内容摘要：But a date has yet to be set for when that extension will happen, and the number of patients able to avail of it will depend on how much money is left from the cross-border scheme.

But a date has yet to be set for when that extension will happen, and the number of patients able to avail of it will depend on how much money is left from the cross-border scheme.

Democratic Unionist Party MLA Deborah Erskine said the possible legislation is a "vital step in protecting our children as they travel to and from school"."Far too often, we have seen reckless behaviour around school buses that puts young lives at risk," she said.

"Families have been left heartbroken by the loss of children."It is now more than 20 years since a motion came before Northern Ireland's Assembly asking for an urgent investigation into how children could be better protected getting on and off school buses.The 2002 motion came just months after the death of 14-year-old Julie Louise Meldrum from Kesh, County Fermanagh.

The teenager had been knocked down as she got off the bus outside her home in December 2001.The assembly motion had been brought forward by then Ulster Unionist MLA Danny Kennedy.

He said in 2001, about 300 school children had been injured travelling to and from school.

Patricia Lewsley-Mooney, then an SDLP MLA who would later become the children's commissioner in Northern Ireland, remembers that was among a number of road safety improvements discussed."The children are still keen but it's the mums that get really excited! It's like a sort of farewell tour that hopefully will go on."

Despite having written more than 100 books, Dame Jacqueline said she still felt anxious when writing."Always about halfway through a book, even now, you think 'I've got the hang of this with all these books that I've written', but I get that terrible doubt and worry about it and and it's just something you learn. Work through it, get to the end."

One habit that must help is that she writes in her pyjamas in bed, once she's fed the cat and let the dogs out first thing in the morning."That's the magic time, and it just works for me. Apparently Michael Morpurgo does exactly the same!"