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Lisburn-Antrim Railway Line

Mr. Donaldson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if a decision has been made about the future of the Lisburn to Antrim railway line. [91643]

Angela Smith: The future of rail services on the Lisburn to Antrim line has been uncertain since the Railways Task Force produced its report in September 2000. The Consolidation Option in this report included the mothballing of the Lisburn to Antrim line when the line from Antrim to Belfast via Bleach Green junction reopened. Subsequently the Northern Ireland Assembly, in its budget of December 2000, agreed to provide funding for railways on the basis of the Consolidation Option. Since taking office I have been giving careful consideration to the future services on this line. On the basis of the data available the case for the continuance of regular services on this line is not compelling. I am awaiting receipt of a further economic appraisal on an option for the line. It is my intention to make a written statement on this matter in the near future. Clearly, that statement will be informed by the additional economic appraisal and made against the backdrop of competing transportation priorities in Northern Ireland.

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Luigi Marotta

Andrew Mackinlay: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what factors were taken into consideration before granting the compassionate leave from prison to Luigi Marotta. [90309]

Jane Kennedy: The Northern Ireland Prison Service had concerns about the likelihood of Marotta absconding and had initially refused temporary release. Following judicial review and directions by the court to reconsider this decision in the light of the recent implementation of human rights leglisation, the decision was reversed. Prior to release a sum of £150k was required to be lodged as surety by Marotta's solicitors.

Andrew Mackinlay: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland who authorised the compassionate leave from prison of Luigi Marotta. [90310]

Jane Kennedy: The authorisation was given by the Operations Directorate of the Northern Ireland Prison Service.

Andrew Mackinlay: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will make a statement on the prospect of obtaining the extradition of Luigi Marotta from Paris. [90311]

Mr. Paul Murphy: It is not Government policy to comment on whether an individual is being sought for fear of hampering any investigation

MLAs

Mr. Beggs: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what research facilities for MLAs are available at Parliament Buildings, Stormont. [89437]

Mr. Paul Murphy: There are currently no research facilities available for MLAs at Parliament Buildings, Stormont. The Office Costs allowance, which continues to be paid to MLAs, is to help fund constituency offices including research assistance.

I have received representations regarding the provision of the research facilities at Parliament Buildings which I am currently considering.

Police Ombudsman

Mr. Beggs: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many complaints have been received by the Police Ombudsman's office since its inception; how many complaints have been (a) processed and (b) upheld; how many PSNI officers have been suspended; what is the average length of suspension from duty of PSNI officers during investigation by the Ombudsman; and how many reports arising from complaints received and processed by the Ombudsman have been passed to the Director of Public Prosecution. [86457]

Jane Kennedy: The Police Ombudsman has advised me that the number of complaints received since the inception of the office to the end of November 2002 is 7,362. The number of complaints processed and closed ¹ is 6,106 and 1,256 complaints are current. The Police Ombudsman has passed 211 cases to the Director of Public Prosecutions. The Chief Constable, who has responsibility for the suspension of any police officers,

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has advised me that 11 officers have been suspended as a result of investigations by the Police Ombudsman. The average length of suspension during investigation by the Police Ombudsman is 21.6 weeks.

¹ Complaints are closed under categories listed by Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Constabularies and "upheld" is not a category listed

Pre-school Places

Mrs. Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will provide funding for all pre-school places proposed, through the PEAGS scheme, by the South Eastern Education and Library Board for the year 2003–04. [90620]

Jane Kennedy: The Department of Education has received proposals for the funding of pre-school places in 2003–04 from each education and library board's Pre-school Education Advisory Group (PEAG), and all will be considered in the context of identified needs and available financial resources. In particular, consideration of proposals for places in the voluntary sector must take into account the anticipated decline in the size of the pre-school age group in 2003–04. The Department is currently working on financial allocations to the Boards for 2003–04 and these will be notified to them shortly.

Prisoners

Andrew Mackinlay: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what assessment he has made about the likelihood of a prisoner absconding prior to granting compassionate leave from prison; and if he will make a statement. [90307]

Jane Kennedy: An assessment is made in all cases of temporary release of the risk a prisoner poses of absconding. This takes account of all relevant issues including previous criminal history, the length of time served, the police view, behaviour in prison and any assessments carried out by professional staff.

PSNI

Andrew Mackinlay: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what proposals he has to maintain a band and music tradition in the Police Service of Northern Ireland. [90308]

Jane Kennedy: The Police Service of Northern Ireland has indicated its intention to stand down the current Police band on 31 March 2003. The Chief Constable has no proposals to maintain a full-time formal band and music tradition beyond this date.

An invitation has however been extended to the present band members asking them to consider forming an association where they would come together on a voluntary basis, both to rehearse and carry out engagements. The PSNI has made it clear that it would support the officers if they wished to form a voluntary association perhaps by making available the current instruments, other equipment and some financial support.

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Student Religion

Mr. Beggs: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what the religious breakdown is of students studying at (a) Queen's University Belfast and (b) the University of Ulster. [90020]

Jane Kennedy: The latest information available relates to the 2001–02 academic year. Religion is only recorded for NI domiciled students at the NI Higher Education institutions and the breakdown of religion for the University of Ulster and Queen's University Belfast is shown in the table:

NI domiciled students enrolled on courses at Northern Ireland Higher Education institutions by religion 2001–02⁽¹⁴⁾

Institution	The Queen's University of Belfast	University of Ulster	Total
Protestant	4,715	5,797	10,512
Catholic	6,113	8,628	14,741
Other	1,084	602	1,686
Not known/available	5,634	2,585	8,219
Total	17,546	17,612	35,158

⁽¹⁴⁾ 2001–02 data is provisional

Source:

HESA dataset

HEALTH

Number of Trainee Doctors

Mr. Hurst: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many students in the United Kingdom were training as doctors in (a) 1972, (b) 1982, (c) 1992 and (d) 2001. [84657]

Mr. Hutton: In autumn 2002, the United Kingdom medical school intake was 6,740, an increase of over 1,675 than in autumn 1997. This is an increase of 33 per cent, between 1997 and 2002. Intake is planned to be over 7,050 next autumn, the highest figure ever which would be an increase of 39.5 per cent, over 1997.

We do not have data relating to the total number of students in medical schools, training to qualify as doctors. We are able to provide the actual UK intake to medical schools, per academic year, for the years in question. This information is shown in the table:

Academic year	UK intake
1972–73	(15)3,123
1982–83	4,154
1992–93	4,449
2001–02	6,115

⁽¹⁵⁾ In 1972–73, the figure is for Great Britain only. It excludes Northern Ireland.

Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what proportion of amublance staff retired early due to ill health in the latest year for which figures are available. [85768]

Mr. Hutton: The information requested is not collected centrally, but may be available from individual National Health Service ambulance trusts.

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The number of staff who have taken a retirement pension since the establishment of ambulance trusts, is 1,645, to November 2002. The number of ambulance staff in service at September 2001 was 16,920.

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