§ Mr. TrimbleTo ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what is the total number of legally qualified staff employed by the Northern Ireland office and the Northern Ireland Departments, listing the branches in which such staff are employed and the number in each; how many people there are in each case whose perceived religious affiliation is (i) Protestant, (ii) Roman Catholic, (iii) not determined; how many came from outside Northern Ireland; and how many of the latter were born (1) in the rest of the United Kingdom and (2) in the Republic of Ireland.
§ Sir John WheelerThe total number of qualified legal staff currently employed by the Northern Ireland Office and the Northern Ireland departments is 147. The table lists the branches in which such staff are employed and the number in each.
Branch Number of Staff Northern Ireland Office, London 1 Northern Ireland Office, Belfast 4 Crown Solicitors Office 42 Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions 37 Northern Ireland Compensation Agency 10 Police Authority for Northern Ireland 3 Department of Finance and Personnel Solicitor's Office 35 Office of Law Reform 2 Legislative Counsel 7 Northern Ireland Land Registry 5 Equal Opportunities Unit 1 The use of community background monitoring information in the Northern Ireland civil service is governed by a code of practice, agreed with staff representatives, under which such information can be used only for the purposes of monitoring the effectiveness of the Northern Ireland civil service policy on equality of opportunity and to meet statutory requirements under fair employment legislation.
Disaggregation in the detail sought would be contrary to the code of practice, and could contravene the confidentiality requirements contained in regulations made 298W under the Fair Employment (Northern Ireland) Act 1989. However, of the 147 staff currently employed in a legal capacity 83 are perceived as Protestant and 52 as Roman Catholic. The perceived religious affiliation of 12 cannot be determined. Of these, eight are assessed as being from outside Northern Ireland including five from the United Kingdom and one from the Republic of Ireland.