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Royal Ulster Constabulary

Mr. Mallon: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many people recruited to full-time membership of the RUC during the period 1 October 1995 to 31 March 1996 had previously served as members of (a) the RUC reserve (b) Her Majesty's armed forces.[26548]

Sir John Wheeler: Records for recruitment to the RUC regular force during the period 1 October 1995 to 31 March 1996 are as follows:

Number
Recruits with previous RUCR full-time service only28
Recruits with previous RUCR part-time service only13
Recruits with both RUCR full-time and RUCR part-time service4
Recruits with previous HM forces service only6
Recruits with both HM forces and RUCR service5
Recruits with no previous HM forces or RUCR service55

Mr. Mallon: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many people were recruited to full-time membership of the RUC during the period 1 October 1995 to 31 March 1996. [26549]

Sir John Wheeler: The total number of people recruited to full-time membership of the RUC regular force during the period 1 October to 31 March 1996 was 111.

Health and Safety Agency

Mr. Illsley: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how much money has been spent on the Health and Safety Agency for Northern Ireland in each year since 1990-91. [26221]

Mr. Ancram [holding answer 22 April 1996]: The Department of Economic Development has funded the Health and Safety Agency for Northern Ireland in accordance with the following table:

Financial yearAmount of funding
£
1990-91146,000
1991-92165,500
1992-93173,000
1993-94222,000
1994-95261,000
1995-96314,000


30 Apr 1996 : Column: 460

HOUSE OF COMMONS

Procedural Changes

Mrs. Clwyd: To ask the Lord President of the Council what representations urging procedural changes he has received since publication of the Scott report. [24703]

Mr. Newton: The Government deposited in the Library of the House on 25 March 1996 a document entitled "The Timetable for Taking Forward Recommendations of the Report of the Inquiry into the Export of Defence Equipment and Dual-Use Goods to Iraq and Related Prosecutions". As this document indicates, the Government are currently inviting comments on a range of the issues covered by the Scott report, and a number of representations have now been received. These will be given careful consideration and changes to current Government procedures will be made where there would be benefit in doing so. If any such changes have implications for House of Commons procedures, these too would of course be considered in the appropriate way.

Northern Ireland Legislative Committees

Mr. Robert McCartney: To ask the Lord President of the Council which hon. Members representing Northern Ireland constituencies have been appointed since January 1995 to Standing Committees on delegated legislation nominated to consider Northern Ireland Orders in Council. [25768]

Mr. Newton: The following Northern Ireland Members have been appointed to Delegated Legislation Committees relating to NI orders:

MemberDates
AppointedAttended
Beggs, Mr. Roy7 June 19957 June 1995
7 December 19957 December 1995
7 January 199617 January 1996
Forsythe,
Mr. Clifford17 October 199517 October 1995
31 October 199531 October 1995
Hendron, Dr. Joe----
Hume, Mr. John----
McCartney,
Mr. Robert----
McCrea,
Rev. William----
McGrady, Mr. Eddie----
Maginnis, Mr. Ken16 February 199516 February 1995
22 February 1995--
18 October 199518 October 1995
29 November 1995--
28 February 199628 February 1996
Mallon, Mr. Seamus----
Molyneaux,
Sir James25 November 199525 November 1995
Paisley, Rev. Ian----
Robinson, Mr. Peter----
Ross, Mr. William1 February 19951 February 1995
Smyth, Rev. Martin28 February 199528 February 1995
Taylor, Mr. John D.7 February 19967 February 1996
Trimble, Mr. David4 July 19954 July 1995
Walker, Mr. A. Cecil----

The right hon. Member for Lagan Valley (Sir J. Molyneaux) was appointed to the Chairmen's Panel this Session, but this has not been reflected in the table.


30 Apr 1996 : Column: 461

SCOTLAND

Machine Guns

Mr. George Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what is the number of exemptions under the Firearms (Amendment) Act 1994 in respect of machine guns in each of the last five years; and apart from royal ordnance, what is the total number of machine guns covered by these exemptions. [26428]

Mr. Michael Forsyth: There are no exemptions under the Firearms (Amendment) Act 1994.

Judicial Statistics

Mr. McFall: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will publish the civil judicial statistics relating to the Scottish courts for the years 1994 and 1995. [26965]

Lord James Douglas-Hamilton: The statistics for 1994 will be published shortly; those for 1995 are still in preparation.

Victoria Hospital, Glasgow

Mr. Watson: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 1981 will apply in respect of staff at the Victoria hospital, Glasgow following the award of the contract in respect of support services. [27063]

Lord James Douglas-Hamilton: This is a matter for the trust and the company winning the contract to consider with their legal advisers. In most cases where employment is transferred as a result of market testing, TUPE usually applies.

Cancer

Mr. Llwyd: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many registered cases of cancer there were in Scotland in (a) 1985, (b) 1989, (c) 1992 and (d) 1995; and if he will make a statement. [27030]

Lord James Douglas-Hamilton: The number of registered cases of cancer--malignant neoplasms--in each of these years is as follows:


National Health Service Trusts

Mr. Watson: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will list those core services which NHS trusts in Scotland may contract out through the competitive tendering process. [27048]

Lord James Douglas-Hamilton: Since 1983, the Government's policy has been for domestic, cleaning, catering, laundry and similar non-core support services to be routinely market tested. It is for NHS trusts to decide which other services would benefit from being subjected to market testing in response to local circumstances, ensuring that the best quality health care and use of resources is achieved.

30 Apr 1996 : Column: 462

Mr. Watson: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many NHS trusts in Scotland have put support services out to competitive tender; and in how many of these cases an in-house tender was received. [27051]

Lord James Douglas-Hamilton: By 1991, virtually all hospital ancillary services in the NHS in Scotland had been put out to tender by health boards. As NHS trusts were established, the trust boards assumed responsibility for the management of the existing contracts and for the market testing of such other services as they considered appropriate. Comprehensive information on the number of in-house tenders received is not centrally available, but from a total of 410 contracts awarded following market testing since December 1987, 65 per cent. were won by in-house teams.

Male Rape

Mr. Llwyd: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many cases of male rape were reported in Scotland in (a) 1985 and (b) 1995; and if he will make a statement. [27013]

Lord James Douglas-Hamilton: The information is not available in the form requested. The term "male rape" is not used in Scots law. The act which that term describes, namely non-consensual anal intercourse with a man, can be prosecuted in Scotland either as the common law crime of sodomy or as a statutory offence under section 13 of the Criminal Law (Consolidation) (Scotland) Act 1995, that is, commission of a homosexual act other than in private or without the consent of both parties or with a person under the age of 18.

It is not possible to identify within the statistics for the statutory offence those which would equate with the term "male rape". Figures for the number of allegations of the common law offence of sodomy reported to the police are not available, but figures for the number of prosecutions are available from 1988 onwards. In 1988 there were 11 such prosecutions and in 1994, the latest year for which such figures are available, there were 15 prosecutions.


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