§ Mr. AltonTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) when the last transfer to Northern Ireland of a prisoner was carried out; how many prisoners who
Number of offences of homicide in which firearms were reported to have been used 1985—1992 Cleveland Durham Northumbria England and Wales Year Shotgun Other firearm Shotgun Other firearm Shotgun Other firearm Shotgun Other firearm 1985 — — 1 — 2 — 29 16 1986 — — 1 — — — 37 14 1987 — — 1 — 1 1 43 34 1988 — — — — — — 27 9 1989 — — — — 1 — 26 19 1990 — — — 1 1 1 33 27 1991 — 1 — 1 — 1 32 23 1992 2 — — 1 2 1 25 31 No information is available centrally on whether firearms used in offences are licensed or not. Figures for 1993 are not yet available.
412Whave applied for transfer are still waiting for a reply to their request; and for what reasons these prisoners are still waiting for a reply;
(2) how many prisoners have applied for transfer to prisons in Northern Ireland since 23 November 1992;
(3) how many prisoners have applied for transfer since 23 November 1992 following the findings of the inter-departmental review; how many prisoners were transferred to Northern Ireland while the review was being undertaken; and how many prisoners have been transferred to Northern Ireland since the release of the inter-departmental review.
§ Mr. Peter LloydAn interdepartmental review of the transfer of prisoners between United Kingdom jurisdictions was announced to Parliament on 4 June 1991. The recommendations of the review were accepted and reported to Parliament on 23 November 1992.
During this period 35 prisoners were transferred to Northern Ireland. Since the announcement of the outcome of the review 65 prisoners have applied for transfer to Northern Ireland; 11 prisoners, including some who applied for transfer before the conclusion of the review, have been transferred to Northern Ireland. The last such transfer took place on 20 January. Fifty-eight requests by prisoners to transfer to Northern Ireland remain to be determined.
Two prisoners temporarily transferred to Northern Ireland challenged the basis of their transfer by application for judicial review. These applications were dismissed by the High Court in Belfast at the end of last year. It has been necessary to give further consideration to the legal implications of these challenges before determining the outstanding requests. We expect to make decisions on these cases shortly.