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George Finbar Ross
Mr. Beggs: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if it is the policy of Her Majesty's Government to take steps to secure co-operation from the United States Government for the extradition of George Finbar Ross to Northern Ireland. [7371]
Sir John Wheeler: The question of seeking the extradition of Mr. Ross remains under active consideration.
It is not the practice of the relevant authorities to give details of the actions being taken to secure the apprehension of wanted persons or the progress thereof: to do so could undermine the effectiveness of those actions.
International Investments Ltd. (Gibraltar)
Mr. Beggs: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what discussions have been held between Her Majesty's Government and the Government of the Republic of Ireland on International Investments Ltd. (Gibraltar), liquidation fraud. [7372]
Sir John Wheeler: I refer the hon. Gentleman to the reply I gave him on 19 December, Official Report, column 1076.
Badger Setts, Carnmoney Hill
Mr. Tony Banks: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, pursuant to his answer of 18 December, Official Report, column 906, who carried out the badger survey commissioned by the developer of a golf club at Carnmoney hill, and if he will place a copy in the Library. [8117]
Sir John Wheeler: A copy of the badger survey, completed by field workers of Queen's university, Belfast, has been placed in the Library.
Advertising
Mr. Malcolm Bruce: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what has been the expenditure of his (a) Department, (b) agencies and (c) non-departmental public bodies on newspaper advertising by title for each year since 1990-91; and what estimate he has made for 1995-96 based on expenditure to date and existing plans. [6565]
9 Jan 1996 : Column: 106
Sir John Wheeler: Newspaper advertising expenditure by the Northern Ireland Office and its Departments and by agencies since 1990-91 is listed. An estimated outturn figure for 1995-96 is included. Information is not available by title. Expenditure by non-departmental public bodies is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
| NI departments and NI office | Agencies | |
|---|---|---|
| £ | £ | |
| 1990-91 | 3,024,220 | 210,055 |
| 1991-92 | 4,419,230 | 118,781 |
| 1992-93 | 3,972,001 | 255,500 |
| 1993-94 | 3,181,384 | 215,317 |
| 1994-95 | 2,777,464 | 205,508 |
| 1995-96 | 3,448,157 | 229,202 |
Figures for 1990-91 and 1992-93 do not include the Department of Health and Social Services as these are not available.
Figures for 1990-91 and 1991-92 include advertising other than newspaper advertising by part of the Department of Economic Development.
Mr. Mallon:
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will list the number of legally held (a) shotguns; (b) air rifles; (c) automatic weapons; (d) semi-automatic weapons and (e) other weapons, breaking down the figures for each police sub-divisional region. [7395]
Sir John Wheeler:
Although the information to answer the question is not readily available in the format requested, the chief constable advises that at 31 October 1995 there were 133,769 legally held firearms in Northern Ireland. Of these, there were
Mr. Mallon:
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will list the number of legally held weapons in Northern Ireland as a proportion of the resident population, or such figures as are readily available. [7394]
Sir John Wheeler:
Firearms licensing is the responsibility of the Chief Constable of the Royal Ulster Constabulary. He advises me that, at 31 October 1995, there were 133,769 firearms held on certificate under the Firearms (Northern Ireland) Order 1981. This equates to approximately one firearm per nine head of the population 1 .
1 Based on 1991 census statistics.
Dr. Wright:
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if answers sent to hon. Members in reply to parliamentary questions by the head of executive agencies in his Department are (a) seen, (b) approved and
9 Jan 1996 : Column: 107
(c) amended by him before they are sent; and if he will identify such letters to which amendments by him have been made in 1994-95. [7822]
Sir John Wheeler:
As responsibility to answer parliamentary questions on operational matters has been delegated to the chief executives of executive agencies, such answers provided by chief executives are not approved or amended by Ministers before being sent to hon. Members. The questions and answers are copied to Ministers, for information, usually before the reply appears in Hansard.
Mr. Austin Mitchell
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what web site his Department maintains on the Internet, what information is provided there, how often it is updated, what is the address, and if he or his Department answers questions and supplies additional information through the Internet. [7573]
Sir John Wheeler:
The Northern Ireland civil service maintains the Northern Ireland Government server based at Stormont. This server holds information relating to all Northern Ireland Departments and their agencies and this is being developed on an on-going basis to provide more in-depth information. The server is updated on a daily basis. The address for the server is:
http://www.nics.gov.uk
Questions are sent to the server via e-mail and are answered by e-mail. Where necessary, questions are forwarded to a specific Government Department to provide an appropriate reply.
Mr. John D. Taylor:
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if changes to community care and income support rules will apply to those who entered residential care before April 1996. [8103]
Mr. Taylor:
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if the change to community care and income support rules in respect of spouses' entitlement to half their partner's occupational pension when the partner has gone into residential care applies to Northern Ireland. [8102]
Mr. John D. Taylor:
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what consultations he had with (a) the Royal Mint and (b) other interested parties about the design of the new Northern Ireland 1966 £1 coin; and if he will make a statement. [7762]
Sir Patrick Mayhew:
In 1993, the Royal Mint advisory committee recommended a design for the Northern Ireland £1 coin featuring the Celtic cross and a torc. I was consulted at that time about the proposed design and agreed that the design was acceptable. No other parties were involved in the decision-making process.
9 Jan 1996 : Column: 108
Mr. John D. Taylor:
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what proportion of 18 to 21-year-olds in Northern Ireland are (a) Protestants and (b) Roman Catholics. [8101]
Sir John Wheeler:
The 1991 census of population contains information on the breakdown of the population of Northern Ireland by religious denomination. The information in relation to the population aged 18 to 21 years is as follows:
(a) 85,186 shotguns;
Separate figures for air rifles, semi-automatic or automatic firearms and sub-divisional areas can not be provided, except at disproportionate cost.
(b) 20,982 air weapons (includes air rifles);
(c) other firearms--27,601.
| Percentage of 18 to 21-year-olds | |
|---|---|
| Roman Catholic | 42.38 |
| Presbyterian, Church of Ireland and Methodist | 39.47 |
| Others | 8.09 |
| Answered "None" to the question on religion | 3.74 |
| Did not answer the Religion question | 6.32 |
The "others" category contains some non-Christian religions. A detailed breakdown of the denominations in this category is provided in table 8A of the "Northern Ireland census 1991 summary report: HMSO 1992".
Greenpark Hospital Trust
Mr. Peter Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what time factor is permitted in the contract between the Greenpark Hospital trust and Mediguard for the former to delay paying the latter for the supply of contracted and other purchase services. [8224]
Sir John Wheeler: The contract conditions provide that the trust must pay such amounts as may be properly due to the contractor under the terms of the contract within 30 days of receipt of the invoice. Payment may be made in part, pending clarification of any items under dispute.
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