Police Fund Budget

HC Deb 16 June 2004 vol 422 cc968-9W

Lady Hermon

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what percentage of the Police Fund budget has been spent in support of(a) RUC officers injured and (b) RUC families bereaved through terrorism in each year since its establishment. [178579]

Mr. Pearson

I can advise that the percentage breakdown of the Police Fund budget in support of injured officers and bereaved families is as follows:

Direct grant expenditure as a percentage of budget
Category	2002–03	2003–04
Injured officers	36	40
Bereaved families including widows	17	17

A further 28 per cent. of the 2002–03 budget and 18 per cent. of the 2003–04 budget was expended on organisation project costs such as reimbursement of costs to the Benevolent Fund and client service costs such as psychological counselling services. This expenditure, in the main, cannot be broken down into individual client costs although clearly the programmes benefited both injured officers and bereaved families.