§ Mr. DonaldsonTo ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many vacancies exist at present for the post of Chief Inspector in the Police Service of Northern Ireland. [84138]
§ Jane KennedyCurrently, the Police Service of Northern Ireland has sufficient officers in the rank of Chief Inspector to cover existing vacancies.
§ Mr. DoddsTo ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland (1) how many officers have been recruited to the PSNI under the 50:50 rule since its introduction; and how many have been recruited in each recruitment phase; [85686]
(2) how many police recruits from (a) the Roman Catholic population and (b) others have been recruited to the PSNI since its formation. [86444]
§ Jane KennedyAs at 6 December 2002, 581 recruits, of whom 297 have declared themselves to be Catholic, and 284 non-Catholic, have been appointed to the PSNI. 305 appointments were made from Competition 1 and to date there have been 192 appointments from Competition 2 and 84 appointments from Competition 3. Further appointments from Competitions 2 and 3 have yet to be made.
While every effort is made to balance the total appointments from each competition on a 50:50 basis, the balance of appointments can be subject to some fluctuation between competitions. The appointments of a number of non-Catholic candidates from 784W Competitions 2 and 3 have been deferred due to personal circumstances, and in some cases at the request of candidates themselves.