HC Deb 16 May 1994 vol 243 cc310-1W
Mr. John D. Taylor

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland when each of the present Ministers in the Northern Ireland Office was appointed; and on how many nights each month since their appointment they have remained overnight in Northern Ireland.

Sir John Wheeler

The information requested is provided in the table.

Sir Patrick Mayhew MP—Date appointed: 12 April 1992 Number of Overnights Spent in Northern Ireland Since Appointment
Number
1992
April 9
May 14
June 8
July 10
August 7
September 15
October 19
November 16
December 13
1993
January 11
February 8
March 9
April 9
May 8
June 13
July 8
August 8
September 13
October 11
November 10
December 12
1994
January 13
February 13
March 4
April 6

Michael Ancram MP—Date appointed: 27 May 1993 Number of Overnights Spent in Northern Ireland Since Appointment
Number
1993
May —
June 1

Number
July 9
August 8
September 11
October 9
November 10
December 3
1994
January 9
February 9
March 12
April 5

Sir John Wheeler—Date appointed: 25 June 1993 Number of overnights spent in Northern Ireland since appointment
1993 Number
June 1
July 8
August 12
September 10
October 10
November 7
December 11
1994
January 6
February 5
March 5
April 8

Mr. Smith—Date appointed: 5 January 1994 Number of overnights spent in Northern Ireland since appointment
1994 Number
January 4
February 8
March 10
April 7

Baroness Denton—Date appointed: 11 January 1994 Number of overnights spent in Northern Ireland since appointment
1994 Number
January 9
February 12
March 13
April 14

The above information does not, however, accurately reflect the amount of time which Ministers devote to Northern Ireland. A more accurate reflection is shown by the number of days spent in Northern Ireland which is given in the table below.

Total Number of days since appointment Number of days as percentage of total working days available1
Secretary of State 378 75
Sir John Wheeler 126 60
Michael Ancram 145 63
Baroness Denton 51 67
Mr. Smith 50 63
1 Number of days excluding public and bank holidays.