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Nursing Care

Mr. McGrady: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many people in nursing homes have been assessed for contributions towards their nursing care since October 2002. [100871]

Mr. Browne: Monitoring of assessments carried out by Health and Social Services Trusts indicates that, since October 2002, approximately 1,400 people in nursing homes have been assessed for contributions towards the costs of their nursing care.

Mr. McGrady: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what the average amount of money per week awarded to those who have been assessed for contributions towards nursing care has been since October 2002. [100873]

Mr. Browne: Since October 2002 nursing home residents who have been assessed as eligible to receive payments for nursing care have benefited from a Health and Personal Social Services contribution of £100 per week towards the cost of their nursing care.

Mr. McGrady: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what the average period of time has been from an assessment for nursing care contributions taking place until receipt of the first payment by the patient. [100874]

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Mr. Browne: The average period of time from an assessment for nursing care payments taking place until payment is received by the patient's nursing home is four weeks.

Mr. McGrady: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what the average length of time spent with a patient by medical staff has been when carrying out an assessment for a contribution to nursing care. [100875]

Mr. Browne: A nursing needs assessment is completed by a nurse. If any other needs are identified the appropriate professional will be asked to contribute to the assessment. Clients who agree to a nursing needs assessment undergo a specific assessment process using the agreed needs assessment tool. The average time spent by nursing needs assessors with a patient undergoing the assessment is 90 minutes. The assessment times can increase or decrease depending on the clients health and ability to participate, the information within nursing and medical notes, the representative/carers input to the assessment and the nursing home staffs evaluation of a clients needs. Further information may also be necessary in order to reach a decision.

Planning Appeals

Mr. Hume: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what proposals the Government have to

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introduce the right of third party appeals in the planning process in Northern Ireland; and if he will make a statement. [108173]

Angela Smith: There is no proposal, at present, to introduce third party appeals to the Northern Ireland planning process. When the Draft Planning (Amendment) (NI) Order 2003 was being considered by the House of Commons I indicated that I was commissioning a Regulatory Impact Assessment of the impact which third party appeals would have, if introduced. When complete, this will be published as part of a full consultation paper. Any decision to introduce third-party appeals in advance of that consultation would be premature.

Police Service

David Burnside: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will make a statement on the future awarding of the Royal Ulster Constabulary long service medal to members of the Police Service of Northern Ireland Reserve. [110790]

Jane Kennedy: The Royal Warrant for the Special Constabulary Long Service Medal is in the process of being revised to allow service in the Police Service of Northern Ireland Reserve to be aggregated with previous service in the Royal Ulster Constabulary Reserve for the purpose of eligibility for the award of the Medal.

Mr. Donaldson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many of the successful applicants in the recent competition for clerical posts with the Police Service of Northern Ireland were (a) Roman Catholic and (b) others; and how many of these successful applicants have been offered a post. [86960]

Jane Kennedy: In the latest competition for administrative assistants in the Police Service of Northern Ireland, which took place in May 2002, 264 candidates were found suitable for inclusion in the merit pool. Of these, 26 were classified as having a Roman Catholic community background, and 238 as having a non-Roman Catholic background. 52 were, therefore, appointable under current legislation, all of whom will be offered a post.

Mr. Hunter: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland whether it is his policy that past terrorist atrocities which have not resulted in charges or convictions should not be investigated by the Police Service of Northern Ireland. [102091]

Mr. Paul Murphy: No. Whether a criminal investigation is reopened by the PSNI is a matter for the Chief Constable. When there are calls for public inquiries into past incidents, the Government have to decide on a case by case basis the most appropriate course of action. In doing so the Government's priority is that those responsible should be convicted and that the whole truth should emerge. In many cases I believe that criminal investigations represent the best way of achieving this.

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Mr. Carmichael: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland (1) whether serving officers in the Garda Siochana will be subject to the 50:50 Catholic: non-Catholic recruitment quotas if they apply to join the Police Service of Northern Ireland under the proposed arrangements; [98558]

(2) whether serving officers in police forces in Great Britain are subject to the 50:50 Catholic: non-Catholic recruitment quotas if they apply to join the Police Service of Northern Ireland. [98559]

Jane Kennedy: The 50:50 recruitment arrangements apply only to police trainees. They do not apply to lateral entry at ranks above constable. Serving police officers in both the Garda Siochana and police services in Great Britain are therefore subject to the 50:50 arrangements if they apply to join the Police Service of Northern Ireland as police trainees. The proposed new arrangements provided for by clause 19 of the Police (Northern Ireland) Bill, to enable fixed term appointments of up to three years to the Police Service of Northern Ireland, will apply only to the ranks of sergeant to Chief Superintendent. The 50:50 recruitment arrangements will therefore not apply to appointments under this scheme.

Mr. Carmichael: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many persons who at the time of their application were serving as police officers in forces in Great Britain have applied to join the Police Service of Northern Ireland; and of these, how many have been appointed. [98560]

Jane Kennedy: Numbers of applicants and appointees to the Police Service of Northern Ireland who were formerly serving officers in GB are as follows:

PSNI post/rank applied for	Number of applicants from GB police forces	Number of appointees from GB police forces
Trainee constable	(16)Not known	17
Sergeant	15	7
Inspector	6	4
Chief Inspector	10	1
Assistant Chief Constable	1	0
Deputy Chief Constable	3	(17)1
Chief Constable	2	1

⁽¹⁶⁾ It is not possible to determine the numbers of serving officers from GB forces who have applied for trainee posts in the Police Service of Northern Ireland.

⁽¹⁷⁾ Appointment announced, to commence at the beginning of April 2003.

Mr. Carmichael: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many persons classified as (a) male Catholic, (b) male non-Catholic, (c) female Catholic and (d) female non-Catholic were admitted to, and graduated from, each training course run by the Police Service of Northern Ireland to date; and what the maximum number of recruits was that could be accommodated on each of these courses. [98561]

Jane Kennedy: The information requested is set out in the table. The maximum number of recruits that could be accommodated in the PSNI college is 48 and 60 alternating every 5 weeks, to a maximum of 540 students per year.

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		PSNI intakes					PSNI graduates
	Non RC		RC		Non RC		RC
Intake date	M	F	M	F	M	F	M	F
4 November 2001	17	6	16	8	17	6	14	8
9 December 2001	23	6	15	15	23	6	15	14
20 January 2002	14	10	20	4	14	10	19	4
24 February 2002	17	13	19	10	17	12	19	10
31 March 2002	15	9	13	10	15	9	13	10
5 May 2002	14	2	11	9	13	2	10	9
9 June 2002	11	14	18	8	11	14	18	8
14 July 2002	15	5	19	2	15	5	19	2
18 August 2002	11	18	22	6	11	17	22	5
22 September 2002	13	3	13	5	Still in training
27 October 2002	22	6	22	5	Still in training
1 December 2002	14	6	20	7	Still in training
12 January 2003	15	4	8	5	Still in training
16 February 2003	12	3	15	1	Still in training

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