HC Deb 03 November 1998 vol 318 cc487-8W
Mr. McNamara

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, pursuant to her answer of 27 November 1997,Official Report, column 630, what were the staffing levels of the RUC in September 1998 (i) in total, and (ii) broken down (a) by gender, (b) by perceived religious/community origin and (c) by numbers and percentages of full-time, reserve full-time, and reserve part-time staff. [56387]

Mr. Ingram

The table sets out the information requested as at 1 September 1998.

Rank
RUC FTR PTR Total
CBI
Male 6,644 2,343 782 9,769
Female 846 217 407 1,470
Total 7,490 2,560 1,189 11,239
CB2
Male 625 177 30 832
Female 82 27 33 142
Total 707 204 63 974
CB3
Male 268 156 11 435
Female 8 9 5 22
Total 276 165 16 457
Sub total
Male 7,537 2,676 823 11,036
Female 936 253 445 1,634
Total 8,473 2,929 1,268 12,670
Percentage CB1 88.40 87.40 93.77 88.71
Percentage CB2 8.34 6.96 4.97 7.69
Percentage female 11.05 8.64 35.09 12.90

Note

CB1—Perceived to be from Protestant community

CB2—Perceived to be from the Roman Catholic community

CB3—Other

Mr. McNamara

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many(a) serving and (b) former members of the Royal Ulster Constabulary held personal protection firearms on 10 April; how many new weapons have been issued since then; and how many weapons have been handed in. [56293]

Mr. Ingram

Figures detailing how many serving and former members of the Royal Ulster Constabulary held firearms for personal protection are not available for 10 April 1998, and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost. However, on 26 October 1998, 12,699 handguns (which are available for personal protection) were on official issue to serving members of the Royal Ulster Constabulary and 619 were on loan to former members.

Since 10 April a total of 189 handguns have been issued to serving Royal Ulster Constabulary members and 306 have been returned.