§ Mr. McNamaraTo ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland further to his answer of 24 January 2000,Official Report, column 6W, on street signs, what is his assessment of the community relations impact of the erection of bilingual street signs in (a) Irish and (b) Ulster Scots; how he will monitor the rise or fall of opposition 783W and support for bilingual signs (i) internally within each tradition and (ii) between different traditions; how many bilingual signs have been erected and if any have subsequently been removed; and if he will issue guidelines to ensure that instances of criminal damage that have a sectarian or racist element are recorded as a distinct category. [111944]
§ Mr. George Howarth[holding answer 2 March 2000]: Current research, funded by the Office of the First and Deputy First Minister, will assess the demand for, and attitude towards, the use of Irish in the provision of services, including bilingual signage. Consideration is being given to commissioning similar research on Ulster-Scots. Otherwise, there has been no separate assessment made of the community relations impact of the erection of bilingual street signs.
As the erection of street nameplates is a function of district councils in Northern Ireland, information on the number of bilingual signs erected and on whether any have subsequently been removed, is not readily available and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost. Currently, information recorded by the Royal Ulster Constabulary on the motivation of a crime can only be obtained manually. It is intended to introduce, during 2001, an Integrated Crime Information System which will permit the central recording of crime motivation, where this can be determined. The system is presently being designed to record the motive of any crime, be it racial, sectarian, domestic or other designated motive, in line with the Association of Chief Police Officers' guidelines.