(AQW 2781/01)

Reply: The establishment of a Non-Executive Bill Unit is a matter for the Assembly Commission and we have not discussed this with them.

(AQW 2991/01)

Reply: To support the actions contained in "Reshape, Rebuild, Achieve" a £3 million Strategy Implementation Fund has been created with funding coming jointly from the Northern Ireland Executive and the Northern Ireland Office. This £3 million fund is for use by Departments and Agencies to fund projects and services of direct benefit to victims and will not be allocated directly to victims’ groups. The administrative costs of allocating and distributing this fund will be met by the Victims Unit of our department. It is anticipated that administrative costs associated with any project funded will be kept to a minimum.

(AQW 3078/01)

Reply: The criteria used to determine who is consulted is contained in the Equality Commission’s guidance on the implementation of the statutory duties which was approved by a former Secretary of State. The Equality Commission guidance states, "Consultation must be carried out with relevant interest groups as well as the Equality Commission, other public bodies, voluntary, community, trade union and other groups with a legitimate interest in the matter…"

Our department’s Equality Scheme gives officials discretion to consult relevant organisations drawn from the Scheme’s consultation list. We are committed to ensuring that consultation is effective, inclusive and as meaningful as possible. . We recognise that the consultation process has given rise to some difficulties both for those consulting and those consulted and are looking at ways to improve our methods of consultation.

(AQW 3290/01)

Reply: The level of expenditure spent by the Office of the First Minister and Deputy First Minister on consultancy firms/consultants in each of the last three years is as follows:

(AQW 3420/01)

Reply: Our department has responsibility for four non-departmental public bodies, these are: -

• The Northern Ireland Economic Council;

• The Statute Law Committee for Northern Ireland;

• The Planning Appeals Commission; and

• The Water Appeals Commission.

The Equality Commission for Northern Ireland is an Executive non-departmental public body of the Northern Ireland Office, however our department has responsibility for allocating its budget.

The Cabinet Office Publication " Public Bodies 2001" contains information on Non-Departmental Public Bodies including their location, the number of staff employed and their expenditure. Copies of this publication are held in the Assembly Library and are also available on the Cabinet office website www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/quangos.

(AQW 3291/01)

The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development (Ms Rodgers): My Department does not retain information on the number of people employed as fishermen on fishing vessels registered in Northern Ireland. However, the information available on the number of people employed in the fishing catching sector is as follows:

(AQW 3393/01)

(a) Under EC beef labelling rules non-compulsory labelling claims for beef, including beef imported from Third Countries, are required to be approved by my Department and are subject to verification by a Government recognised beef labelling verification body. Verification audits are carried out annually or at more regular intervals at the discretion of the verification body.

(b) Where beef, including beef imported from third countries is mixed with other meat the beef labelling rules apply only if the beef constitutes 50% or more of the meat. The rules do not apply to beef sold in the form of processed beef products such as sausages, ready made meals or canned beef. All meat and meat products including meat imported from other member states or third countries are required to be processed in licensed premises under the control of either the Department’s Veterinary Service or Environmental Health Officers of the local District Councils as appropriate.

(AQW 3422/01)

Ms Rodgers: Environment and Heritage Service (EHS), an Agency of the Department of the Environment, wrote to DARD on 12 April 2001 to advise that they were proposing to declare Deer Park as an Area of Special Scientific Interest (ASSI). In accordance with longstanding procedures between EHS and DARD in relation to ASSI designations, a map and associated documentation were enclosed with the EHS letter. DARD formally responded to EHS on 10 May 2001 to apprise them that Forest Service, an Agency within DARD, had lands within the area proposed for ASSI declaration.

EHS wrote to Forest Service on 28 March 2002 to advise that they had on that date declared Deer Park an ASSI and providing an opportunity to make any representations or objections before confirmation of the designation. On 9 May 2002 Forest Service responded to inform EHS of its plans for future timber harvesting operations.

I understand that while the main intention of the Deer Park ASSI designation is to protect glacial deposits and underground features from damage, normal agricultural activities or forestry operations are unlikely to be affected. It is expected that communication between EHS and DARD will continue in coming weeks.

(AQW 3455/01)

Ms Rodgers: Imports of animals from other Member States and Third Countries into NI must comply with the animal health conditions laid down in the respective Commission Decision or Council Directive, and be accompanied by a health certificate which conforms to the model laid down in the respective Decision or Directive, and which must be signed by an official veterinarian of the veterinary authority in the country of origin.

Furthermore, animals originating in Third countries must enter the Community via a Border Inspection Post (BIP), but since there is no approved BIP for live animals in NI, such animals may only be imported into NI via a BIP in GB or another Member State.

Although normal trade in imported animals from GB has not resumed, at the commencement of trade such animals will be required to be imported in line with EU requirements.

In most cases, provided animals meet the import conditions as laid down in the relevant Directive/ Decision, the Directives do not require the need for post import physical checks. However, all imported animals are subject to documentary and identifications checks.

The tests or treatments currently carried out for disease on live animal imports are:

The treatment with an approved warble fly preparation of bovine animals, not for immediate slaughter, imported from a region not free from warble fly;

Cattle from Canada from non Canadian Health Accredited Herds (CHAH) must be isolated for 6 months after import and tested for Enzootic Bovine Leukosis (EBL) after 2 months and again 4 months later with negative results.

Based on veterinary risk analysis, the Department may decide on occasion to conduct particular post import (physical) check eg Maedi Visna in sheep, Equine Viral Arteritis and Equine Infectious Anaemia in horses.

(AQW 3487/01)

Ms Rodgers: The Northland Stream drainage improvement scheme in Carrickfergus undertaken by my Department’s Rivers Agency, was completed by the Agency’s contractor on 27 February 2002. However, it was necessary to defer reinstatement of the grassed verge owned by NIHE until the growing season. I am pleased to confirm that the reinstatement works were substantially completed on 29 April 2002.

(AQW 3567/01)

Ms Rodgers: Rivers Agency, as the Drainage Authority, has a consultative role in liaison with DOE Planning Service on drainage and flood risk aspects of Areas Plans and Planning Applications referred to it. In pursuance of that role Rivers Agency is prepared to facilitate requests from Planning Service for attendance at planning site meetings to support/explain advice given by it to Planning Service. I would stress that Rivers Agency has no statutory function in determining Planning Applications and it would be inappropriate for the Agency to attend all planning liaison meetings organised by District Councils, where there may be no drainage or flood risk implications. The Rivers Agency Chief Executive has written to your District Council clarifying its position on attendance.

(AQW 2952/01)

The Minister of Culture, Arts and Leisure (Mr McGimpsey) [supplementary answer]: I wish to advise that it has since been brought to my attention that there was an omission from the information supplied to you in response and I therefore include amended information as follows.

My Department currently has two credit cards in use. Two other cards previously held by the Ulster-Scots Agency had been cancelled during the early part of the financial year ending 31 March 2002. The two cards still in use are held by the Permanent Secretary, and my Private Secretary.

During the financial year ended 31 March 2002, the total amount spent on each card was as follows:

There are no other public body credit cards used by my Department, including executive agencies, non-departmental public bodies, cross-border bodies, and other funded bodies.

(AQW 3293/01)

Mr McGimpsey [supplementary answer]: The figures on the attached table include actual expenditure by my core Department, Ordnance Survey of Northern Ireland (OSNI) and the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland (PRONI) for each of the last three years, and a breakdown of where the consultants and consultancy firms used are located.

(AQW 3579/01)

Mr McGimpsey: The Cultural Forum, a group established by my Department and representative of district councils and the cultural agencies, has initiated work on a cultural facilities audit, which includes an audit of sport and leisure facilities in Northern Ireland. Work is at a very early stage, and it will be some time before it is completed.

(AQW 3408/01)

The Minister of Education (Mr M McGuinness): (a)

(c) funding of £28,560 was allocated to Irish-medium units in the 2000/2001 financial year and £59,223 in the 2001/2002 financial year; capital grant of £21,138 was provided in respect of one Irish- medium unit.

(d) the Department of Education does not directly allocate funding for any examination syllabuses or teaching materials, but does so through the Northern Ireland Council for the Curriculum Examinations and Assessment (CCEA), who have responsibility for funding the costs of translating A level examination papers and pupil materials in the medium of Irish. The Department has augmented CCEA’s budget by £30k for each financial year from 1999/00 to 2001/02, for the development of Irish medium A level syllabuses.

(AQW 3425/01)

Mr M McGuinness: A total of £2,425,964.86 was approved by the Department of Education and its Intermediary Funding Bodies under the EU Special Support Programme for Peace and Reconciliation in Northern Ireland and the Border Counties of Ireland 1995-1999 (PEACE 1) for projects with an Irish Medium dimension.

(AQW 3426/01)

Mr M McGuinness: (a) The number of teachers who received pay for temporary service during each of the last ten academic years, by Education and Library Board area, is as shown in column (a) and in column (b), this number is expressed as a percentage of the total number of teachers on temporary and permanent contracts who were paid in August of each year.

(AQW 3444/01)

Mr M McGuinness: All nursery places, both full- and part-time, are open to all children whether their parents are working or not. The admissions criteria set by the Department give priority to children from socially disadvantaged backgrounds, who tend to experience more difficulty at school than other children, and on the 4-year olds with July and August birthdays who, if they failed to gain a pre-school place, would not have any educational experience until after their fifth birthday.

The total number of full-time nursery places is as follows:

(AQW 3461/01)

Mr M McGuinness: The figures below set out grammar and secondary school per capita allocations for each Education and Library Board based on their formula allocations. Figures are also included for Voluntary Grammar and Grant Maintained Integrated schools, although these are not directly comparable to those of controlled and maintained schools because of differences in funding responsibilities between the different types of school.

Notes

The figures include amounts made available under LMS Formulae in 2001/02. (2002/03 information is not yet available) Information on preparatory departments has been excluded.

Figures obtained from the LMS Budget Statements published by the Boards in respect of controlled and maintained schools and by the Department in the case of Voluntary Grammar and Grant Maintained Integrated schools.

The figures also exclude centrally retained funds provided in-year to schools for certain items of expenditure, such as substitution costs and allocations for earmarked initiatives and other centrally held resources, such as Home to School Transport, CASS, School Meals and Central Administration, as these are not costed to individual schools.

(AQW 3468/01)

Mr M McGuinness: The report on the Literacy Strategy review is currently being finalised and the report on the Numeracy Strategy review is to be submitted to the Department by the end of June.

Members of the Assembly Education Committee will receive a copy of the reports once the Minister has had the opportunity to consider the recommendations made.

(AQW 3474/01)

Mr M McGuinness: The European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages was signed by the UK Government on 2 March 2000 and subsequently ratified on 27 March 2001. The provisions of the Charter came into effect on 1 July 2001 and the obligations placed on the Department of Education are as follows:

• in respect of Irish, in accordance with Article 2, paragraph 2 and Article 3, paragraph 1 of the Charter the following provisions apply for the purposes of Part III of the Charter –

• in respect of Ulster-Scots, in accordance with Article 2, paragraph 1 of the Charter Ulster-Scots is recognised as meeting the definition of a regional or minority language for the purposes of Part II of the Charter in relation to Articles 2 and 3. No specific obligations arise as a consequence.

The obligations in respect of Irish are met through support for the provision of Irish-medium education and the inclusion of Irish as a named language in the 11-16 curriculum. In addition, the Department facilitates the use of written Irish and of Irish place names and family names by correspondents, and in subsequent responses. The Department would endeavour to facilitate the use of spoken Irish if requested to do so. As for Ulster-Scots, there has been no demand for the provision of teaching through this medium, nor has there been any demand to facilitate the use of Ulster-Scots in written or oral communications with the Department.

The Department has facilitated a meeting between the Ulster-Scots Agency and the Council for the Curriculum, Examinations and Assessment to discuss the possibility of appointing a member of staff to oversee Ulster-Scots educational methods. The issue of funding such a post has still to be resolved, and will depend upon the outcome of discussions between DE and CCEA officials in the context of other funding pressures.

(AQW 3475/01)

Mr M McGuinness: CCEA officers have met with the Ulster-Scots Agency to discuss the possibility of appointing a member of staff to oversee Ulster-Scots educational methods. The issue of funding such a post has still to be resolved, and will depend upon the outcome of discussions between DE and CCEA officials in the context of other funding pressures.

(AQW 3490/01)

Mr M McGuinness: The Department of Education does not hold such information. Provided requirements as to age and health are satisfied, the Department requires a professional teaching qualification, normally a Bachelor of Education degree or a Postgraduate Certificate in Education, for a person to be eligible to teach in any grant-aided school. It is then a matter for employing authorities, including the Council for Catholic Maintained Schools, to set any specific criteria for particular posts, such as, where appropriate, the possession of the Catholic Religious Education Certificate;

As this qualification is not required for the purposes of being eligible to teach, the Department does not have any information as to the requirements for entry to the course or its content. This information is available from the Council for Catholic Maintained Schools whose address is: -

160 High Street
Holywood
Co Down
BT18 9AZ

The Department of Education does not hold any information on teachers who have this qualification as it is not required for the purposes of eligibility to teach;

(d) & (e) The Department does not hold information on the religious denominations of teachers.

(AQW 3492/01)

Mr M McGuinness: In the following schools, five or more pupils had a statement of special educational needs:

Every other primary school in the constituency had fewer than five children with a statement of special educational needs. In line with the Department’s policy on release of statistical information, numbers smaller than five have been suppressed in order to avoid potential disclosure of personal information.

* Fewer Than 5 Cases.

(AQW 3523/01)

Mr M McGuinness: Statutory and voluntary organisations can make a valuable contribution to the teaching of Relationships and Sexuality Education (RSE) in schools, however, my Department does not directly fund work of this kind. It is a matter for the Board of Governors and the Principal of each school to decide which organisations offer appropriate support for the teaching of RSE and to take due account of any financial implications.

(AQW 3562/01)

Mr M McGuinness: The terms and conditions of service of ancillary staff in schools are matters for their employing authorities. I am not aware of any employing authority reneging on an agreed contract of employment for such staff. However, before agreeing contracts with staff, an employing authority must satisfy itself that it can meet the cost of such contracts from within its approved resources.

(AQW 3564/01)

Mr M McGuinness: The Code of Practice on the Identification and Assessment of Special Educational Needs outlines eight categories of learning difficulty or disability as follows;

The School Census data on a range of special educational needs is collected under the following headings:

For the number of children in each category in the last five years I refer the member to the answer given to AQW 2410/01.

(AQW 3580/01)

Mr M McGuinness: Boards do not separate funding for individual types of special educational need. For funding details on special educational needs in general, over the last five years, I refer the member to the answer provided to AQW 2408/01.

It is the responsibility of the Department of Health and Social Services and Public Safety (DHSSPS) and ultimately the Health and Social Services Boards and Trusts to provide speech and language therapy. Although the need for speech therapy is specified in some children’s statements of special educational needs, this is as recommended and supplied by the Health and Social Services Trusts.

(AQW 3581/01)

Mr M McGuinness: This information is not held in the format requested. However, statistics from the school census are held in terms of the number of children with speech and language difficulties identified in their statement of special educational needs. For the last three years these are:

*Data on categories of statement in respect of nursery and primary schools are not included. This data was not collected centrally in 1999/2000.

(AQW 3595/01)

Mr M McGuinness: The threshold assessment scheme is the same for teachers in all grant-aided schools irrespective of the sector in which they work. Accredited external assessors carry out the assessments and work in teams with lead assessors, who ensure a fair and consistent approach. In addition, a quality control team, which reports directly to the Regional Manager, monitors their work, including accompanied assessment visits, and each school principal is invited to complete feedback reports on their experience of the process. If the facts are put to me about non-compliance with the scheme in specific cases, I will have them looked into.

(AQW 3601/01)

Mr M McGuinness: Education legislation encourages schools to consider making their premises available to the community when not in use by the schools themselves. I would hope therefore that schools will, as far as they are able, be responsive to the needs of local communities for facilities, including sports facilities.

I am pleased to say that the New Opportunities for PE and Sport Programme will greatly enhance opportunities for the community use of school sports facilities. The Programme is making available a total of £33.75 million to: build new and refurbish existing sports facilities for school and community use; support the development and promotion of these facilities for community use; and build or refurbish outdoor adventure facilities.

The funding will be split between five area partnerships, led by the Education and Library Boards, who will facilitate schools in developing projects in association with the local community and sports clubs.

(AQW 3650/01)

Mr M McGuinness: A Strategic Review of Civil Service Office Accommodation, which includes an examination of the scope for decentralisation of Civil Service jobs is currently underway. Pending the outcome of this Review, I have at this time no specific proposals for any further relocation of my Department’s functions and the position of the Department of Education remains therefore as set out in Chapter 5.4 of the Interim Report of the Strategic Review.

(AQW 3660/01)

(a) The cost to my Department in acquiring a car was £21,821.26.

(b) As my driver is not an employee of the Department, no expenditure was incurred in his recruitment.

(c) The Ministerial car was provided through formal Government Purchasing Agency (GPA) tendering procedures.

(d) Three companies submitted tenders.

(e) In acquiring the Ministerial car my Department agreed with GPA that tenders should be judged on:

• price;

• compliance with specification;

• suitability of security measures; and

• after-sales service

(f) GPA offered both of the unsuccessful tenderers a debriefing on the reasons why their tender had not been successful. I understand that only one took up this offer.

(AQW 3678/01)

Mr M McGuinness: The Staff Support Research Working Group is presenting its report to Management Side at the end of June. The discussions with Teachers’ Side are expected to start no later than the beginning of the next school year, and the report will be published on their completion.

(AQO 1379/01)

Mr M McGuinness: My Department’s consultation document on the common funding formula for all grant- aided schools, published last year, proposes a skewing of resources to the primary sector. The cumulative effect of the proposals is to increase primary sector funding by around £12m or 4% and the balance between funding attracted by primary schools compared to post-primary schools will rise from 65% to 67%.

(AQO 1372/01)

Mr M McGuinness: I am aware that grammar schools use such criteria. Grammar schools must admit pupils according to their grade in the Transfer Procedure test but many are oversubscribed with applications from pupils with the same grade. It is therefore necessary for them to distinguish between these pupils down to the last available place within their admissions number. The use of additional sub-criteria, for example, giving priority to those pupils with sibling relations at the school, enables a school to do this. Within the legislation these decisions are entirely a matter for the Board of Governors of each school.

(AQO 1391/01)

Mr M McGuinness: Information supplied by Boards shows that the primary school per capita varies across the Education and Library Boards from £1,964 to £2,294. The secondary school per capita varies from £3,066 to £3,620. There are also differences between the controlled and maintained sectors.

These variations occur not only because of different spending priorities of Boards and the make-up of their LMS formulae but also because of the differences in the profiles of schools within individual Boards, in particular, the incidence of small schools and relative levels of social deprivation. For these reasons it is difficult to obtain true like for like comparisons across Boards.

The LMS Common Formula, planned for implementation in April 2003, will ensure that schools of similar size and characteristics will receive similar levels of funding.

(AQO 1406/01)

Mr M McGuinness: The GBA gave a public commitment to identify an acceptable method of matching pupils to schools but no proposals have been produced. If the GBA has been able to develop acceptable proposals I would urge the association to make its proposals available for public scrutiny and to clarify its position on academic selection before the end of the consultation period.

(AQO 1392/01)

Mr M McGuinness: Sixteen meetings have already taken place and others are planned for the coming weeks. The key issues emerging from the meetings are:

• Agreement that the 11 plus should be abolished;

• widespread acceptance of the adverse effects of academic selection at 11 and agreement that it should be ended;

• significant and increasing numbers of our young people are progressing to our two universities from non-grammar and non A-level routes;

• children from low income families in disadvantaged areas, particularly Protestant areas, have little prospect of obtaining a place in a grammar school;

I have also met with the Progressive Unionist Party and have offered meetings to all other political parties. So far, the Alliance, Sinn Fein, SDLP and Women’s Coalition have accepted this offer.

(AQO 1380/01)

Mr M McGuinness: The existing transport arrangements were the subject of consultation with the education and library boards before being approved by my Department.

The arrangements were subject to a Policy Appraisal and Fair Treatment analysis as part of the consultation exercise. The analysis revealed that the policy did not discriminate against any group or restrict the rights of parents.

It is for the boards to deliver home to school transport within the approved arrangements, and I have no plans to intervene in the operation of the service. Parents who feel that their rights may be restricted, or that they are being treated inequitably, should contact their education and library board to seek an explanation of any decision.

(AQO 1390/01)

Mr M McGuinness: I fully recognise the strength of feeling among principals and vice-principals about their salary arrangements, and the importance of resolving this issue quickly. This, therefore, will be the Inquiry’s first task. While it would be premature to set a time limit at this point, I would expect the timescale to be short because the various interests, who will be submitting evidence to the Inquiry, have already undertaken a lot of groundwork.

(AQO 1409/01)

Mr M McGuinness: My Department is using a variety of methods to make sure that everyone has the opportunity to contribute to the review of post-primary education. Today I launched a Household Response Form which will be issued this week to every household giving information about the review and seeking the views of the public on the key issues. A more detailed response booklet was issued at the start of May to all schools, further education colleges, community groups and training organisations to facilitate consideration of the key issues and to help structure responses. The views of the public will also be gathered through a household survey and we are considering how best to get the views of young people.

A summary analysis of the responses received will be published around the end of September.

I am currently engaged in a series of meetings involving the key players in our education system to listen to suggestions, build consensus and stimulate discussion of the issues during the consultation period.

The massive scale of this consultation reflects the importance of the issue. I want as many people as possible to take part in the debate and submit their comments to my Department.

(AQO 1378/01)

Mr M McGuinness: The Local Management of Schools (LMS) scheme operated by each Education and Library Board sets out the arrangements for compensating schools for the cost of work arising from vandalism. In most Boards these arrangements provide for schools to be reimbursed for costs above a certain threshold. Voluntary grammar schools and grant-maintained integrated schools carry their own insurance to meet the cost of repairs arising from vandalism.

(AQO 1373/01)

Mr M McGuinness: My Department’s consultation document on the common funding formula for all grant- aided schools, published last year, set out proposals which will bring funding allocations to a consistent level and will ensure that schools of similar size and characteristics receive similar levels of funding.

Under Local Management of Schools (LMS) arrangements, schools are provided with an unhypothecated budget and individual Boards of Governors make spending decisions in light of their own policies and priorities. Decisions on the number of teachers to be employed are therefore a matter for each school to determine in light of their individual school circumstances, particularly changes in enrolment. It is important that schools achieve the appropriate Teacher Pupil Ratio and the Department is endeavouring to support schools in their efforts to achieve this. In 2000/2001, the PTRs in all sectors (apart from Special Schools) improved. The Primary figure fell by 0.2 to 20.2 and the Secondary figure fell by 0.2 to 14.5.

However, it would run counter to present LMS policy, for the Department to exercise a direct control over teacher numbers and pupil/teacher ratios.

(AQW 2983/01)

The Minister for Employment and Learning (Ms Hanna): There are currently no credit cards held by this Department.

One Government Procurement card was used by my Department in the financial year ending 31 March 2002 with a total of £10,650 having been spent.

My Department’s Non-Departmental Public Bodies (NDPBs) which use credit cards and expenditure in the financial year ending 31 March 2002 are as follows;

Other bodies funded by my Department which use credit cards and expenditure in the financial year ending 31 March 2002 are as follows;

(AQW 2997/01)

Ms Hanna: Women and men share many of the same barriers to employment. Evidence presented to the Taskforce on Employability and Long-Term Unemployment, which I chair, has identified a lack of affordable, accessible, and flexible childcare as a specific barrier for many women.

DEL, the Equality Commission and the Childcare Partnerships in NI have commissioned research on the use of, demand for and supply of childcare in Northern Ireland. It is anticipated that the final research report will be available by the end of 2002.

(AQW 3252/01)

Ms Hanna: I have not had any contact in this context. In terms of funding for training courses, the universities here, as elsewhere in the UK, are autonomous bodies entirely responsible for their own policies and practices, including course provision. Accordingly, I am not in a position to intervene.

(AQW 3340/01)

Ms Hanna: My Department has a wide range of initiatives aiming to improve IT skills among mature students. In the Further Education sector these include: The Skills Fund (£2.5 m), The Access Initiative Fund (£2.3m), an additional 600 Higher Education places in areas of skills need, and a compact with the Worker Education Association. They have been introduced to widen access and increase participation in IT and other skills need areas.

During 2001/2002, 83% of courses undertaken through learndirect were ICT related. Financial support will continue to be provided through the Northern Ireland learndirect Network.

From 1999 to 2002, my Department provided 300 additional university IT places. This year, we will be providing a further 330 additional HE places, to be allocated to economically relevant areas, including IT. Eight full-time Foundation Degree pilots are currently running which focus specifically on IT. A further 50 IT Foundation Degree full-time equivalent places will be provided in 2002/2003.

(AQW 3343/01)

Ms Hanna: The training given to medical undergraduates in disability awareness is a matter for Queen’s University.

(AQW 3385/01)

Ms Hanna: Whilst I meet regularly with my colleague, the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, this specific subject has not been raised. My Department liaises regularly with the relevant Sector Training Council for the food manufacturing and processing sectors, the Food and Drink Training Council. This Council includes representation from employers in the sector and all training issues are discussed.

The Government supports a wide range of courses in the sector and these include Food Handling and Health and Safety issues. These courses are provided across the province by most Further Education Colleges, by the Food and Drink Training Council, by private training providers, and by Loughry College.