§ Mr. McNamaraTo ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, pursuant to his answer of 30 January 2001,Official Report, column 135W, on terrorism, what his estimate is of (a) the cost of creating statistics on numbers of individuals who have been notified they are at risk as a result of personal files or information discovered in the possession of paramilitaries and (b) the cost of counting the files maintained at RUC headquarters. [154638]
§ Mr. IngramThe manual records used by the Royal Ulster Constabulary are held on an individual basis so as to ensure that appropriate action is taken in respect of each person who comes under threat. To date there has not been a statistical need to collate this information in a single database. The information requested is therefore not readily available and to undertake a specific scoping study to evaluate the need and cost of setting up such a database would incur a disproportionate cost.