HC Deb 19 March 2003 vol 401 cc802-4W
Mr. Beggs

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many prisoners have been released under the early release scheme since 10 April 1998; to which paramilitary groups they were affiliated; how many have been recalled due to further criminal activity; and how many would still be in prison today if the early release scheme was not in operation. [101737]

Jane Kennedy

Since the introduction of the early release scheme in April 1998, 447 prisoners have been released under the terms of the Northern Ireland (Sentences) Act 1998 ("the Act"). 156 were life sentence prisoners and 291 were determinate sentence prisoners.

The following table sets out details of the perceived paramilitary association of the 447 individuals released. Information is held, for management purposes, in relation to the perceived paramilitary association of prisoners in Northern Ireland.

At 10 March 2003, seven of the 447 persons released under the terms of the Act had been recalled to prison due to their involvement in further criminal activity during their licence period.

Of the 291 determinate sentence prisoners released under the Act, 54 (19 per cent.) had sentences which would not yet have expired and would still be in custody at this stage. It is not possible to provide an equivalent figure for the 156 life sentence prisoners. Unlike determinate sentence prisoners, there is no specific discharge date, each case being reviewed individually. All released lifers were subject to risk assessment as a requirement of the Act and remain on licence for life.

Breakdown of releases by perceived affiliation
Perceived affiliation Total
PIRA 206
UDA 87
UVF 67
INLA 32
LVF 17
UFF 14
RHC 3
'Loyalist' 6
'Republican' 3

All figures £000
Board 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03
Belfast
Statutory capital allocation 0 0 401 133 19
Total recurrent allocation 230 561 836 756 853
Western
Statutory capital allocation 0 40 1,377 1,436 1,012
Total recurrent allocation 406 1,049 1,524 1,566 1,779
North eastern
Statutory capital allocation 81 64 1,344 700 379
Total recurrent allocation 381 1,176 1,917 2,141 2,163
South eastern
Statutory capital allocation 202 312 591 681 660
Total recurrent allocation 243 840 1,463 1.920 1,822
Southern
Statutory capital allocation 0 65 770 1,238 1,298
Total recurrent allocation 384 811 1,393 1,889 2,058

Mrs. Iris Robinson

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland for what reason the places per ward criterion used to calculate the funding for PEAGS places has not been used for calculating places for 2003–04. [101927]

Jane Kennedy

The Department of Education does not allocate funding to Pre-School Education Advisory

Breakdown of releases by perceived affiliation
Perceived affiliation Total
No affiliation 12
Grand total 447