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Public Bodies (Fees)

Mr. Matthew Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland which fees his Department, its agencies and associated public bodies collect; how much has been raised and will be raised from each of these fees from 1989-90 to 2004-05; and which of these fees count as negative expenditure. [107978]

Mr. Ingram: I refer the hon. Gentleman to the answer I gave him on 2 February 2000, Official Report, columns 624-25W.

Politically Motivated Offences

Mr. Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many politically motivated offences have been committed by (a) Republican and (b) Loyalist groups since Good Friday 1999; if he will break the numbers down into categories of offences; and if he will make a statement. [109555]

Mr. Ingram: The following table shows the number of security related offences recorded since 2 April 1999. It is not possible to answer the question with the detail

29 Feb 2000 : Column: 203W

requested because of the difficulty in distinguishing between a security related and a non security related offence ¹ .

	By
	Loyalist	Republican	Total
Deaths	3	3	6
Shooting incidents	n/a	n/a	(12)90
Bombing incidents	n/a	n/a	(12)61
Casualties as a result of Paramilitary style attacks
Shootings	37	16	53
Assaults	59	26	85

(11) A bank robbery is a criminal offence and will be recorded as such but may be carried out with criminal or paramilitary motivation.

(12) Attribution for these incidents is assessed by the police, and cannot be guaranteed. A single recorded shooting incident may lead to more than one casualty.

Departmental Contracts

Mr. Willis: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what is the number and value of contracts let by his Department since May 1997 to external consultants and advisers for the management of competitive tendering processes. [109452]

Mr. Ingram [holding answer 10 February 2000]: Since May 1997 10 contracts have been let by this Department to external consultants and advisers for the management of competitive tendering processes. The total value of these contracts was £1,411,104.03.

Terrorist Activity

Mr. Paterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many people from Northern Ireland have been forced into exile by terrorist activity since the Good Friday Agreement. [110055]

Mr. Ingram [holding answer 14 February 2000]: There are no figures available which may indicate the number of persons who may have been forced to leave the Province.

CCTV (Portadown)

Mr. McNamara: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what arrangements there are for monitoring the CCTV system in Portadown Town Centre; what regulations will safeguard exposed film for evidential purposes; and what target will be set for average police call-out and response time. [110653]

Mr. Ingram: The Portadown CCTV system is currently monitored by staff based at Craigavon police station. They are in direct communication with Portadown police control room who deploy resources to incidents as considered appropriate. Strict procedures are in place to ensure the safeguard of video tapes for evidential purposes including secure storage and cataloguing, complying with guidelines set out in the CCTV Code of conduct. There are no set targets for police call-out and response times as each incident requires to be carefully assessed and the most appropriate response determined within available resources.

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Departmental Staff

Mr. Cox: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many senior civil servants from an ethnic minority background are employed in his Department; and how many of them are (a) men and (b) women. [110684]

Mr. Ingram: The Northern Ireland Civil Service (NICS) is in the process, for the first time, of introducing monitoring of ethnic origin. Consequently, ethnic origin data will not be available until later this year. Home Civil Servants (HCS) employed in the Northern Ireland Office are already subject to monitoring, but none at Senior Civil Service level are from an ethnic minority background.

Police Reform

Mr. McNamara: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what percentage of (a) women and (b) Catholics are involved in work at a senior policy level on police reform within the (i) Northern Ireland Office, (ii) Police Authority and (iii) RUC. [110846]

Mr. Ingram: The percentage of women involved in work on policing reform at a senior policy level in the RUC is nil, in the Police Authority for Northern Ireland it is 30 per cent. and in the Northern Ireland Office it is 27 per cent. Percentages cover a very small number of individuals. Senior officials are included in PANI and NIO percentages as appropriate, though it is Authority members and Ministers respectively who take policy decisions.

There are strict requirements governing the confidentiality and proper use of community background monitoring data. The provision of community background data at the level asked for would breach those requirements.

Peat Compost

Mr. Paul Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what steps he is taking to phase out the use of peat compost in gardens (a) owned and (b) tended by his Department; and if he will make a statement. [110721]

Mr. Ingram: No peat or products containing peat are used in gardens owned or tended by my Department, except for recycled peat, such as spent mushroom compost, or peat needed for ericaceous planting where specifically indigenous to the habitat.

Northern Ireland (Location of Victims' Remains)

Act 1999

Mr. William Ross: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what costs have been incurred through action under the Northern Ireland (Location of Victims' Remains) Act 1999 to date; how many bodies have been recovered to date in (a) Northern Ireland, (b) in the Irish Republic and (c) elsewhere; and if he will provide a breakdown of these costs under the principal headings used in accounting for this expenditure. [110902]

Mr. Ingram: Following implementation of the Northern Ireland (Location of Victims' Remains) Act 1999, the cost to the UK for the operation of the independent Commission for the location of victims remains amounts to £3,104.13 to date.

29 Feb 2000 : Column: 205W

The remains of three individuals have been recovered: Eamon Molloy in Dundalk on 28 May and Brian McKinney and John McClory on 29 June at Colgagh, County Monaghan.

A breakdown of costs is as follows:

Transport--£530.13

Fees--£2,338.00

Other--£236.00

Total--£3,104.13.

Civil Service Entrants

Mr. Robert McCartney: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many candidates who entered the 1999 Civil Service grade 7 competition were (a) male Protestants, (b) female Protestants, (c) male Roman Catholics and (d) female Roman Catholics; and how many in each of the above categories were successful at stage 1. [111084]

Mr. Ingram: A competition for promotion to Administrative Grade 7 in the Northern Ireland Civil Service (NICS) was launched in September 1999. The competition is a two stage exercise with candidates deemed eligible at the end of Stage 1 to compete in individual departmental competitions for promotion to Grade 7. A total of 437 candidates participated in Stage 1 of the competition and of these 131 were deemed eligible to participate in stage two departmental competitions. The gender/community background of those candidates who entered the 1999 competition and those who were successful at stage 1 is as follows:

	Protestant	Roman Catholic	Not Determined	Total
Candidates who entered the Stage 1 Competition
Male	194	100	16	310
Female	61	57	9	127
Total	255	157	25	437
Candidates who were successful at Stage 1
Male	55	26	2	83
Female	21	22	5	48
Total	76	48	7	131

Research Contracts

Dr. Harris: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, pursuant to his answer of 10 January 2000, Official Report, column 32W, if he will place a copy of the standard research contract in use by his Department in the Library. [111673]

Mr. Ingram [holding answer 28 February 2000]: This Department does not use a standard research contract.

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