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28 Oct 2004 : Column 1352W—continued

Pain

Mrs. Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what estimate he has made of the cost of medically-related benefits in the Province in the last 12 months for which figures are available; and how much of that resulted from chronic pain. [193705]

Mr. Spellar: The cost of medically-related Social Security Benefits for the 12 months up to June 2004 is shown as follows:

	£ million
Disability living allowance	524
Incapacity benefit	321
Severe disablement allowance	42
Industrial injuries benefit	32
Attendance allowance (12 months up to March 2004)	174

A breakdown of how much resulted from chronic pain is not available.

Mrs. Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many pain sufferers in the Province are diagnosed with depression. [193706]

Angela Smith: This information is not collected centrally and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.

Mrs. Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what estimate he has made of the number of individuals in the Province who lost jobs on account of suffering pain in each of the last five years. [193707]

Mr. Gardiner: The Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment does not hold information on the number of individuals who lost jobs on account of suffering pain. However, latest figures from the summer 2004 Labour Force Survey estimate that there are 44,000 persons who are currently of working age that have left their last job for health reasons in the preceding eight years.

Paramilitary Terrorism

David Burnside: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what his assessment is of the present terrorist threat from (a) the PIRA, (b) Continuity IRA, (c) the Real IRA, (d) the INLA, (e) the UVF and (f) the UDA. [192258]

Mr. Pearson: The Government's view is that the ceasefire of the PIRA remains in place and there is no indication that it is actively considering a return to violence. Dissident Republicans continue to carry out attacks on security forces and the intimidation of members of District Policing Partnerships, but much of their activity has been nullified by good policing and
 
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intelligence led operations. The INLA's paramilitary activity is confined principally to 'civil administration'. Factionalised feuding within Loyalism has continued over recent months. The IMC will report shortly on the activities of all paramilitary organisations.

Pedestrian Deaths (Children)

Mrs. Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many child pedestrian deaths there were in the Province in each of the last 10 years. [192904]

Mr. Pearson: The information requested is as follows:

Year	Number of Child Pedestrian Deaths
1994	16
1995	9
1996	9
1997	6
1998	12
1999	10
2000	8
2001	3
2002	4
2003	7
Total:	84

Pharmacies

Mrs. Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland when he last reviewed the regulations for setting up pharmacies in Northern Ireland; and what the result was of that review. [188653]

Angela Smith: The regulations for setting up pharmacies in Northern Ireland were last reviewed in January 2003 in response to the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) Report on the control of entry regulations and retail pharmacy services in the United Kingdom. The then Minister, the hon. Member for Kilmarnock and Loudon announced on 26 March 2003 that he would not be accepting the OFT report for Northern Ireland, and the Secretary of State fully endorsed that decision. The Minister stated that simple and complete deregulation was not a realistic option and therefore not the way forward for Northern Ireland. He also made clear that Northern Ireland community pharmacy services would be developed within the context of a Community Pharmacy Strategy and a new pharmacy contract, which is currently under negotiation, and would include consideration of how the existing regulatory arrangements could be improved to take account of changing health policies.

Police Service of Northern Ireland

Mr. Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland (1) how many (a) Protestants, (b) Roman Catholics and (c) others have applied for posts and been assessed as being suitably qualified with the Police in Northern Ireland since the 50/50 recruitment rule was introduced; [191886]

(2) how many (a) Protestants, (b) Roman Catholics and (c) others have been successful in their applications to join the Police Service of Northern Ireland since the introduction of the 50/50 recruitment rule; [191887]
 
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(3) how many (a) Protestants, (b) Roman Catholics and (c) others have been unsuccessful in their applications to join the Police Service of Northern Ireland despite being assessed as suitably qualified since the introduction of the 50/50 recruitment rule. [191888]

Mr. Pearson: There have been six competitions for the post of PSNI Trainee Constable, in which the pool of suitably qualified candidates has been finalised. Appointments are still being made from these pools for competitions four, five and six. As a result the numbers contained in the table are continually changing.

For the purpose of PSNI recruitment, a candidate's community background is categorised as either non-Roman Catholic or Roman Catholic.

I am advised that the breakdown of candidates according to these categories, for the first six competitions as requested, is as follows:

	Non-Roman Catholic	Roman Catholic
Assessed as being suitably qualified	3,253	1,089
Successful in their applications	747	716
Unsuccessful despite being assessed as suitably qualified	1,944	92

In common with many organisations recruiting staff, PSNI has a finite number of posts that can be filled. Encouragingly, they continue to have a very high number of applications for each competition. In the latest competitions this has produced a surplus of suitably qualified candidates from both the Roman Catholic and non-Roman Catholic community background.

The majority of candidates that have failed to be appointed from the pool did so because of their assessment score rather than their community background; that is to say if 50/50 had not applied then those candidates would still have failed to be appointed.

We remain sympathetic to those candidates who have been directly discriminated against because of their community background. We are satisfied, however, that the temporary policy of equal recruitment has brought about a positive change and is justified as a means of rectifying an acute historical imbalance in the composition of the police service.

Prisons (Substance Abuse)

Lady Hermon: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what assessment he has made of the prevalence of (a) drug and (b) alcohol abuse in Northern Ireland's prisons. [191942]

Mr. Pearson: The drugs culture in prisons mirrors that in the community. Drugs misuse in prison involves cannabis, steroids and prescription drugs. There is a small amount of hard drug abuse but no evidence of a needle culture involving hard drugs. The Northern Ireland Prison Service operates a drug and alcohol strategy which addresses supply reduction, care and support for those with drug related problems, education, rehabilitation and throughcare. An extensive monthly monitoring system is operated in all establishments. Additional to this, detailed assessments
 
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are carried out by external independent consultants. The evaluation reports produced provide a clear insight into the nature and scope of drugs and alcohol misuse in each establishment and a solid foundation for influencing any changes necessary to strengthen the drugs and alcohol policy.

Although a significant percentage of prisoners have a dependency problem on committal to prison, illegal alcohol is not a problem for the Northern Ireland Prison Service.

Refrigerator Disposal

Lady Hermon: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what facilities are available in Northern Ireland for the disposal of refrigerators; and how many refrigerators were disposed of in Northern Ireland in each year since 2000. [191952]

Angela Smith: The Department of the Environment in Northern Ireland in conjunction with the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government in the Republic of Ireland facilitated an exercise which led to all Councils in Northern Ireland, and 33 of the 34 Councils in the Republic of Ireland, contracting with M Baker Recycling Limited for the management of waste domestic fridges and freezers. The refrigeration equipment is collected and transported to M Baker's facility in England to be demanufactured. The contract will run until August 2005, at which point responsibility for disposal transfers to the manufacturers. There are no facilities available in Northern Ireland that can dispose of whole refrigerators containing hazardous components including ozone depleting substances such as chlorofluorocarbons, hydrochloroflurocarbons and
 
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hydrochlorocarbons. However there is now one facility in Northern Ireland that is being commissioned to demanufacture refrigeration equipment.

Prior to the introduction of the Ozone Depleting Substances Regulations on the 1 January 2002, fridges could be disposed of to landfill. My Department is not aware of any refrigerators being disposed of in Northern Ireland since 2001.

My Department does not hold statistical information for the number of refrigerators disposed of in Northern Ireland for the years 2000 and 2001, nor comprehensive and readily accessible statistical information on the number of refrigerators transported to GB or elsewhere in Europe for disposal since 2001.

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