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Invalidity and Incapacity Benefit

Mr. Alan Howarth: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what estimate he has made of savings resulting from the replacement of invalidity benefit by incapacity benefit for (a) 1995-96, (b) 1996-97,

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(c) 1997-98, (d) 1998-99 and (e) 1999-2000 and of the cumulative total for those years, broken down into structural savings and savings arising from the introduction of the all work test. [13048]

Mr. Burt: The information is in the table.

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Estimated annual cash savings (£ million) from the replacement of invalidity benefit by incapacity benefit

	1995-96	1996-97	1997-98	1998-1999	1999-2000	cum. total
Changes made to structure of the benefit	220	490	660	820	960	3,140
Medical test	60	300	700	1,010	1,230	3,290
Total	280	790	1,350	1,830	2,190	6,440

1. Savings are rounded to the nearest £10 million.

2. Numbers may not sum because of rounding.

3. Includes offsetting costs of estimated additional expenditure on income-related benefit.

3 Feb 1997 : Column: 497

Benefits Fraud Hotline

Mr. John Marshall: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many calls have been received by the social security fraud hotline; and what are the estimated resulting savings. [12834]

Mr. Heald: Up to the end of December 1996, calls to the national benefit fraud hotline were in the region of 130,000. The estimated fraud savings resulting from calls to the hotline are over £27 million.

NORTHERN IRELAND

Paramilitary Assaults

Mr. Robert McCartney: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will list the numbers of paramilitary assaults (a) by beating and (b) by shooting in the past five years, stating whether committed by loyalist or republican groups, and specify the annual and individual average amounts paid out in compensation each year, and the annual total estimated hospital costs. [12178]

Sir John Wheeler: Casualties as a result of terrorist gang assaults for the past five years are as follows:

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	Attributed to	Attributed to
Year	loyalist	republican	Total
1992	38	38	76
1993	35	6	41
1994	38	32	70
1995	76	141	217
1996	130	172	302

Casualties as a result of terrorist gang shootings for the past five years are as follows:

Year	Attributed to loyalist	Attributed to republican	Total
1992	72	61	133
1993	60	25	85
1994	68	54	122
1995	3	0	3
1996	21	3	24

It is not possible to provide details of costs associated with assaults and shootings. However, for illustrative purposes, I can advise that a victim of a "punishment" attack who suffered a broken leg and spent 10 days in hospital could cost the public purse £9,000 in potential medical and policing costs and subsequent compensation awards.

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Punishment Beatings

Mr. William Ross: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many assaults described as punishment beatings have taken place in Northern Ireland in each of the last six years and in the current year to date; and what estimate he has made of the number carried out in each year by (a) the Provisional IRA, (b) other republican terrorists, (c) the UDA, (d) the UVF and (e) other loyalist organisations. [12861]

Sir John Wheeler: The number of assaults described as punishment beatings for the period January 1991 to 26 January 1997 is:

	Attributed to loyalist groups	Attributed to republican groups	Total
1991	22	40	62
1992	38	38	76
1993	35	6	41
1994	38	32	70
1995	76	141	217
1996	118	158	276
1997(19)	7	12	19

(19) As at 26 January 1997.

It is not possible to specify which individual group carried out an offence. These figures do not include punishment shootings.

Social Fund

Mr. Beggs: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland (1) what is the average time taken by each department of government in Northern Ireland to respond to bids for European social funds; [13066]

(2) how much European social funding available to Northern Ireland in each of the past five years could not be drawn down because of delay at Government level in responding to bids submitted. [13067]

Mr. Ancram: Responsibility for the subject in question has been delegated to the Training and Employment Agency under its chief executive, Mr. Ian Walters. I have asked him to arrange for a reply to be given.

Letter from Ian Walters to Mr. Roy Beggs, dated 30 January 1997:

The Secretary of State has asked me, as Chief Executive of the Training and Employment Agency, to reply to your questions about the European Social Fund (ESF).
Question 13066
The majority of Northern Ireland applications to the Fund are processed by this Agency. Applications are invited through press advertisements each time funds become available. They are then scored against programme criteria and ranked by a Selection Committee. While the time taken to reach decisions is directly related to the number of applications to be assessed at each "call", the process is normally completed within 3 months of the application closing date.
Question 13067
I am pleased to say that at no time over the past 5 years has there been a failure to draw down monies from the European Social Fund because of delays in responding to bids. While there was an underspend on ESF in 1994, this was due to the delay in the approval of the Northern Ireland Single Programme. The full amount of the underspend was rolled forward to subsequent years and so will be fully spent.

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Contracts (Andersen Group)

Mr. Barnes: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many contracts were awarded by his Department and its agencies to the Andersen group of companies between 1986 and 1993; and what were the gross value of these contracts. [13401]

Sir John Wheeler: Between 1986 and 1993 the Northern Ireland Office, Northern Ireland Departments and their agencies have paid the Andersen group of companies £3,144,010. The number of contracts that this amount covers is not readily available and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Thornton Report

Dr. Hendron: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland (1) what factors underlie his Department's delay in responding to the Thornton report concerning the Casement Three, sent to his office on 11 June 1996; [13297]

(2) when he plans to respond to the Thornton report, concerning the Casement Three; [13298]

(3) what assessment he has made of the implications of the submission from Peter Thornton QC relating to the Casement Three; and if he will make a statement. [13299]

Sir John Wheeler: In June 1996, my right hon. and learned Friend the Secretary of State received representations from the Committee on the Administration of Justice arguing that the cases of Patrick Kane, Michael Timmons and Sean Kelly should be referred back to the Court of Appeal. The submission took the form of a lengthy legal opinion from Mr. Peter Thornton QC. Having obtained detailed advice on the complex legal issues raised, he is now considering the representations in depth and hopes to be able to make his conclusions known to the committee within the next few weeks.

Racially Motivated Incidents

Mr. Worthington: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many prosecutions there were for racially motivated incidents in each of the last five years in Northern Ireland. [13834]

Sir John Wheeler: The information requested is not available.

Minority Communities

Mr. Worthington: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many (a) individuals of (i) Chinese and (ii) Asian ethnicity and (b) members of the travelling community he estimates live in Northern Ireland. [13835]

Mr. Ancram: No official estimates have been made of the size of the Chinese and Asian communities in Northern Ireland. In 1996 the university of Ulster carried out research, commissioned by the Government's central community relations unit and the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency, which estimated between 3,125 and 5,125 members of the Chinese community, 1,050 members of the Indian community and 641 members of the Pakistani community.

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A Government survey in March 1993 estimated that there were 1,115 members of the Irish traveller community in Northern Ireland. The 1996 university of Ulster study gave an estimate of 1,366.

Mr. Worthington: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many cases of (a) assault, (b) damage to property and (c) verbal racial abuse towards members of ethnic minority communities were reported in 1996 in Norther Ireland. [13836]

Sir John Wheeler: Figures for 1996 are not yet available for publication.

Mr. Worthington: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many incidents assessed by the RUC to be racially motivated have been reported in each of the last five years. [13837]

Sir John Wheeler: Figures for the past five years are not available.

In 1995, without a legislation framework, the Royal Ulster Constabulary voluntarily undertook the monitoring of racial incidents among the ethnic minorities using the Association of Chief Police Officers guidelines for England and Wales.

A total of 66 racial incidents were reported to the police in 1995; the nature of the incident reported is shown:

Assault: 10
Damage to property: 27
Verbal abuse: 20
Intimidation (phone call): 1
Other: 8

It is felt that the number of incidents reported is less than the actual number that occurred. Through building a network of contacts with representative groups, and the provision of advice and support to victims, the RUC hopes to encourage victims to report every incident.

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