HC Deb 24 July 1987 vol 120 cc632-7W
Mr. McNamara

asked the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland whether the security statistics for the second half of 1986 are now available, together with details of persons charged with terrorist-type activities and convictions for scheduled offences for the year.

Mr. Stanley

[pursuant to his reply, 20 July 1987]: Yes. The statistics together with those since 1971 are as follows:

Statistics on Security

Part I—Statistics of Terrorist Activity.

Yearly totals for 1971–1986.

Statistics for terrorist activity comprise the following:

  1. (i) Number of shooting incidents.
  2. (ii) Number of explosions.
  3. (iii) Number of bombs and devices neutralised.
  4. (iv) Weight of explosives in bombs and devices neutralised.
  5. (v) Number of armed robberies and amount stolen.
  6. (vi) Number of malicious fires.
  7. (vii) Number of deaths and injuries of RUC/ RUCR', Army and civilians.

Part II—Statistics of Security Forces' Activity.

Yearly totals for 1971–1986.

Statistics for security forces' activity comprise the following:

  1. (i) Number of houses searched.
  2. (ii) Number of weapons, pounds of explosives and rounds of ammunition found.
  3. (iii) Number of people charged with terrorist type offences (murder, attempted murder, explosives offences, firearms offences, armed robbery and other offences relating to the security situation, e.g. arson, membership of illegal organisation etc.)

Part III—Statistics of Persons Convicted of Scheduled Offences.

Six-monthly total for July-December 1986.

Statistics on security
Part I—Statistics of terrorist activity
Yearly figures: 1971 to 1978
1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978
Shooting incidents1 1,756 10,628 5,018 3,206 1,803 1,908 1,081 755
Explosions 1,022 1,382 978 685 399 766 366 455
Bombs neutralised 493 471 542 428 236 426 169 178
Weight of explosives in lbs2
Explosions 10,972 47,462 47,472 46,435 13,753 17,596 2,839 5,343
Neutralised 3,001 19,978 32,450 27,094 11,159 16,252 2,188 5,860.5
Armed robberies 437 1,931 1,215 1,231 1,201 813 591 442
Amount stolen £303,787 £790,687 £612,015 £572,951 £572,105 £545,497 £446,988 £232,650
Malicious tires3 4 — — 587 636 248 453 432 269
Deaths
Civilian 115 322 171 166 216 245 69 50
Army/UDR 48 129 66 35 20 29 29 21
RUC/RUC'R' 11 17 13 15 11 23 14 10
Injuries:
Civilian 1,838 3,813 1,812 1,680 2,044 2,162 1,027 548
Army/UDR 390 578 548 483 167 264 188 135
RUC/RUC'R' 315 485 291 235 263 303 183 302

Yearly figures 1979–1986
1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986
Shooting incidents1 728 642 815 (327) 382 (165) 290 (134) 230 (104) 196 (41) 285 (107
Explosions 422 280 398 219 266 193 148 172
Bombs neutralised 142 120 131 113 101 55 67 82
Weight of explosives in lbs2 11,181 9,059 9,261 11,199 6,923 8,545 11,711 11,309
Explosions neutralised 4,530 6,405 9,168 7,300 7,503 6,114 7,715 9,463
Armed robberies 434 412 587 580 622 627 459 724
Amount stolen 568,359 496,825 854,929 1,392,202 830,258 701,903 655,690 1,207,152
Malicious fires3 4 315 275 536 499 528 840 740 906
Deaths:
Civilian 51 50 57 57 44 36 25 37
Army/UDR 48 16 23 28 15 19 6 12
RUC/RUC 'R' 14 9 21 12 18 9 23 12
Injuries:
Civilian 557 530 878 328 280 513 468 773
Army/UDR 153 77 140 98 88 86 33 55
RUC/RUC 'R' 165 194 332 99 142 267 415 622
1 Figures in ( ) refer to shots heard only and not included in the total.
2 Estimated weight only.
3 No figure for April-June 1981.
4 Consolidated figures not available for earlier years.

Statistics on security
Part II—Statistics of security forces' activity
Yearly figures 1971–86
1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978
Houses searched1 17,262 36,617 74,556 71,914 30,092 34,939 20,724 15,462
Finds
Firearms 717 1,264 1,595 1,260 825 837 590 400
Ammunition (rds) 157,944 183,410 187,399 147,202 73,604 70,306 52,091 43,512
Explosives 2,748 41,488 38,418 26,120 11,565 21,714 3,809 2,108

Persons charged with terrorist type offences2
31 July–31 December 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978
Murder 13 71 77 138 120 131 60
Attempted murder 16 85 76 88 121 135 79
Firearms offences 242 631 545 460 353 301 225
Explosives offences 86 236 161 100 215 146 79
Theft act 111 186 239 314 188 203 151
Other 63 205 276 97 279 392 249
TOTAL 531 1,414 1,374 1,197 1,276 1,308 843
1 Includes occupied and unoccupied houses searched.
2 These figures are not available in consolidated form for earlier years.

Yearly figures 1979–86
1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986
Houses searched1 6,452 4,106 4,104 4,045 1,497 1,282 812 1,273
Finds
Firearms 301 203 409 317 200 197 238 215
Ammunition 46,280 28,078 47,127 41,452 32,451 17,211 13,748 29,061
Explosives 1,996 1,810 7,536 5,066 3,762 8,534 7,373 5,386
Persons charged with terrorist type offences2
Murder 45 63 48 50 75 41 24 12
Attempted murder 39 59 72 96 60 68 52 28
Firearms offences 177 112 155 173 150 155 105 128
Explosives offences 40 39 39 41 48 21 37 31
Theft act 159 128 158 130 119 94 65 70
Other 210 149 446 196 161 149 239 386
Total 670 550 918 686 613 528 522 655
1 Includes occupied and unoccupied houses searched.
2 These figures are not available in consolidated form for earlier years.

Statistics on security (Part III)—July-December 1986

Notes on the tables:

(1) The offence classifications are based on those used by the Crown and Peace Office in their annual return.

(2) The tables relate to persons convicted at the Belfast Crown Court. This covers all scheduled offences tried on indictment.

(3) Some jury trials are included in cases where the Attorney General certified out of the scheduled mode of trial, ie non-terrrorist serious offences.

(4) Where a person had been convicted of more than one offence only the most serious or that which received the longest sentence is recorded in the statistics.

Convictions for Scheduled Offences—1 July-31 December 1986
Offence Number convicted Non-Custodial sentence Young Offenders Centre Training Schools Less than 5 years 5 years and less than 7 years 7 years and less than 10 years 10 years and less than 15 years 15 years and less than 20 years 20 years and over Life
Murder 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 5
Attempted Murder 2 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0
Conspiracy to Murder 6 0 0 0 0 2 4 0 0 0
Manslaughter 7 0 2 0 1 4 0 0 0 0
Wounding with intent to do grievous bodily harm 18 4 6 6 2 0 0 0 0 0
Causing grievous bodily harm 6 0 0 6 0 0 0 0 0 0
Assault occasioning grievous bodily harm 4 2 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0
Causing Explosion 2 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0
Possessing explosives with intent 12 4 0 1 0 1 5 0 1 0
Other explosives offences 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0
Possessing a firearm with intent 23 7 1 6 3 1 5 0 0 0
Possessing a firearm 7 4 1 2 0 0 0 0 0 0
Carrying a firearm with intent 2 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Other major firearms offences 3 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Offence Number convicted Non-Custodial sentence Young Offenders Centre Training Schools Less than 5 years 5 years and less than 7 years 7 year and less than 10 years 10 years and less than 15 years 15 years and less than 20 years 20 years and over Life
Robbery 65 22 9 28 4 0 2 0 0 0
Unlawful collection of information 2 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0
Kidnapping and false imprisonment 7 1 0 5 1 0 0 0 0 0
Hijacking 14 7 3 4 0 0 0 0 0 0
Arson 27 4 10 12 1 0 0 0 0 0
Petrol bomb offences 30 9 12 9 0 0 0 0 0 0
Criminal damage 3 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Assisting offenders 2 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0
Intimidation 2 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Withholding information 5 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Common Law riot 2 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Total 257 79 48 83 14 9 17 1 1 5

Note: Where a person has been convicted of more than one offence only the most serious or that which received the longest sentence is recorded in the statistics.

Rev. Martin Smyth

asked the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what arrangements exist for the training of teachers in respect of meeting special educational needs in Northern Ireland; how many teachers in Northern Ireland are currently qualified to teach children with special educational needs; and what changes he plans in this provision.

Dr. Mawhinney

[pursuant to his reply, 23 July 1987]: All courses of initial teacher training include tuition on the identification and handling of pupils with learning difficulties. In addition specialist training for teachers wishing to concentrate in this field is available by means of the Department's in service training support scheme. There are no plans for change in current provision but the Department of Education will continue to build on its programme of in service training to ensure the Province's needs continue to be met.

School transport School milk and meals1
Year Cash £000's Real terms £000's Index Cash £000's Real terms £000's Index
1978–79 6,192 12,037 100 15,641 30,406 100
1979–80 7,843 13,043 108 18,176 30,226 99
1980–81 10,438 14,640 122 16,974 23,808 78
1981–82 11,418 14,584 121 16,210 20,704 68
1982–83 12,479 14,856 123 17,828 21,223 70
1983–84 13,146 14,989 125 20,072 22,886 75
1984–85 13,758 15,034 125 20,828 22,760 75
1985–86 15,240 15,700 130 22,949 23,642 78
1986–87 15,477 15,477 129 23,841 23,841 78
1 Expenditure figures for school milk and meals are not recorded separately.