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Castlereagh Police Complex: Security
Lord Laird asked Her Majesty's Government:
- Further to the Written Answer by the Lord Privy Seal on 20 June (WA104-5) concerning security at Castlereagh police complex, whether there has been a review which resulted in a tightening of security at the complex since 17 March.[HL4947]
Crumlin Road Prison
Lord Laird asked Her Majesy's Government:
- What plans they have for the former HM Prison in the Crumlin Road in Belfast.[HL5089]
Lord Williams of Mostyn: The former HM Prison Belfast is now the responsibility of the devolved administration in Northern Ireland.
Northern Ireland: Paramilitary Activity
Lord Laird asked Her Majesty's Government:
- Whether they consider that an organisation which is developing terrorist weapons can be considered to be creating a threat against people and a serious risk to the health or safety of the public.[HL5125]
Lord Williams of Mostyn: The Prime Minister has made it abundantly clear there can be no halfway house on the road to peace. All paramilitary activity, including training and targeting, must stop, along with the decommissioning of all terrorist weapons.
North Belfast: Security Force Operation, 12 July
Lord Laird asked Her Majesty's Government:
- Whether they will list all the items which could cause damage to people and property which were captured by security forces in North Belfast on 12 July.[HL5329]
Lord Williams of Mostyn: During a security force operation in the Ardoyne area of North Belfast at 5.30 am on 12 July security forces recovered the following items from the roof of the Credit Union:
- 82 spikes;
- 4 petrol bombs in a crate;
- 50 beer bottles;
- approximately 100 bricks;
- 20 x 1 foot long pieces of angle iron bent like boomerangs;
- 2 sections of insulator pre-fab roofing 3- feet x 11 feet (No roofs in the vicinity are constructed with this material);
- an assortment of wooden posts 2 inch x 2 inch and 2 inch x 4 inch all between 4 feet and 6 feet long;
- 6 x - inch solid steel rods between 6 feet and 8 feet long with ends cut at an angle.
PSNI: Current Strength
Lord Kilclooney asked Her Majesty's Government:
- What is the strength of the Police Service of Northern Ireland, excluding the full-time reserve policemen; what was the figure recommended by the Patten report; and whether the present strength of the Police Service of Northern Ireland is adequate to provide efficient policing in Northern Ireland.[HL5356]
Lord Williams of Mostyn: The current number of regular officers in the Police Service of Northern Ireland is 6,879.
Patten Recommendation 105 states that "provided the peace process does not collapse and the security situation does not deteriorate significantly from the situation pertaining at present, the approximate size of the police service over the next 10 years should be 7,500 full time officers". Patten also recommended the disbandment of the full-time reserve, but currently there are over 2,000 FTR officers in the police service.
The Government are committed to ensuring the chief constable has all the resources he needs to maintain an efficient and effective police service in whatever environment pertains and will be guided by the chief constable's assessment of policing requirements.
The police service and the Policing Board are currently developing a human resource strategy which will ensure that the PSNI can make optimum use of all of the resources it has available.
British-Irish Intergovernmental Secretariat
Lord Laird asked Her Majesty's Government:
- What is the role of the British-Irish Intergovernmental Secretariat; and how much does it cost to run annually.[HL5383]
Lord Williams of Mostyn: The British-Irish Intergovernmental Secretariat supports the British-Irish Intergovernmental Conference established by the British-Irish Agreement and deals with non-devolved Northern Ireland matters. The expenditure of the secretariat is met by the two governments and the cost to the British Government in 2001–02 was £554K.
Cabinet Committee Meetings
Lord Patten asked Her Majesty's Government:
- Further to the Written Answer by the Lord Privy Seal on 10 July (WA 98), how the giving of information on the number and duration of Cabinet meetings fetters "the ability of Ministers to meet and discuss policy issues in private" or inhibits "effective decision making".[HL5457]
Lord Williams of Mostyn: Issues are discussed and agreed by Ministers in many different ways. If the occasion and duration of Cabinet and Cabinet committee meetings were known publicly, the likely speculation about what could be read into this information could inhibit the use of the full range of effective decision-making processes.
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