Mr. Wm. Rossasked the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland (1) whether any firms of quantity suveyors and loss assessors with their headquarters in the Republic of Ireland carried out any work for an injured party in Northern Ireland who then submitted claims to his Department in cases where the damage was caused by terrorist activity;
(2) how many firms of quantity surveyors and loss assessors, with their head offices in Great Britain and branch offices in Northern Ireland, have carried out assessments of damage caused by terrorist activity in 1973, 1974, 1795 and 1976 for the injured party who then submitted claims to his Department; how many claims were involved; and what are the figures for Northern Ireland firms in the same periods;
(3) if any firms of quantity surveyors and loss assessors, with their headquarters in the Republic of Ireland, carried out any work for the Crown in Northern Ireland in relation to damage caused by terrorists in 1973, 1974, 1975 and 1976;
(4) whether the firms of quantity surveyors and loss assessors, employed on behalf of the Crown in Northern Ireland to assess the damages caused by terrorist activity in Northern Ireland are chosen from a panel or roll of approved firms or whether all firms within the United Kingdom are eligible; and how firms are chosen and work apportioned to them;
(5) how many different firms of quantity surveyors and loss assessors have 568W been appointed to act on behalf of the Crown in damage caused by terrorist activity in Northern Ireland during 1973, 1974, 1975 and 1976; and how many claims were assessed by them during those years;
(6) how many of the firms of quantity surveyors and loss assessors, who have acted on behalf of the Crown in Northern Ireland in relation to damage caused by terrorist activity during 1973, 1974, 1975 and 1976, have their head offices in Northern Ireland; how many have their head offices in Great Britain; and how many cases have been handled by: (a) Northern Ireland firms and (b) by British firms in each year.
§ Mr. Merlyn ReesFirms of quantity surveyors and loss adjusters employed by my Department to assess damage to property caused by terrorist activity in Northern Ireland are chosen from panels of approved firms. It is open to any firm in the United Kingdom to apply for membership of the panel. Firms are chosen on the basis of their professional capability and their continuation on the panel is determined by the quality of the work carried out by my Department. Work is apportioned to firms on a rota basis having regard to the volume of work, the extent of the damage involved in an incident and the estimated capability of a firm to deal satisfactorily with that incident.
My Department does not keep records of the location of the headquarters of firms of quantity surveyors and loss assessors employed by claimants for compensation for criminal injury.
One firm of loss adjusters headquartered in the Republic of Ireland carried out work for my Department in 1973, 1974 and 1975 but this firm is no longer on the roll of approved firms.
Six firms of quantity surveyors and eight firms of loss adjusters have acted for my Department in 1973, 1974, 1975 and 1976. No firm of quantity surveyors and five firms of loss adjusters are headquartered in Great Britain, the remainder being headquartered in Northern Ireland. It is not possible to say without disproportionate effort how many cases have been handled by either group.