§ David BurnsideTo ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will make a statement on the future awarding of the Royal Ulster Constabulary long service medal to members of the Police Service of Northern Ireland Reserve. [110790]
§ Jane KennedyThe Royal Warrant for the Special Constabulary Long Service Medal is in the process of being revised to allow service in the Police Service of Northern Ireland Reserve to be aggregated with previous service in the Royal Ulster Constabulary Reserve for the purpose of eligibility for the award of the Medal.
§ Mr. DonaldsonTo ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many of the successful applicants in the recent competition for clerical posts with the Police Service of Northern Ireland were(a) Roman Catholic and (b) others; and how many of these successful applicants have been offered a post. [86960]
§ Jane KennedyIn the latest competition for administrative assistants in the Police Service of Northern Ireland, which took place in May 2002, 264 candidates were found suitable for inclusion in the merit pool. Of these, 26 were classified as having a Roman Catholic community background, and 238 as having a non-Roman Catholic background. 52 were, therefore, appointable under current legislation, all of whom will be offered a post.
§ Mr. HunterTo ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland whether it is his policy that past terrorist atrocities which have not resulted in charges or convictions should not be investigated by the Police Service of Northern Ireland. [102091]
§ Mr. Paul MurphyNo. Whether a criminal investigation is reopened by the PSNI is a matter for the Chief Constable. When there are calls for public inquiries into past incidents, the Government have to decide on a case by case basis the most appropriate course of action. In doing so the Government's priority is that those responsible should be convicted and that the whole truth should emerge. In many cases I believe that criminal investigations represent the best way of achieving this.
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§ Mr. CarmichaelTo ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland (1) whether serving officers in the Garda Siochana will be subject to the 50:50 Catholic: non-Catholic recruitment quotas if they apply to join the Police Service of Northern Ireland under the proposed arrangements; [98558]
(2) whether serving officers in police forces in Great Britain are subject to the 50:50 Catholic: non-Catholic recruitment quotas if they apply to join the Police Service of Northern Ireland. [98559]
§ Jane KennedyThe 50:50 recruitment arrangements apply only to police trainees. They do not apply to lateral entry at ranks above constable. Serving police officers in both the Garda Siochana and police services in Great Britain are therefore subject to the 50:50 arrangements if they apply to join the Police Service of Northern Ireland as police trainees. The proposed new arrangements provided for by clause 19 of the Police (Northern Ireland) Bill, to enable fixed term appointments of up to three years to the Police Service of Northern Ireland, will apply only to the ranks of sergeant to Chief Superintendent. The 50:50 recruitment arrangements will therefore not apply to appointments under this scheme.
§ Mr. CarmichaelTo ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many persons who at the time of their application were serving as police officers in forces in Great Britain have applied to join the Police Service of Northern Ireland; and of these, how many have been appointed. [98560]
§ Jane KennedyNumbers of applicants and appointees to the Police Service of Northern Ireland who were formerly serving officers in GB are as follows:
PSNI post/rank applied for Number of applicants from GB police forces Number of appointees from GB police forces Trainee constable 1Not known 17 Sergeant 15 7 Inspector 6 4 Chief Inspector 10 1 Assistant Chief Constable 1 0 Deputy Chief Constable 3 21 Chief Constable 2 1 1 It is not possible to determine the numbers of serving officers from GB forces who have applied for trainee posts in the Police Service of Northern Ireland. 2 Appointment announced, to commence at the beginning of April 2003.
§ Mr. CarmichaelTo ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many persons classified as(a) male Catholic, (b) male non-Catholic, (c) female Catholic and (d) female non-Catholic were admitted to, and graduated from, each training course run by the Police Service of Northern Ireland to date; and what the maximum number of recruits was that could be accommodated on each of these courses. [98561]
§ Jane KennedyThe information requested is set out in the table. The maximum number of recruits that could be accommodated in the PSNI college is 48 and 60 alternating every 5 weeks, to a maximum of 540 students per year. 201W
PSNI intakes PSNI graduates Non RC RC Non RC RC Intake date M F M F M F M F 4 November 2001 17 6 16 8 17 6 14 8 9 December 2001 23 6 15 15 23 6 15 14 20 January 2002 14 10 20 4 14 10 19 4 24 February 2002 17 13 19 10 17 12 19 10 31 March 2002 15 9 13 10 15 9 13 10 5 May 2002 14 2 11 9 13 2 10 9 9 June 2002 11 14 18 8 11 14 18 8 14 July 2002 15 5 19 2 15 5 19 2 18 August 2002 11 18 22 6 11 17 22 5 22 September 2002 13 3 13 5 Still in training 27 October 2002 22 6 22 5 1 December 2002 14 6 20 7 12 January 2003 15 4 8 5 16 February 2003 12 3 15 1