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25 Mar 2003 : Column 155W—continued

Prisons (Vandalism)

Miss McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the cost was of vandalism of prison property committed by juvenile offenders in (a) 1997, (b) 2000 and (c) 2002. [104347]

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Hilary Benn: The information sought is not available centrally and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.

Terrorism

Mr. Wiggin: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what steps the Government is taking to protect the general public from biological and chemical threats, with particular reference to smallpox. [102345]

Mr. Blunkett: I refer the hon. Member to the written ministerial statements I made on 3 March 2003, Official Report, column 72WS and 20 March 2003, Official Report, column 51WS.

Up-to-date information on the threat and preparedness is also published on the Home Office website at www.homeoffice.gov.uk/terrorism.

Thai Nationals

Mr. Simon: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many Thai nationals, married to UK citizens, have applied for leave to remain in the UK in each of the last 12 months. [103916]

Beverley Hughes: The latest available statistics are given in the following table.

The information relates to grants of leave to remain on the basis of marriage to a British citizen in each month in 2001. Data for 2002 will be published later this year.

Information on the number of applications lodged or the number of such applications which have been refused are not currently available.

Nationals of Thailand granted leave to remain⁽¹¹⁾ on the basis of marriage to a British citizen, by month, 2001

	Number
January	30
February	30
March	30
April	40
May	30
June	30
July	30
August	50
September	45
October	55
November	35
December	20
Total	420

⁽¹¹⁾ Excludes the outcome of appeals.

Note:

Data rounded to the nearest five; because of this sum of constituent items may not agree with the total as shown.

Youth Offending Teams

Alistair Burt: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will incorporate the Commission for Health Improvement into the new inspection regime for youth offending teams. [103847]

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Hilary Benn : I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for East Worthing and Shoreham (Tim Loughton) on 7 March 2003, Official Report, column 1276W.

NORTHERN IRELAND

Border Security

Mr. Dodds: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what plans there are to increase security in the Border areas of Northern Ireland through (a) watchtowers and (b) troop deployments. [103250]

Jane Kennedy: The Government are committed to seeing all aspects of the Belfast Agreement fully implemented including normalisation. Security is kept under review and the response adjusted to reflect the current assessment.

Enniskillen Massacre

Mr. Beggs: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what the present status is of the investigation into the 1987 Enniskillen massacre; and what assessment he has made of whether the Police Service of Northern Ireland has the necessary resources to pursue this investigation to a successful conclusion. [103415]

Jane Kennedy: The Enniskillen Bomb investigation has been the subject of a recent internal review within the PSNI conducted by a senior detective. The results of the review are currently being considered by the ACC North Region, Sam Kinkaid. The Chief Constable is committed to providing adequate resources in the investigation of the Enniskillen bomb so that the perpetrators of this atrocity are finally brought to justice.

Police Numbers

Mr. Dodds: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many (a) full time and (b) part time police officers there were for North Belfast for each year since 1996. [103245]

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Jane Kennedy: The following table shows the number of police officers serving in North Belfast for each year since 1996. CID Officers came under the control of respective District Commanders upon the establishment of District Command Units in 2001 therefore they are shown in addition to operational police officers.

	Regular	F/T reserves	P/T reserves
1996	343	154	139
1997	346	139	128
1998	355	147	121
1999	353	145	119
2000	336	128	108
2001	361 (+33 CID)	130	104
2002	323 (+26 CID)	109	100
2003	324 (+29 CID)	85	91

Public Disorder

Mr. Dodds: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many people in Northern Ireland have been convicted of riotous behaviour where CCTV evidence has been used in each year since 2000. [103256]

Jane Kennedy: The research required to provide a full answer to this question represents a disproportionate cost when account is taken of convictions secured using town centre cameras, etc.

The hon. Member may be interested to know that since the PSNI CCTV network in north Belfast became operational last year, 98 people have been convicted of various public disorder offences, including riotous behaviour, using CCTV footage as evidence.

Mr. Dodds: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many people have been charged with (a) scheduled offences and (b) non-scheduled offences arising out of public disorder in Northern Ireland in each year since 1996. [103257]

Jane Kennedy: While the police collate a range of information on arrests and charges related to the security situation, they do not distinguish between those that are of a public disorder nature and those that are not except for the most serious of offences. The following table provides details of the number of persons charged for terrorist and serious public order offences since 1996 to the end of January 2003.

Persons charged with terrorist and serious public order offences*1996 to January 2003

	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003
Murder	9	24	13	3	8	7	0	0
Attempted murder	2	26	8	6	15	0	19	0
Firearms offences	56	55	49	65	54	47	51	6
Explosives offences	1	9	13	12	14	15	8	0
Armed robbery	28	32	35	28	16	18	35	7
Other	499	259	338	182	189	170	116	9
Total	595	405	456	296	296	257	229	22

* Includes only the most serious offence with which a person is charged.

Notes:

1. 'Other' includes hijacking, petrol bomb offences, membership, arson, riot, withholding information etc.

2. Includes 'terrorist type' or 'serious public order related' charges where there is no direct link with security situation and which cannot be classified as 'Loyalist' or 'Republican'.

3. Information beyond January 2003 is not yet available.

25 Mar 2003 : Column 159W

Terrorism

Mr. Dodds: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many (a) shootings, (b) bombings and (c) other terrorist related incidents have occurred in (i) Belfast and (ii) the rest of Northern Ireland in each year since 1998. [103249]

Jane Kennedy: The tables below provide details of the number of shootings, bombings and other terrorist related incidents in Belfast and the rest of Northern Ireland since 1998.

Security Situation Statistics 1 January 1998 to 28 February 2003Number of deaths as a result of the security situation

	Belfast area	Rest of Northern Ireland
1998	11	55
1999	1	7
2000	9	18
2001	4	17
2002	4	13
2003 (to 28 February)	3	3
Total	32	113

Note:

Includes all deaths due to the security situation

Number of shooting incidents

	Belfast Area	Rest of Northern Ireland
1998	90	211
1999	52	125
2000	139	302
2001	185	355
2002	169	350
2003 (to 28 February)	21	53
Total	656	1,396

Note:

The following types of incidents are included:

Shots fired by terrorists

Shots fired by the security forces

Paramilitary style attacks involving shootings

Shots fired (and later confirmed)

Other violent incidents where shots are fired (e.g. armed robbery)

Number of Bombing Incidents

	Belfast area	Rest of Northern Ireland
1998	16	127
1999	20	82
2000	22	117
2001	171	349
2002	120	188
2003 (to 28 February)	14	22
Total	363	885

Note:

An individual bombing incident may involve one or more explosive devices. Incidents recorded include explosions and defusings. Incidents involving hoax devices, petrol bombings or incendiaries are excluded.

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Casualties as a result of paramilitary style shootings

	Belfast area		Rest of NorthernIreland
	By Loyalist	By Republican	By Loyalist	By Republican
1998	20	34	34	38
1999	24	13	47	26
2000	42	28	86	50
2001	54	47	121	65
2002	43	35	117	56
2003 (to 28 February)	11	6	22	11
Total	194	163	427	246

Casualties as a result of paramilitary style assaults

	Belfast area		Rest of NorthernIreland
	By Loyalist	By Republican	By Loyalist	By Republican
1998	26	21	89	55
1999	13	17	90	44
2000	20	25	78	54
2001	16	19	93	53
2002	20	25	89	50
2003 (to 28 February)	1	1	11	2
Total	96	108	450	258

Note:

Belfast Area includes those PSNI Stations covered by Belfast East, Belfast West, Belfast North and Belfast South District Command Units.

Statistics are provisional and are subject to minor amendment.

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