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30 Jun 2003 : Column 91W—continued

Community Sports

Lady Hermon: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what assessment he has made of the impact of community sports on the peace process in Northern Ireland; and if he will make a statement. [121924]

Angela Smith: No specific assessment has been made of the impact of community sports on the peace process in Northern Ireland. Rather, assessments are primarily based on how sport in general contributes to the Programme for Government and the Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure's (DCAL) Corporate Strategy. To this end annual targets are set for increasing recorded levels of active participation in sporting activities and increasing the level of satisfaction with sports provision in Northern Ireland.

Congestion Charging

Lady Hermon: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what plans he has to introduce congestion charging in Northern Ireland. [120901]

30 Jun 2003 : Column 92W

Mr. Spellar: The Chief Executive of the Roads Service has written in response to the hon. Lady's Question. A copy of the letter has been placed in the Library.

Early Release Scheme

Mrs. Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many (a) individuals convicted of murder and (b) others have been released as a result of the 1998 Belfast Agreement early release scheme. [121317]

Jane Kennedy: To date (25 June 2003), 447 individuals have been released early under the Good Friday Agreement. Of these 151 were convicted of murder and 296 were convicted of murder and 296 were convicted of other scheduled offences.

Mrs. Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many prisoners released early through the 1998 Belfast Agreement early release scheme have subsequently been convicted of further offences. [121318]

Jane Kennedy: Details are held only in relation to those early release prisoners who come to the attention of the police while they are still under licence. At 25 June 2003, 16 of the 447 individuals granted early release under the terms of the Northern Ireland (Sentences) Act 1998 have been convicted of further offences while on licence.

Education and Library Board Computer System

Mr. Beggs: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will make a statement on the services available through the PPI managed Education and Library Board computer system; and why files greater than 1.44 Mb cannot be accessed through this system. [120943]

Angela Smith: In answering this question I am assuming that you are referring to the People's Network Service provided by the Electronic Libraries Programme in Northern Ireland through the Private Finance Initiative.

This service provides free broadband public access to the internet from all public library sites in Northern Ireland. There is no restriction on the size of file that can be accessed through the system. However, in order to ensure the quality of access to these resources is maintained irrespective of location, it has been necessary is to limit the size of files which can be downloaded from the internet to 1.44 Mb. This was chosen because it is equal to the maximum capacity available on a floppy disc. The Electronic Libraries Programme is presently in the implementation phase and the current file download size of 1.44 Mb will be reviewed at the end of implementation, and at regular intervals throughout the term of the contract.

Electoral Identity Card

Mr. Peter Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many electoral identity cards have been issued; how many applications for electoral identity cards have been received which are being processed; and how many applications have been rejected. [121082]

30 Jun 2003 : Column 93W

Mr. Spellar: As at 20 June 2003, 77,571 electoral identity cards have been issued and 85,993 applications had been recorded to that date. The total number of rejections dealt with to 24 June 2003 was 16,033. This figure includes applications rejected more than once which are not recorded separately.

Fishing

Mr. Donaldson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many game fishing licences were issued by (a) the Foyle Fisheries Commission and Loughs Agency and (b) the Fisheries Conservancy Board for Northern Ireland in each of the last five years, broken down by (i) daily and (ii) weekly licences issued; and how many endorsements were issued for (A) the Foyle Fisheries Commission and Loughs Agency licences and (B) the Fisheries Conservancy Board area. [121419]

Mr. Pearson: In the five-year period 1998 to 2002 the types of game licence available from the Fisheries Conservancy Board and the numbers issued are as follows:

Fisheries Conservancy Board

Licence type	2002	2001	2000	1999	1998
Game season	9,002	7,598	9,688	10,212	10,788
Game 8-day	456	473	577	611	578
Game 1-day	1,387	1,337	1,243	1,019	1,101
Disabled season	914	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a
Foyle endorsement	73	64	77	84	80

Loughs Agency

The number of game fishing licences issued by the Loughs Agency, and its predecessor the Foyle Fisheries Commission (FFC), in each of the last five years are as follows.

30 Jun 2003 : Column 94W

	Licences
1998	7,081
1999	6,672
2000	6,220
2001	6,257
2002	7,564

The figures for (i) daily and (ii) weekly licences issued by the Loughs Agency and its predecessor, and the number of endorsements issued, are detailed as follows:

	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002
Daily	1,710	1,690	1,653	1,748	2,303
Weekly	0	0	0	0	0
Endorsements	950	951	829	781	1,027

Mr. Donaldson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many (a) salmon, (b) grilse and (c) sea trout passed upstream through the trap on the River Bush at Bushmills in each month in each of the last five years and to the end of May. [121420]

Mr. Pearson: Data on the total number of salmon (salmon and grilse) which passed upstream through the trap at Bushmills in each month in each of the last five years is given in the following table.

Data that distinguishes salmon that have spent more than one winter at sea from grilse is not collated on a monthly basis.

Sea trout are only occasionally noted in the trap, amounting to only one or two per year. This data is not included in the table.

	January	February	March	April	May	June	July	August	September	October	November	December	Total
1998	0	1	10	36	22	684	1078	788	211	121	56	0	3007
1999	0	1	11	27	41	142	269	89	358	97	46	0	1081
2000	0	0	0	9	34	96	87	199	364	111	11	50	961
2001	0	0	0	5	0	14	168	612	324	473	75	0	1671
2002	0	0	0	0	17	57	290	417	143	268	391	1	1584
2003	0	0	0	0	23	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—

Mr. Donaldson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many salmon smolts he estimates were naturally produced by salmon and grilse in the River Bush and passed to the sea in each of the last five years; how many hatchery-produced smolts passed to the sea in each of those years; by what means each of these classes of smolts were marked; and what his estimate is of the (a) number and (b) percentage of returning adult fish from (i) naturally produced smolts and (ii) hatchery-produced smolts. [121421]

Mr. Pearson: The number of wild smolts (naturally produced) emigrating to sea and the number of hatchery reared smolts released to sea in each of the last five years is shown in the following table.

Wild smolts and hatchery reared smolts

	Wild smolt run	Hatchery released smolts
1998	14,819	33,289
1999	11,921	31,643
2000	16,451	66,550
2001	14,853	75,812
2002	11,603	41,278

The number of wild and hatchery reared fish returning to the river in each of the last five years is shown in the following table together with the return rates of these groups to the river. The return rate for hatchery origin smolts is given separately for fish released as one year old and two year old smolts.

30 Jun 2003 : Column 95W

Wild and hatchery reared fish returning to the river

	Number of adult return from wild smolts	Percentage of adult return rate from wild smolts	Number of adult return from hatchery smolts	Percentage of adult return rate from one year old hatchery smolts	Percentage of adult return rate from two year old hatchery smolts
1998	2,995	14.5	328	—	2.8
1999	977	4.9	267	0.7	2.1
2000	950	7.3	377	0.7	1.9
2001	913	4.8	939	0.9	1.8
2002	835	5.4	886	0.4	1.3

All hatchery reared smolts are marked, either by clipping the adipose fin or with an internal coded wire tag and the adipose fin clipped.

The majority of wild smolts are released to sea, following counting, without marking.

Mr. Donaldson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many permits to fish for migrating fish in each of the stretches of the River Bush under the control of his Department were issued in each month in each of the last five years and to the end of May 2003; how many fish were (a) caught, (b) killed and (c) released; and what sums have been received in respect of such permits in each month. [121423]

Mr. Pearson: Data on salmon catches on each of the three premier stretches on the River Bush in each of the last five years and on day ticket sales are shown in the following tables:

	Salmon catch			Day ticket sales
1998	New stretch	Town stretch	Leap stretch	New stretch	Town stretch	Leap stretch
March	0	4	0	9	44	0
April	1	8	2	12	53	29
May	2	1	0	26	38	26
June	14	24	11	35	38	48
July	37	108	46	56	103	140
August	1	40	28	5	67	114
September	1	2	1	8	15	48
October	0	8	0	1	18	15

	Salmon catch			Day ticket sales
1999	New stretch	Town stretch	Leap stretch	New stretch	Town stretch	Leap stretch
March	0	3	0	11	67	2
April	1	1	0	15	58	23
May	0	3	0	10	30	22
June	5	10	5	32	39	22
July	17	43	6	L51	83	49
August	1	1	2	7	34	16
September	0	42	3	11	59	34
October	2	24	0	7	31	5

	Salmon catch			Day ticket sales
2000	New stretch	Town stretch	Leap stretch	New stretch	Town stretch	Leap stretch
March	0	0	0	3	39	0
April	0	3	0	9	47	4
May	1	1	0	11	32	1
June	12	19	0	31	48	8
July	4	9	3	29	28	10
August	5	7	0	32	32	7
September	0	33	4	11	47	12
October	1	10	10	2	16	14

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	Salmon catch			Day ticket sales
2001	New stretch	Town stretch	Leap stretch	New stretch	Town stretch	Leap stretch
March	0	0	0	0	3	0
April	0	0	0	0	0	0
May	0	0	0	0	0	0
June	11	15	0	24	20	0
July	20	47	7	45	58	8
August	1	44	14	20	64	40
September	2	2	1	8	36	13
October	0	8	2	6	31	16

	Salmon catch			Day ticket sales
2002	New stretch	Town stretch	Leap stretch	New stretch	Town stretch	Leap stretch
March	0	0	0	7	7	0
April	0	1	0	4	11	2
May	0	1	0	8	20	8
June	3	13	0	21	41	2
July	14	23	3	49	76	11
August	1	5	0	27	46	15
September	1	6	1	9	23	3
October	2	7	2	10	30	21

	Salmon catch			Day ticket sales
2003	New stretch	Town stretch	Leap stretch	New stretch	Town stretch	Leap stretch
March	0	0	0	0	0	0
April	0	0	0	0	0	0
May	0	0	0	0	0	0
June	—	—	—	—	—	—
July	—	—	—	—	—	—
August	—	—	—	—	—	—
September	—	—	—	—	—	—
October	—	—	—	—	—	—

Catch and release was introduced in the 2002 and 2003 fishing seasons for the period 1 March to 31 May inclusive. The Department has no record of the numbers of fish caught and released outside this period in 2002 or in earlier years.

Revenue from the sale of permits is collated on an annual rather than a monthly basis and is tabulated as follows:

£

	Revenue
1998	20,858
1999	17,071
2000	11,659
2001	11,323
2002	11,991

30 Jun 2003 : Column 97W

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