys, which are likely to obstruct flows are routinely removed by the agency. Maintenance was last undertaken in March 2006 and further inspection, with any necessary maintenance, is planned for August.
Sudan
The Earl of Sandwich asked Her Majesty's Government:
What progress has been made this year with the implementation of the north-south comprehensive peace agreement in Sudan; how many United Kingdom personnel are engaged in this process; and how many of these are already working in the south.[HL6957]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Lord Triesman): Progress is being made. The Government of National Unity are settling in. On the security side, institutions critical to maintaining the ceasefire are operating effectively. There has also been rapid force redeployment by the Sudanese armed forces from the south and they are ahead of the withdrawal timetable. The Sudanese People's Liberation
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There is still much to do before the many provisions of the CPA are fully implemented. In particular, Abyei continues to be without a civil administration while the parties decide how to proceed with the recommendations of the Abyei Boundaries Commission. The north/south boundary has yet to be set, which is critical to determining the south's oil wealth and the redeployment of the two sides' armed forces. In addition, the National Petroleum Commission is not yet fully operational, making it difficult to verify whether the south is receiving in full the oil revenue it is entitled to. These revenues are essential to funding sustainable development in the south, where tangible change on the ground is occurring only very slowly.
Ensuring the implementation of the CPA is a major priority for the UK. We have substantial development and humanitarian programmes. At the 2005 Oslo donor conference, we pledged over £300 million for the following three years for humanitarian and development assistance, and are on track with disbursing our support. Our ambassador in Khartoum is an active member of the Assessment and Evaluation Commission, the body tasked with monitoring the CPA's implementation, and the chairman of its Security Working Group. We are also working hard to ensure that the CPA remains high on the international community's agenda. Its implementation was an important focus of last month's UK-led United Nations Security Council visit to Sudan. They visited Juba on 8 June and witnessed at first hand both the progress made and the challenges facing the Government of Southern Sudan.
There are three British Government staff based in southern Sudan. Another eight Department for International Development-contracted consultants work on CPA issues, one of whom is based in the south. Many other British Government staff divide their time between issues relating to the CPA, Darfur and other issues, but give a considerable proportion of their time to the first. These include our ambassador in Khartoum and his deputy, the rest of the political and defence sections in our embassy in Khartoum (10 UK-based and one locally engaged staff), the whole of DfID Khartoum (12 UK-based and nine locally engaged staff), and all the members of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO)/DfID Sudan Unit (nine staff). A further eight advisory staff in DfID and the FCO work part time on CPA issues. There are many UK nationals who are employed by the UN and non-governmental organisations working on such matters.
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Tourism: Northern Ireland
Lord Laird asked Her Majesty's Government:
What steps they are taking to reform the Northern Ireland Tourist Board; what process is being used to do so; and what is the expected timescale.[HL6893]
Lord Rooker: There are no plans to reform the Northern Ireland Tourist Board. However, the review of public administration will result in some local tourism product development functions being transferred from NITB to the new councils. In addition the Northern Ireland Events Company will merge with NITB. Overall these changes will strengthen the Northern Ireland Tourist Board's role as the strategic leader in tourism; it will allow for the better co-ordination of promotional activities around major events; and it will provide councils with a key role in improving the visitor experience at a local level.
Ulster-Scots
Lord Laird asked Her Majesty's Government:
Further to the Written Answer by the Baroness Andrews on 28 June (WA 158) concerning ethnicity, whether they recognise the Ulster-Scots community as “a segment of the population distinguished from others by a combination of shared customs, beliefs, traditions and characteristics, derived from a common or presumed common past, sufficient to give them an historically determined social identity in their own eyes and in the eyes of others”. [HL6688]
Lord Rooker: It is not for the Government to decide whether the guidance in Mandla v Dowell Lee [1983] 2 AC 548 HL applies to any group of people. That is a matter for the courts.
Water Fluoridation
Earl Baldwin of Bewdley asked Her Majesty's Government:
24 July 2006 : Column WA240
Whether their further programme of research into water fluoridation, following the recommendations of the National Health Service Centre for Reviews and Dissemination in 2000 and the Medical Research Council in 2002, was suspended pending the outcome of the review by the National Research Council of the United States National Academy of Sciences into the toxicological, epidemiological and clinical evidence on fluoride; and [HL7083]
What is their policy for research into water fluoridation following the report in March 2006 by the United States National Research Council, Fluoride in Drinking Water: A Scientific Review of EPA's Standards, which highlighted possible adverse effects on health in finding the current maximum contaminant level to be too high.[HL7084]
The Minister of State, Department of Health (Lord Warner): The Department of Health wanted to consider the findings of this major American research project before commissioning further research. The report's main recommendation, that the Environmental Protection Agency's recommended maximum fluoride concentration for drinking water of 4 milligrams per litre should be lowered, is not directly relevant to the United Kingdom where, under the Water Supply (Water Quality) Regulations 2000, concentrations must not exceed 1.5 milligrams per litre. We will, however, be taking the National Research Council's other recommendations into account in the development of our own research programme.
Water Supply: Home Office
Lord Hanningfield asked Her Majesty's Government:
How much water in total and per occupant in cubic metres was consumed in the headquarters of the Home Office in each of the past 10 years.[HL7042]
The Minister of State, Home Office (Baroness Scotland of Asthal): I refer the noble Lord to the Answer I gave on 3 July (WA 26).
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