Previous Section Index Home Page

8 Mar 2007 : Column 2185W—continued

Firearms: Crime

Lady Hermon: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many incidences of gun-related crime there were in each police district command unit area in Northern Ireland in each of the past three years. [125066]


8 Mar 2007 : Column 2186W

Paul Goggins: The chief constable has provided the following table of offences recorded by the police in Northern Ireland over the last three years in which a firearm was involved. The term ‘firearm’ includes handguns, shotguns, rifles, imitation firearms, BB guns and air guns.

2004 2005 2006

Antrim

31

23

23

Ards

62

63

30

Armagh

16

18

18

Ballymena

20

16

10

Ballymoney

3

2

3

Banbridge

10

12

4

East Belfast

52

70

26

North Belfast

119

150

96

South Belfast

81

51

36

West Belfast

86

82

56

Carrickfergus

32

15

18

Castlereagh

48

25

25

Coleraine

31

30

16

Cookstown

7

5

10

Craigavon

68

78

40

Down

34

42

14

Dungannon and South Tyrone

11

20

8

Fermanagh

9

22

15

Foyle

40

40

40

Larne

19

15

6

Limavady

16

15

19

Lisburn

35

42

20

Magherafelt

6

5

5

Moyle

6

3

2

Newry and Mourne

40

41

34

Newtownabbey

67

64

40

North Down

41

53

29

Omagh

19

17

4

Strabane

23

19

19

Northern Ireland

1,032

1,038

666

Note:
The figures for 2006 are provisional and liable to revision.

Northern Ireland Policing Board: Tribunals

Lady Hermon: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how much was spent on fees paid to (a) the Crown Solicitor and (b) counsel for the Northern Ireland Policing Board in defending two applications to the Fair Employment Tribunal by Mr. Chris Ryder; and what estimate has been made of the additional costs likely to be incurred in referring this matter to the Court of Appeal. [125543]

Paul Goggins: I have been informed by the Northern Ireland Policing Board that to date the Crown Solicitor’s Office have not billed the Policing Board for any work undertaken in respect of these cases.

I have also been informed that the estimated cost of an appeal to the Court of Appeal is approximately £8,500. This includes Crown Solicitor’s costs and that of counsel.


8 Mar 2007 : Column 2187W

Police Service of Northern Ireland

Lady Hermon: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will list the occasions on which he has met the Police Service of Northern Ireland chief constable in each of the past three years. [123509]

Paul Goggins: Since his appointment on 6 May 2005, the Secretary of State has met the chief constable on 29 occasions as follows:

2005 2006 2007

January

1

1

February

2

1

March

1

April

1

May

2

2

June

1

2

July

2

0

August

1

1

September

2

1

October

1

1

November

2

0

December

2

2


Prisoners: Escapes

Lady Hermon: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many persons were (a) arrested on suspicion of, (b) charged with, (c) prosecuted for and (d) convicted of escaping from lawful custody in Northern Ireland in each of the last five years; and if he will make a statement. [124916]

Paul Goggins: The PSNI have advised that information is not collated in the precise format requested. Information relating to parts (a) and (b) cannot be broken down and is therefore provided as an amalgamated figure in the following table.

Arrests/charges Prosecutions Convictions

2002

26

24

15

2003

18

17

10

2004

12

11

3

2005

26

20

9

2006

49

5

2

2007

9


Sexual Offences

Lady Hermon: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many sexual assaults were recorded in each police district command unit area in Northern Ireland in each of the last five years; and what training and support was provided to police officers in Northern Ireland in dealing with such cases. [125039]

Paul Goggins: 'Sexual assault' is not a specific offence and therefore data under this heading is not recorded by PSNI. The following table details statistics relating to the number of all Recorded Sexual Offences by District Command Unit during the last five years.


8 Mar 2007 : Column 2188W
Sexual Offences( 1) recorded by District Command Unit for 2002 to 2006
District Command Unit 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006( 2)

East Belfast

54

55

106

95

74

North Belfast

69

112

151

94

106

South Belfast

112

149

165

138

157

West Belfast

58

45

75

48

59

Castlereagh

34

38

32

45

36

North Down

55

56

48

74

68

Ards

59

98

55

73

52

Carrickfergus

18

17

30

21

29

Lisburn

94

119

125

113

124

Newtownabbey

33

43

110

68

79

Antrim

31

32

32

39

66

Larne

32

33

34

21

28

Down

42

62

48

60

48

Armagh

16

30

29

43

40

Banbridge

31

40

40

29

31

Newry and Mourne

44

80

56

56

66

Cookstown

27

30

20

22

22

Dungannon and South Tyrone

34

33

39

31

41

Fermanagh

33

42

43

34

57

Omagh

47

47

41

52

58

Foyle

169

165

154

159

195

Limavady

33

34

31

38

38

Magherafelt

17

22

28

32

43

Strabane

32

37

41

36

41

Ballymena

54

75

61

75

68

Ballymoney

26

20

7

20

21

Coleraine

52

103

74

86

79

Moyle

11

12

15

19

16

Craigavon

62

77

57

78

82

Total

1,379

1,706

1,747

1,699

1,824

(1) Sexual offence statistics comprise the following offences—rape, attempted rape, unlawful carnal knowledge of a girl under 14 years, unlawful carnal knowledge of a girl over 14 years but under 17 years, indecent assaults (on female, female child, male and male child), indecency between males, indecent exposure, indecent conduct towards a child and other sexual offences. (2) Please note that figures for 2006 are provisional and are liable to revision. Source: Central Statistics Unit, PSNI

Next Section Index Home Page