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Judicial Oversight Commissioner

Lady Hermon: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will make a statement on progress made in appointing a judicial oversight commissioner for Northern Ireland. [116370]

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Mr. Browne: Interviews for the post of Criminal Justice Oversight Commissioner for Northern Ireland have been conducted. Once an appointment has been made, the Government will make an announcement.

National Minimum Wage

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what the estimated cost is in 2003–04 to his Department, agencies and the non-departmental public bodies for which he is responsible of the increase in the national minimum wage from £4.20 per hour to £4.50 per hour. [110437]

Mr. Paul Murphy: The increase in the national minimum wage will not result in any additional costs to the pay bill of the Northern Ireland Office or the 11 departments within the Northern Ireland Administration as all staff are already earning in excess of £4.50 per hour.

Northern Ireland Act

Mrs. Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how much each Government Department of the Northern Ireland Assembly has spent on consultations arising from section 75 of the Northern Ireland Act 1998 since 1999. [116044]

Mr. Browne: It is not possible to accurately identify the costs of consultations arising from section 75 as such consultations are frequently undertaken as part of the general policy consultation process.

Police Service of Northern Ireland

Mr. McNamara: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what independent evaluation has been made of PSNI training procedures; what criteria has been used to judge their effectiveness; and what plans are in place for future evaluation. [114145]

Jane Kennedy: Occupational Psychologists and the University of Ulster evaluate the training process for student officers. A range of organisations are engaged to evaluate programme delivery, for example, the Police Skills and Standards Organisation, Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission, Mediation Northern Ireland, Her Majesty's Inspector of Training and the Learning Advisory Council. All of the above organisations are engaged on an ongoing basis.

Since the launch of the Student Officer Programme in November 2001, two external evaluations have been conducted. The Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission reviewed the Human Rights elements whilst Mediation Network looked at the police/community relationships module.

Independent evaluation of 'Course for All' is currently being procured.

In addition, Her Majesty's Inspector of Constabulary has evaluated training as part of the UK wide Diversity Review.

The PSNI has recently invited a number of organisations with a statutory interest in police training to meet and discuss how future evaluation can be co-ordinated and managed.

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Mr. McNamara: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many applications were received for the new position of civilian director of training for the PSNI; how many applicants were interviewed and what the breakdown by perceived community of origin and gender; what equal opportunities monitoring procedures were undertaken as part of the recruitment process; and if he will place a copy of the job specification in the Library. [114146]

Jane Kennedy: 42 applications were received for the position of civilian director of training. 16 applicants attended the first interview stage, and six attended the second. The breakdown at the second stage interview was four male, two female/two Catholic, four non-Catholic.

The equal opportunities monitoring was carried out by the PSNF's Equal Opportunities Unit.

A copy of the job specification has been placed in the Library.

Mr. McNamara: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many external tutors and organisations are involved in the training of PSNI recruits and staff: what his estimate is of expenditure in this financial year; and if he will place the list of names and organisations in the Library. [114150]

Jane Kennedy: Approximately 91 external tutors and organisations are employed by the PSNI. Spend for the current financial year at 19 May is £114,250.

Not all external tutors and organisations would wish their details to be in the public domain and, therefore, the PSNI does not propose to provide a list for the Library.

Mr. McNamara: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many tutors involved in the training of PSNI recruits and staff have been (a) suspended and (b) removed from their posts in the last two years. [114151]

Jane Kennedy: One tutor has been temporarily transferred pending the outcome of a disciplinary investigation.

Mr. McNamara: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what measures have been taken to submit PSNI training procedures to public consultation. [114152]

Jane Kennedy: The PSNI's training procedures result from the Service's Training, Education and Development Programme. The TED Programme was approved by the Northern Ireland Policing Board in March 2002.

During the Formulation of the TED Programme a number of organisations representing a broad spectrum of society were consulted.

There was also public consultation before the launch in November 2001 of the Student Officer training programme. The University of Ulster managed the public consultation for the PSNI and the University has established a Learning Advisory Council which will continue to gather public comment.

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Mr. McNamara: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what measures have been taken to ensure that community awareness training is developed and integrated into all aspects of PSNI training. [114153]

Jane Kennedy: Measures are currently being developed to ensure that community awareness training is developed and integrated into all aspects of PSNI training. The Service is working with Mediation Northern Ireland in this area.

Attention was focused on community awareness in the designing of the Student Officer Programme.

The core themes of the Training, Education and Development Strategy, approved by the Northern Ireland Policing Board in April 2002, were diversity, equality and community policing.

The recent report of the Oversight Commissioner indicated that the PSNI had achieved administrative compliance with the relevant Patten recommendation (139).

The Policing Board is to review progress in this area toward the end of the year.

President Bush (Visit)

Mr. Dodds: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what the total costs associated with the recent visit of President Bush to Hillsborough, County Down were. [113450]

Mr. Paul Murphy: The costs associated with President Bush's visit to Northern Ireland, which included visits by the Prime Minister and the Taoiseach, were borne by a number of agencies and met from within their existing operating budgets. Information on the costs relating to this visit is not held centrally and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.

Public Service Agreement

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland (a) how many and (b) what grades of officials are responsible for the monitoring of progress towards the public service agreement targets of the Department. [109469]

Mr. Paul Murphy: The Northern Ireland Office has four Public Service Agreement targets, the delivery of which is the responsibility of Directors at SCS level. Monitoring is carried out by three Grade As, one Grade Bl and one Grade B2, as part of their normal duties.

As from 1 April 2003, progress reports are available on the web site www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/performance/nio.cfm. Within the Northern Ireland Administration progress towards the targets is monitored by officials as part of their work. The information requested on the precise staff numbers and grades is not readily available and could be obtainable only at disproportionate cost.

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what steps the Department has taken to publicise its Public Service Agreement targets; and at what cost to public funds. [114446]

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Mr. Paul Murphy: The Public Service Agreement targets for the 11 Departments of the Northern Ireland administration were published in 'Building on Progress—Priorities and Plans 2003–2006'. A copy of this document was placed in the House of Commons Library on 11 December 2002. This document is also available on the Programme for Government web-site (www.pfgni.gov.uk). The cost of printing the document amounted to £6,837.

The Public Service Agreement targets for the Northern Ireland Office were published in the PSA White Paper Command 5571 and were placed on the HMT website. The Department also made them available on the NIO website. Reporting on the performance on the targets is made available to the public via the Treasury website www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/performance/nio.cfm, the Autumn Performance Report and as part of the information contained in the NIO Departmental Report.

The web-based publication of the PSA target forms a small section in each of these comprehensive sources of information, and can be viewed at no cost to public funds.

The cost of printing the Departmental Report amounted to £5,130.00.

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