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Departmental Payroll

Mr. Todd: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if she will list each of the functions relating to the payroll for which her Department is responsible, indicating the management systems purchased, all sub-contractors involved in the work, co-operative arrangements with other Departments and the costs of the systems and processes in the last year for which figures are available. [10745]

Mr. Paul Murphy: For the Northern Ireland Office and Northern Ireland Departments, the available information is as follows:

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The Department of Finance and Personnel provides a centralised non-industrial payroll service to NI Departments and NI civil servants employed by the NIO. For 1996-97, the total cost of the systems and processes, including the costs of the personnel section in each NI Department, was £2,303,202.

The Department of Education for Northern Ireland operates a teachers' payroll system which pays salaries to teachers in most schools and colleges on behalf of their employing authorities. Costs for 1996-97 were £886,612.

The Department of the Environment (NI) operates a payroll system for weekly paid industrial staff. Costs for 1996-97 were £1,774,713.

The Department of Agriculture (NI) operates a payroll system for weekly paid industrial staff. Costs for 1996-97 were £439,721.

The Northern Ireland Office has a contract with Chessington Computer Services Ltd,. for the provision of a payroll service for the home civil service staff. The terms of the contract are commercial in confidence.

Absent Voting Papers

Mr. Robert McCartney: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if she will list the (a) number and (b) percentage of absent voting papers issued in (i) each parliamentary constituency for the 1996 forum election and (ii) the 1997 general election; and what steps she is taking to reduce electoral fraud. [10272]

Mr. Paul Murphy [holding answer 29 July 1997]: I have viewed with concern allegations that there is a significant level of electoral fraud in Northern Ireland. I will study the results of the chief electoral officer's investigations into postal vote applications with interest.

	Parliamentary general election 1 May 1997		Northern Ireland elections 30 May 1996
Constituency	Total number of postal ballot papers issued	As a percentage of total constituency electorate	Number of postal ballot papers issued	As a percentage of total constituency electorate
Belfast East	748	1.21	635	1.02
Belfast North	656	1.01	566	0.87
Belfast South	694	1.09	621	0.97
Belfast West	687	1.11	458	0.75
East Antrim	559	0.95	575	0.99
East Londonderry	1,750	2.97	1,517	2.59
Fermanagh and South Tyrone	4,927	7.61	4,336	6.81
Foyle	1,102	1.62	1,081	1.62
Lagan Valley	1,231	1.73	1,065	1.52
Mid Ulster	3,609	6.11	2,676	4.64
North Antrim	1,260	1.74	1,105	1.54
North Down	812	1.30	713	1.14
Newry and Armagh	3,021	4.27	2,174	3.11
South Antrim	654	0.94	698	1.01
South Down	2,447	3.50	2,115	3.06
Strangford	1,057	1.51	872	1.26
Upper Bann	1,561	2.21	1,546	2.21
West Tyrone	3,062	5.24	1,913	3.34
Total	29,844	2.53	24,666	2.12

Mr. McCartney: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if she will list the different reasons, by number and percentage, for which absent voting papers were issued in each (a) parliamentary constituency and (b) council area in the 1997 general elections; and if she will make a statement on her policy in relation to

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discrepancies between Northern Ireland electoral laws and rules and those pertaining to the rest of the United Kingdom. [10122]

Mr. Murphy [holding answer 30 July 1997]: Regulations specifying the grounds upon which absent voting papers may be issued for a both parliamentary and local government elections are set in statute. In both cases, the chief electoral officer shall grant an application if he is satisfied that the applicant's circumstances on the date of the poll will, or are likely to be such, that he cannot reasonably be expected to vote in person. There may be almost as many circumstances which qualify as there are applications, and so it would be impossible to list them all here.

I do not consider that there are discrepancies between Northern Ireland's electoral laws and rules and those pertaining to the rest of the United Kingdom. There are clearly differences, but no more than are necessary to facilitate the different circumstances in Northern Ireland, not least of which is a system of single transferable vote proportional representation for local government and European parliamentary elections.

Electors

Mr. Robert McCartney: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many electors in each constituency are registered from addresses outside the United Kingdom; and if she will list the top five countries where such electors reside, indicating the numbers involved. [10313]

Mr. Paul Murphy [holding answer 29 July 1997]: In accordance with regulation 34 of the Representation of the People (Northern Ireland) Regulations 1986, the chief electoral officer for Northern Ireland publishes each year a list of overseas electors which gives details of the elector's name, the constituency in which they are registered and their declared present address.

Overseas electors--1997 Register of electors

Constituency	Number of electors
Belfast East	5
Belfast North	8
Belfast South	5
Belfast West	3
East Antrim	3
East Londonderry	2
Fermanagh and South Tyrone	10
Foyle	5
Lagan Valley	3
Mid-Ulster	5
Newry & Armagh	5
North Antrim	7
North Down	13
South Antrim	2
South Down	5
Strangford	7
Upper Bann	4
West Tyrone	5
Total	97

The top five in the league table of countries where registered Northern Ireland overseas electors reside accounts for 60 per cent. of the total number of overseas electors.

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Country of residence	Number of electors registered
United States of America	17
Belgium	13
France	7
Republic of South Africa	5
Canada	4
Australia	4
Spain	4
Germany	4

Electoral Reform Committee

Mr. Robert McCartney: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if she will ask the chief electoral officer to give evidence to the Electoral Reform Committee of the Northern Ireland Forum for Peace and Dialogue. [10314]

Mr. Paul Murphy [holding answer 29 July 1997]: The chief electoral officer is an independent office whose duties are clearly established by statute.

It would not be appropriate for me to ask the chief electoral officer to do anything without those duties. I am aware, however, that the chief electoral officer has made clear that he is always prepared to see elected representatives at his office to discuss those matters within his area of responsibility.

Arable Area Payments

Mr. Tipping: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many payments were made under the arable area payments scheme in 1996 of (a) £0 to £1,000, (b) £1,000 to £2,000, (c) £2,000 to £3,000, (d) £3,000 to £4,000, (e) £4,000 to £5,000, (f) £5,000 to £10,000, (g) £10,000 to £20,000, (h) £20,000 to £50,000 and (i) over £50,000. [11315]

Mr. Paul Murphy [holding answer 30 July 1997]: The number of payments made in 1996 under the arable area payments scheme were (a) 1,172 from £0 to £1,000, (b) 878 from £1,000 to £2,000, (c) 424 from £2,000 to £3,000, (d) 348 from £3,000 to £4,000, (e) 347 from £4,000 to £5,000, (f) 67 from £5,000 to £10,000, (g) 87 from £10,000 to £20,000, (h) 46 from £20,000 to £50,000 (i) three over £50,000.

European Parliament Elections

Mr. Robert McCartney: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if she will make a statement on the implications for Northern Ireland of the Government's plans to introduce a list system of proportional representation for European Parliament elections. [10474]

Mr. Paul Murphy: My officials will be considering whether it would be in Northern Ireland's best interests to be included in any British system of PR for European parliamentary elections, or whether Northern Ireland should retain its existing model of PR or something similar. The overriding criterion will be what is best for Northern Ireland. I would be interested to receive the views of the Northern Ireland parties on this matter.

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