Questions asked by Andrew Muir in the Northern Ireland Assembly

Unfortunately, my officials were unable to gather together the information sought by the member in the short amount of time I had remaining in office.

Unfortunately my officials were unable to gather together the information sought by the member in the short amount of time I had remaining in office.

My Department is currently considering how cleaner transport, new business models and new modes of travel can transform how people, goods and services move, as part of our work in developing options for inclusion in our new suite of Transport Plans.

Members of the public already have access to Car Club vehicles in several urban areas across the North. Additionally, a number of developers have recently included Car Clubs in their Travel Plans for residential developments in Belfast, and these are measures which are actively encouraged by my Department.

I believe that the greater use of more efficient, on-demand transport schemes, such as Car Clubs, would help to enable better integrated services, help to reduce emissions, and ease congestion in our towns and cities.

Virtually all Car Clubs across other jurisdictions operate as commercial businesses, and as such my Department has no plans to actively establish or operate them, I do however look forward to further operators entering the market and widening access to this service.

The Strategic Planning and Performance Group (SPPG) have initiated a process to find a new contractor to take over the Priory & Springhill GMS Contract from 1st February 2023. There have been a number of expressions of interest put forward. SPPG officers are currently engaging with potential new contract holders and I remain hopeful that one will be successful.

Whilst I am hesitant to provide a timeframe, I can confirm that SPPG officers are working hard to find a solution that will ensure that the full range of GMS services are provided to all registered patients at Priory & Springhill Surgery from 1st February 2023. Patients and the wider public will be kept informed of any developments.

I can confirm that the Department no longer maintains a list of requested road resurfacing projects within the Ards and North Down Council area.

Resurfacing programmes in Ards and North Down are now, as in other areas, prepared on the basis of a number of factors primarily linked to road condition. Details of works programmes, including resurfacing schemes, for the 2022/23 financial year were included in the Department’s Council Report for Ards and North Down Borough Council. The Council Report was presented to Council on 11 October 2022 and is published on the DfI website and a link to the report issued to each MLA in the respective council area on 19 October 2022. See link; https://www.infrastructure-ni.gov.uk/publications/annual-report-ards-and-north-down-borough-council-20222023

Should you have any further questions on this please contact DfI Roads Southern Division at dfiroads.southern@infrastructure-ni.gov.uk.

The Department currently has 13 live planning applications that were called in from local councils. These include applications for listed building consents that are associated with full planning applications. These are all listed below:

My Department has identified a number of issues which present risks to the planned delivery of works across the Ards and North Down Council Area. As the contracts used are common to network maintenance and network development, the risks are similar for both areas of work. It should also be noted that the majority of risks are common to all Councils areas and are not limited to Ards and North Down.

The key risk to delivery of planned works is contract availability and contract renewal preparations are progressing with award of an Asphalt Resurfacing Term Contract (which expired in November 2021) planned for January 2023 and award of a Term Contract for Environmental Maintenance (which expired in November 2021) planned for November 2022. Contract renewal work for a Minor Works Term Contract (which expired in July 2022) is continuing, but a planned award date has not yet been confirmed. Any technical delay or challenge from an unsuccessful tenderer may impact on the availability of a contract on these dates.

My Department has produced work programmes for the Council area which are included in the Annual Council Report, Annual Report to Ards and North Down Borough Council - 2022/23 (infrastructure-ni.gov.uk)

Should you have any further questions on this please contact DfI Roads Southern Division at dfiroads.southern@infrastructure-ni.gov.uk.

The absence of Departmental Ministers will significantly hamper decision making, including decisions within my Department relating to strategic planning, major infrastructure projects and spending decisions relating to other key public services.

(i)Rate assessments for non-domestic properties are predominantly based on the properties’ Net Annual Value. The Rating system does contain valuation classifications suggesting childcare as the likely property use. Also, this information is not gathered as part of the collection of rates. As a result, it is not possible to give a precise number of childcare premises in the non-domestic rating system.

(ii)Childcare premises were within the class of businesses eligible for the Rates Holiday in 2021/22 and therefore paid no rates for the 2021/22 rating year.

There may be properties occupied by childcare providers that have paid rates during 2021/22 which LPS is unaware of. LPS is still accepting applications for the Rate Holidays from business owners who feel they were entitled but did not receive it. Further information and a link to the online application is available at https://www.nibusinessinfo.co.uk/content/rates-holiday.

I fully appreciate the plight of businesses who are experiencing unprecedented rises in energy costs and broader inflationary pressures driven by a perfect storm of internationally-driven factors.

Much like the crisis created in the local economy as a result of Covid, the magnitude of this global inflationary crisis means that it can only be tackled by significant interventions at a national government level. As such, this is a policy which is being determined at a national level and the required financial resource is then being made available for delivery to all consumers across the UK.

The Northern Ireland Executive simply does not have the levers or financial firepower to deliver the type of immediate help at the scale that is required, whether the Executive is fully functioning or not. However, I believe that the certainty that the Energy Price Guarantee provides is essential for business and strongly believe that this should be extended by HMG.

Park Home facilities are businesses and are therefore subject to all the relevant legal and regulatory requirements of a business. As a result, residents within Park Home facilities are not eligible for the UK Government’s domestic energy support schemes.

The Park Owner, however, will receive support through the Energy Bill Relief Scheme: help for businesses and other non-domestic customers (Northern Ireland) - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).

Draft legislation being introduced in Parliament this week includes conditions to ensure that support provided to businesses such as Park Owners is passed through to consumers who pay the park owner for electricity.

Local officials have confirmed that a controlled pedestrian crossing, which will improve road safety for pedestrians crossing this heavily trafficked A Class road, is included within a programme of works for this financial year. Timescales for delivery of this scheme will be dependent on the availability of contractor resources.

Should you have any further questions on this matter, please contact DfI Roads Southern Division at: dfiroads.southern@infrastructure-ni.gov.uk

In the absence of an Executive, budgets have not been agreed for the 2022-23 financial year or future years. However, to ensure that my Department continues to develop and deliver much needed investment in our infrastructure, I agreed capital allocations for 2022-23 which include £1.4m for the on-going development of the York Street Interchange project.

Future funding will be dependent on Executive priorities and associated budget settlements.

In November 2020 an Independent Assurance Review of the York Street Interchange scheme was carried out. Following on from this a Placemaking and Active Travel Review (PATR) of the scheme has been carried out by a specialist team independent from the project team. Both of these reviews engaged with key stakeholders, including Ashton Community Trust and Sailortown Regeneration, both of which represent communities in the area.

Following publication of the PATR report on 11 October 2022 officials have contacted all of the stakeholders inviting them to take part in further engagement as options for the scheme are taken forward for consideration.

I remain committed to the delivery of this strategically important scheme and the wider benefits it presents.

On 11 October 2022 I published the report on the Placemaking and Active Travel Review, which has identified a number of potential options to improve placemaking and active travel provision as part of the project. Further work is required to develop these options and consider factors relating to their potential implementation. Importantly, this will include further engagement with key stakeholders. This work is likely to take until early 2023 to complete and will inform next steps for the project.

In December 2019 the procurement competition for York Street Interchange scheme was stopped and the contract award set aside, following a legal challenge. As a result of this, my Department has reviewed its procurement strategy in order to inform any future procurement competition.

In July 2020 it was decided that a review of the scheme proposals should be carried out to provide assurance on how and to what extent the proposed scheme reflected and accommodated key objectives and priorities. This was an independent external assurance review, carried out in November 2020, and included engagement with key stakeholders. In March 2021 the recommendations from this review were published.

Since then, work has been ongoing to address those recommendations including a further review of the scheme to ensure it aligns with the concept of placemaking and the latest best practice in terms of urban transport design. This Placemaking and Active Travel Review (PATR) was completed by a specialist team independent from the project team and, again, included engagement with key stakeholders. The review has identified options for further consideration to improve placemaking and active travel provision and work is now ongoing to refine these. I published the PATR on 11 October 2022 and it can be viewed at http://www.yorkstreetinterchange.com/

The Business Services Organisation (BSO) has records of which General Dental Practitioners have a contract with the Department of Health to provide NHS treatment, and in which practices they work. However, the BSO does not have information as to the capacity of each GDP’s register, nor whether they are currently in a position to register new patients.

Neither the Department of Health nor the Business Services Organisation (BSO) hold this information.

The BSO have records of which General Dental Practitioners (GDPs) have a contract with the Department of Health to provide NHS treatment, and in which practices they work. The BSO does not have information as to the capacity of each GDP’s register.

Patients can find a list of all General Dental Practices with at least one practitioner contracted to provide NHS treatment at http://online.hscni.net/other-hsc-organisations/hsc-service-finder. It can be used to search for dental practices in the patient’s area, sorted by those closest to their address and then extending further afield. A contact number for each dental practice is available.

Part of the works associated with Phase 2 of the A6 Derry to Dungiven project, between Drumahoe and the Caw roundabout, will encroach on the Mobuoy waste site. My Department is currently working closely with Northern Ireland Environment Agency (NIEA) and other stakeholders to ensure the final scheme design fully takes account of the impact of the waste site. This integrated approach will ensure that any remediation proposals take account of respective parties’ requirements, including those relating to the A6 dualling.

The strategy for this phase of the project, which is not part of the current Dungiven to Drumahoe construction contract, will be informed by the remedial proposals for the Mobuoy site currently being developed by NIEA.

My officials are currently continuing their preparations for a new suite of Transport Plans, intended to set out the framework for transport policy and investment decisions up until 2035.

The Regional Strategic Transport Network Transport Plan (RSTNTP) is the first Transport Plan in line for completion. It is concerned with strategic roads, the buses which run on them and the rail network.

I am keen to ensure that the measures proposed in the draft RSTNTP will be beneficial, sustainable and affordable as we seek to improve the regional transportation infrastructure in the next decade. As such I will publish the draft RSTNTP for public consultation when I am satisfied that all necessary work has been completed on it, and I have had an opportunity to fully consider it.