§ Mr. William RossTo ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many persons convicted of terrorist crimes have been released since the IRA and
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Access fund allocations made by Higher Education Institutions and Education and Library Boards 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 Number Expenditure £000 Number Expenditure £000 Number Expenditure £000 Number Expenditure £000 Number Expenditure £000 Institution/Board Academic year Financial year1 Academic year Financial year Academic year Financial year1 Academic year Financial year1 Academic year Financial year1 Queen's University 2,230 173 2,196 191 1,964 186 1,882 228 1,807 229 University of Ulster 1,185 150 1,583 151 1,252 152 1,575 193 1,727 215 Stranmillis College 6 4 48 12 81 17 18 9 38 9 St. Mary's College 153 14 269 23 350 23 52 15 50 14 Belfast Board 79 24 154 85 135 77 160 81 161 88 North-Eastern Board 25 8 93 35 103 52 163 59 141 74 Southern Board 67 25 182 55 n/a2 65 35 72 153 91 South-Eastern Board 32 23 79 48 43 38 106 47 110 75 Western Board 175 28 209 59 181 62 343 68 215 83 1 Figures for universities and colleges relate to their financial year i.e. August to July while figures for boards relate to the Government financial year. 2 The records are not available. loyalist paramilitary ceasefires began; how many of these were connected with each terrorist/paramilitary organisation; what percentage of their sentence they had served; and how many of those released were serving a life sentence. [38617]
§ Sir John WheelerResponsibility for the subject of the question has been delegated to the Prison Service under its chief executive, Mr. A. Shannon. I have asked him to arrange for a reply to be given.
Letter from Alan Shannon to Mr. William Ross, dated 22 July 1996:
The Secretary of State for Northern Ireland has asked me to reply to your Parliamentary Question regarding the number of persons convicted of terrorist crimes who have been released since the IRA and Loyalist paramilitary ceasefires began; how many of these were connected with each terrorist/paramilitary organisation; what percentage of their sentence they had served; and how many of those released were serving life sentences.The information that you are seeking is not readily available in the form requested and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost. However, I can confirm that since 17 November 1995, 131 scheduled offenders have been released on licence, between the half way and two thirds part of sentence, as a result of the changes in remission rules brought in by the Northern Ireland (Remission of Sentence) Act 1995. I can further confirm that since 1 September 1994, 41 life sentence prisoners convicted of scheduled offences have been released on licence in accordance with the normal life sentence review procedures. All other prisoners released during the relevant period were released "time servedI hope this information is helpful.