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Coroner Inquiries

Mr. McNamara: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department for what reasons the coroner has not opened an inquest into the death of Sam Marshall in 1990. [121864]

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Mr. Lock: The holding and listing of inquests is a matter for judicial discretion of the coroner for the district in which a person has died. I understand that the coroner was in correspondence with the deceased's relatives' solicitor, Mrs. Rosemary Nelson, in relation to an inquest into Mr. Marshall's death. Mrs. Nelson was tragically killed on 15 March 1999. The coroner has only recently been contacted by the solicitor now representing the deceased's family and would intend to liaise with her in relation to the holding of an inquest.

Mr. McNamara: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department (1) how many politically motivated or violent deaths have been the subject of a coroner's inquiry in each of the past 15 years; what was the verdict in each such case; and how much time elapsed between death and completion of the coroner's inquiry in each case; [121865]

(2) in how many cases of (a) politically motivated and (b) violent death a coroner's inquiry had not opened a year after that death in the last 10 years; [121866]

(3) if he will set out, for the last 10 years, the number of (a) politically motivated and (b) violent deaths subject to a coroner's inquiry and the time taken to complete each stage of the inquiry process prior to a final verdict in respect of such deaths. [121867]

Mr. Lock: General statistics are available in relation to deaths in Northern Ireland. I am informed by the General Register Office for Northern Ireland that figures in relation to deaths registered in the last 15 years where the cause of death has been due to injury or poisoning (coded E800-E999) and homicide and injury inflicted by other persons (coded E960-E969) are available. These figures are detailed in the table. However, the specific information requested by my hon. Friend in relation to politically motivated deaths is not readily available and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.

Year	E800-E999	E960-E969
1998	569	36
1997	593	24
1996	598	40
1995	663	113
1994	688	100
1993	639	90
1992	581	75
1991	719	76
1990	699	69
1989	693	104
1988	834	108
1987	762	90
1986	730	54
1985	746	58
1984	739	82

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Tax Appeal Tribunals

Mr. Cotter: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department how many ex parte hearings at tax appeal tribunal level there have been in each of the last five years. [122721]

Jane Kennedy: Ex parte hearings are applications from the Inland Revenue for Consent to issue a notice requiring the production of documents or information. The application is made to a single commissioner of income tax, and is not considered to be a part of the appeals meeting. The number of these applications is not reported separately from the meeting statistics.

Mr. Cotter: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department how many tax appeal tribunals have been held in each year following the introduction of self-assessment [122722]

Jane Kennedy: Self-assessment was introduced with effect from 6 April 1996 and applied to returns for the 1996-97 tax year. The time limit for these returns to be set to the Inland Revenue was 1 January 1998. While information on the number of tax appeal tribunal hearings is not available, the number of appeals decided in 1998 by the General Commissioners of Income Tax are 95,073.

The cases heard by the Special Commissioners of Income Tax are 92.

Figures for 1999 will be available in July.

Mr. Cotter: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department how many tax appeal tribunals were held in each of the three years before the introduction of self-assessment. [122723]

Jane Kennedy: Self-assessment returns were introduced with effect from 6 April 1996, with the first returns being issued after 5 April 1997. The time limit for these returns to be sent to the Inland Revenue was 31 January 1998. While information on the number of tax appeal tribunal hearings is not available, the figures for decisions to 31 December in each year are:

	General commissioners of income tax	Special commissioners of income tax
1995	215,000	50
1996	241,472	84
1997	208,824	83

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