The Chief Executive of Roads Service (Dr. Malcolm McKibbin) has written to the hon. Gentleman in response to this question.
Letter from Dr. Malcolm McKibbin to Gregory Campbell, dated 28 November 2006:
You recently asked the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland a Parliamentary Question regarding what measures are in place to promote safer travel for pupils attending rural schools in Northern Ireland.
As this issue falls within my responsibility as Chief Executive of Roads Service. I have been asked to reply.
You may be aware that Roads Service, in liaison with the Department of Education, is promoting a Safer Routes to Schools initiative, to encourage walking, cycling, greater use of public transport, and car sharing for the journey to and from school. One aspect of the project entails the introduction of traffic management measures outside schools, to create a safer local environment for children, in both urban and rural areas, to get to school. The programme is being taken forward in liaison with other statutory agencies, including the Department of the Environment’s Road Safety Branch and the Health Promotion Agency.
I should also explain that The Traffic Signs (Northern Ireland) Regulations 1997, permit road signs to be used in the vicinity of schools to warn drivers of the potential of encountering children in the road ahead, going to and from school. These signs are commonplace on our rural road network, particularly on busy roads and where speeds are high. The signs are often supplemented by flashing amber lights.
In addition, Roads Service plan to introduce a programme of school safety zones to manage speeds specifically at rural schools where the current speed limit is 60mph. These zones will include prominent signs and road markings to draw motorists’ attention to the possible presence of children at schools. Work has started on this project so that an additional 10 schools will have measures installed by the end of this current financial year and it is planned to complete work at a further 20 schools in the 2007-08 financial year. As part of this initiative, Roads Service is actively investigating the potential of introducing variable speed limits at rural schools.
You may also be interested to know that Sustrans, the sustainable travel charity, has been offered a funding package from the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development Structural Fund valued at £900,000 for the purpose of protecting and enhancing the physical environment of rural areas. Following preliminary discussions with Roads Service, it has been proposed that this funding should be directed at 18 rural schools to address Safer Routes to Schools and Speed Management issues, with financial input from other Agencies. Work on implementing this project is ongoing.
The Education and Library Boards have indicated that they incurred the following expenditure from 1996-97 (excluding FE colleges):
BELB NEELB SEELB SELB WELB TOTAL 1996-97 2,634,902 9,573,072 9,707,674 10,935,054 8,075,316 40,926,018 1997-98 3,440,081 10,107,590 10,099,923 11,493,357 9,775,748 44,916,699 1998-99 3,450,599 10,580,044 10,336,052 12,473,025 9,342,257 46,181,977 1999-2000 1— 45,635,000 2000-01 3,176,375 11,614,839 10,112,226 12,944,502 9,871,818 47,719,760 2001-02 4,088,222 12,252,325 10,952,195 13,479,490 10,863,615 51,635,847 2000-03 4,017,000 14,152,000 11,877,000 14,841,000 12,316,614 57,203,614 2000-04 4,606,000 15,255,000 12,873,308 15,216,000 11,652,219 59,602,527 2004-05 4,425,000 16,806,000 13,285,000 16,367,000 13,166,564 64,049,564 2005-06 4,735,475 16,507,000 13,244,799 16,334,000 13,870,963 64,692,237 1 Detailed breakdown not available Note: It should be noted that the figures prior to 2001-02 are on a cash basis and thereafter on an accruals accounting system.
The Department of Education has been tasked with achieving efficiency savings of £0.9 million in 2005-06 and £1.6 million in 2006-07 in respect of the home to school transport budget. Education and Library Boards in fact achieved savings of £1.7 million in 2005-06. Also a recent mid-year review has confirmed that they are on track to achieve the savings required in 2006-07.
In facilitating these efficiency savings the Department provided £1.4 million additional capital funding in 2005-06 to enable boards to purchase additional vehicles for use on routes where it was identified that it would be more efficient to operate board vehicles rather than use alternative modes of transport.