HC Deb 13 February 2004 vol 418 cc169-72W
Mr. Rosindell

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many Catholics have joined the Police Service of Northern Ireland since its creation. [154848]

Jane Kennedy

I am advised that as at 1 February of this year, 544 Catholics had been appointed to the Police Service of Northern Ireland as recruits since its creation.

Mr. Rosindell

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many successful applicants to join the Police Service of Northern Ireland are awaiting training. [154849]

Jane Kennedy

The Police Service of Northern Ireland is currently in the process of appointing candidates from its fifth recruitment campaign, which was launched in March 2003. Thirty nine candidates have been appointed and have commenced training. There are currently 861 qualified candidates from the fifth competition, although some applicants are still in the process of going through security vetting and this number may increase.

Up to around 270 recruits would be appointed in a six month period.

Mr. Donaldson

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many applications were received for recruitment to the Police Service of Northern Ireland in each of the recruitment campaigns held in 2003. [155503]

Jane Kennedy

I am advised that competition 5, which was launched in March 2003, attracted 6,044 applications; competition 6, which was launched in September 2003, attracted 5,419 applications.

Mr. Donaldson

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many applications were received from(a) Protestants, (b) Roman Catholics and (c) others in each recruitment campaign for the Police Service of Northern Ireland in 2003. [155504]

Jane Kennedy

Of the 6,044 applications received for competition 5, launched in March 2003, 3,747 were of a perceived Protestant background, 2,194 were of a perceived Catholic background and 103 were not determined.

Of the 5,419 applications received for competition 6, launched in September 2003, 3,406 were of a perceived Protestant background, 1,909 were of a perceived Catholic background and 104 were not determined.

Mr. Donaldson

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many(a) Protestants, (b) Roman Catholics and (c) others were successful in entering the merit pool for each of the campaigns for recruitment to the Police Service of Northern Ireland in 2003; and how many applicants in each category were subsequently offered a place on the training course following completion of each recruitment campaign. [155505]

Jane Kennedy

1,096 qualified candidates formed the pool for competition 5. Of this number, 778 were of a perceived Protestant background, 307 were of perceived Catholic background and 11 were not determined.

Appointments from competition 5 started in January 2004. So far, 83 qualified candidates have been appointed as police trainees. 45 of these appointments were of perceived Protestant background, 38 were of perceived Catholic background and none were classified as not determined.

The pool of qualified candidates for competition 6 will not be formed until April.

David Burnside

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what the total cost to date is of implementing the Patten Report on policing in Northern Ireland. [154867]

Jane Kennedy

It is not possible to provide the precise total cost to date of implementing the Patten Report on policing in Northern Ireland. The costs associated with the police early retirement/severance scheme and implementation of specific projects related to some of the individual recommendations from 1 April 2000 to December 2003 amount to some £197 million. Moreover there would have been other costs, which cannot be exactly identified, incurred by PSNI from its grant in support of the implementation of Patten.

David Burnside

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many officers of the full-time police reserve have been(a) killed and (b) injured (i) on duty and (ii) off duty in each year since its formation. [154868]

Jane Kennedy

The information requested is not available in the format requested. The following tables set out the statistic available.

Full-time reserve officers who were killed or died on duty
Reason
Death accident gun shot Death by terrorist Death non-terrorist Death traffic accident Grand total
1975 0 2 0 0 2
1976 0 3 0 0 3
1977 0 2 0 0 2
1978 0 1 0 0 1
1979 0 1 0 0 1
1981 0 2 0 0 2
1982 0 2 0 0 2
1983 0 5 0 0 5
1984 0 2 0 0 2
1985 0 7 0 0 7
1986 0 2 0 1 3
1987 1 1 0 0 2
1988 0 2 0 0 2
1989 0 1 0 2 3
1990 0 2 0 0 2
1992 0 1 0 0 1
1993 0 2 0 0 2
1994 0 0 0 1 1
1997 0 1 0 0 1
2000 0 0 1 0 1
2003 0 0 0 1 1
Full-time reserve officers who were killed or died off duty
Reason
Death accident gun shot Death accident Death by terrorist Death non-terrorist Death traffic accident Total
1976 1 0 1 0 0 2
1978 0 1 0 0 0 1
1979 0 0 1 0 1 2
1980 0 1 1 0 0 2
1981 0 0 1 0 1 2
1986 0 0 0 0 2 2
1987 1 0 2 0 0 3
1988 0 0 0 1 5 6
1989 1 0 1 0 1 3
1990 1 1 2 0 0 4
1993 0 0 1 0 2 3
1994 0 0 0 0 1 1
1995 0 0 0 0 1 1
1999 1 0 0 0 0 1
2000 0 0 0 0 1 1
2003 0 0 0 0 1 1
Note:
If a year is not listed it is because no officer was killed or died in that particular year
Full-time reserve officers injured on duty
Number injured on duty
1986 3
1987 3
1988 11
1989 7
1990 76
1991 361
1992 401

Full-time reserve officers injured on duty
Number injured on duty
1993 426
1994 344
1995 474
1996 509
1997 529
1998 570
1999 616
2000 609
2001 640
2002 455
2003 221
Total 6,255

It should be noted that records were computerised in the late 1980's and the PSNI can only stand over the figures from 1991.