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7 Jun 2006 : Column 683W—continued

Dangerous Wild Animals

Mr. Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what representations his Department has received regarding the possible introduction of a dangerous wild animals Act in the last three years. [55155]

David Cairns: The Department of the Environment has no record of any representation relating to dangerous wild animals in the last three years.

7 Jun 2006 : Column 684W

Departmental Staff

David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what the guidelines are for filling vacancies in (a) each Department in Northern Ireland and (b) the Northern Ireland Office while a grievance procedure relating to the filling of the same vacancy is ongoing. [74478]

Mr. Hanson: The filling of specific vacancies is generally carried out through the “Trawl” procedure whereby individuals apply for posts against specified criteria. If an individual is short listed out they have 10 days to appeal. Once the appeal decision has been made the competition can proceed.

There is no distinction on the operation of “Trawls” between Northern Ireland Civil Service Departments and the Northern Ireland Office.

David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many staff in (a) each Department and (b) the Northern Ireland Office did not achieve an acceptable mark in their annual report in each of the last three years; and what percentage this represented of the total number of staff in each case. [75084]

Mr. Hanson: The information below shows the number of staff, by Department, awarded a box 4 or box 5 in 2003-04 and 2004-05. Information on box markings for 2005-06 will not be available until after December 2006.

Figures for Departments which have less than five box 4/5 markings have not been included on the basis of confidentiality.

2003-04( 1)
Department	Number of box 4/5	Total box marks	Percentage of box 4/5
DARD	7	3,182	0.2
DFP	8	2,712	0.3
DOE	6	1,853	0.3
DSD	35	7,311	0.5
NIO	13	1,647	0.8
Total	90	23,743	0.4
(1) NICS data based on the 92 per cent. of box markings on the database at December 2004. NIO data based on the 91 per cent. of box markings on the database at May 2005. Note: OFREG and HSENI excluded from DETI.

2004-05( 1)
Department	Number of box 4/5	Total box marks	Percentage of box 4/5
DARD	15	3,136	0.5
DFP	16	2,772	0.6
DOE	8	2,045	0.4
DRD	11	2,758	0.4
DSD	35	7,454	0.5
NIO	14	1,706	0.8
Total	105	24,294	0.4
(1) NICS data based on the 92 per cent. of box markings on the database at December 2005. NIO data based on the 92 per cent. of box markings on the database at April 2006. Note: OFREG and HSENI excluded from DETI.

7 Jun 2006 : Column 685W

Dogs

Mr. Peter Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many dog attacks on people have been reported in each of the last five years in Northern Ireland, broken down by local authority. [52989]

David Cairns: The number of reported dog attacks on people in Northern Ireland, broken down by councils, for the last available five year period 2000 to 2004 is detailed in Table 1.

Table 1: Dog attacks on people in Northern Ireland
	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004
Antrim	15	17	16	18	25
Ards	6	17	20	26	34
Armagh	26	31	37	25	46
Ballymena	8	18	40	21	16
Ballymoney	6	1	9	9	10
Banbridge	28	16	23	12	22
Belfast	121	126	96	97	98
Carrick	19	21	11	18	12
Castlereagh	31	35	17	28	22
Coleraine	35	45	52	39	42
Cookstown	3	2	3	7	5
Craigavon	9	5	8	15	24
Derry	80	109	133	86	117
Down	14	39	48	57	57
Dungannon	25	13	22	13	10
Fermanagh	29	20	27	26	30
Larne	9	0	6	2	0
Limavady	19	33	26	20	19
Lisburn	85	30	40	40	54
Magherafelt	3	4	2	7	4
Moyle	9	8	3	10	5
Newry	23	16	22	15	13
Newtownabbey	59	42	39	31	52
North Down	64	48	24	40	52
Omagh	12	13	2	8	14
Strabane	3	21	6	27	—
Grand total	741	730	732	697	783
Source: Annual Statistics: All Councils

Mr. Peter Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many dogs have been destroyed under an order in Northern Ireland in each of the last 10 years. [53002]

David Cairns: The number of dogs destroyed under the Dogs (Northern Ireland) Order 1983 for each of the last full years from 1999 to 2004 is detailed in the table. Figures are not available for years before 1999.

Dogs destroyed in Northern Ireland( 1)
	Total number of dogs destroyed
1999	6,965
2000	5,882
2001	4,664
2002	4,534
2003	4,132
2004	3,371
(1 )Annual statistics: all councils.

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