§ Mr. McNamaraTo ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, pursuant to her answer of 27 November 1997,Official Report, column 630, what were the staffing levels of the RUC in September 1998 (i) in total, and (ii) broken down (a) by gender, (b) by perceived religious/community origin and (c) by numbers and percentages of full-time, reserve full-time, and reserve part-time staff. [56387]
§ Mr. IngramThe table sets out the information requested as at 1 September 1998.
Rank RUC FTR PTR Total CBI Male 6,644 2,343 782 9,769 Female 846 217 407 1,470 Total 7,490 2,560 1,189 11,239 CB2 Male 625 177 30 832 Female 82 27 33 142 Total 707 204 63 974 CB3 Male 268 156 11 435 Female 8 9 5 22 Total 276 165 16 457 Sub total Male 7,537 2,676 823 11,036 Female 936 253 445 1,634 Total 8,473 2,929 1,268 12,670 Percentage CB1 88.40 87.40 93.77 88.71 Percentage CB2 8.34 6.96 4.97 7.69 Percentage female 11.05 8.64 35.09 12.90 Note
CB1—Perceived to be from Protestant community
CB2—Perceived to be from the Roman Catholic community
CB3—Other
§ Mr. McNamaraTo ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many(a) serving and (b) former members of the Royal Ulster Constabulary held personal protection firearms on 10 April; how many new weapons have been issued since then; and how many weapons have been handed in. [56293]
§ Mr. IngramFigures detailing how many serving and former members of the Royal Ulster Constabulary held firearms for personal protection are not available for 10 April 1998, and could be obtained only at488W disproportionate cost. However, on 26 October 1998, 12,699 handguns (which are available for personal protection) were on official issue to serving members of the Royal Ulster Constabulary and 619 were on loan to former members.
Since 10 April a total of 189 handguns have been issued to serving Royal Ulster Constabulary members and 306 have been returned.