§ Mr. William RossTo ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will list the organisations dealing with rehabilitation of terrorist prisoners which receive funds from the public purse; which department funds them; and what sums went to each such organisation in each of the last five years and the current year to date. [102158]
§ Mr. IngramRehabilitation services are provided by the Prison Service to all prisoners in Northern Ireland mainly through educational and vocational training courses and services. In addition, welfare and rehabilitation services are provided by the Probation Board for Northern Ireland.
Overall costs for the last five financial years are:
£ Prison Service Education and VT costs Prison Service payments to Probation Board for NI 1994–95 239,000 822,100 1995–96 258,600 822,100 1996–97 191,600 822,100 1997–98 216,500 810,000 1998–99 230,600 810,000 1999–20001 90,500 360,000 1To date Other bodies such as the Training and Employment Agency and the Local Enterprise Development Unit have provided services on occasions at no additional charge.
During the current financial year, in accordance with commitments in the Good Friday Agreement, a number of individual payments have been made for the delivery of courses for the rehabilitation of prisoners released from HMP Maze at an overall total of £16,215.
Ex-prisoner groups also receive funding from the EU Special Support Programme for Peace and Reconciliation. Since the beginning of this Programme, £4.3 million (of which the Government fund 25 per cent.) in respect of Measures 4.4 and 4.6 has been allocated to ex-prisoner groups. Groups may also have received EU funding from District Partnerships and other funders.