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Prison Service

Mrs. Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many of the Northern Ireland

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Prison Service staff that have applied to the SPED scheme, have (a) received their SPED certificates and (b) been granted a place on the SPED scheme. [84480]

Jane Kennedy: 102 Northern Ireland prison staff have applied through the NIHE to be admitted to the scheme to purchase evacuated dwelling (SPED). To date 69 have been accepted on to the scheme.

Real IRA (Ceasefire)

Mr. Dodds: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what recent discussions Her Majesty's Government have had with the Government of the Republic of Ireland about the Real IRA's ceasefire. [83097]

Jane Kennedy: Ministers and officials meet regularly with their counterparts in the Irish Government to discuss issues of mutual concern. While the Real IRA announced a complete cessation of all military activity from midnight, 7 September 1998, the Government continue to judge that organisation by its deeds, not its words.

Shooting Incidents

David Burnside: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will list by month since April the shooting incidents attributed to the Provisional IRA in Northern Ireland. [81103]

Jane Kennedy: It is not possible to provide the statistics in the format requested. The table provides details of the number of shooting incidents attributed to republican, loyalist and other groups.

Number of shooting incidents by month-1 April to 15 November 2002⁽⁷⁾

Month	By loyalists	By republicans	Other/ Not known
April	12	5	3
May	10	8	1
June	23	18	3
July	26	9	1
August	24	12	1
September	19	7	—
October	22	1	3
November(8)	10	1	1
Total	146	61	13

⁽⁷⁾ 2002 statistics are provisional and may be subject to minor amendment.

⁽⁸⁾ To 15 November

Transsexual Rights

Mr. Donaldson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what action his Department is taking to implement previously continuing policy initiatives of the Northern Ireland Executive in response to the ruling of the European Court of Human Rights in the case of Goodwin with regard to transsexual rights; and what time scales have been set for implementation. [85882]

Mr. Pearson: The European Court of Human Rights, in the case of Goodwin v. UK, has found the UK in breach of Articles 8 and 12 of the European Convention. My officials are currently considering the implications of the judgment in the Northern Ireland context.

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Trust Ports

Andrew Mackinlay: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will make available in the Vote Office the consultation document published on 12 October 2001 on the proposals to improve the public accountability of the Northern Ireland Trust Ports; if he will publish responses received prior to the House considering the draft Harbours (Northern Ireland) Order 2002; and if he will make a statement. [86176]

Angela Smith: The consultation document and a summary of responses were made available to the Fourth Standing Committee on Delegated Legislation on 4 December 2002 to assist its deliberations on the draft Harbours (Northern Ireland) Order 2002. Copies were also made available in the Library and the Vote Office from the 4 December. The consultation document is also available on the Department's website.

Welfare Organisations (Grants)

David Burnside: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how much has been paid in grants to welfare organisations representing (a) republican paramilitary groups and (b) loyalist paramilitary groups since the signing of the Belfast Agreement in 1998. [82783]

Jane Kennedy: A total of #5.864 million has been paid to ex-prisoner groups by the various Northern Ireland Departments and the Northern Ireland Office. This includes Peace and Gap funding.

In addition the Northern Ireland Prison Service has made payments of #44.5k to organisation or individuals assisting with the resettlement of prisoners under the Northern Ireland (Sentences) Act 1998.

It is not possible to say which of these groups represent republican or loyalist organisations.

Written Questions

Mr. Donaldson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what the average length of time taken by the Northern Ireland Office to answer written parliamentary questions has been since the General Election; and if he will make a statement. [86287]

Jane Kennedy: The information requested is not held in the format required and could only be provided at disproportionate cost. However, my Department's Parliamentary Section are currently introducing a computerised Parliamentary Question tracking system which will in due course allow for the provision of such statistics.

The Northern Ireland Office as with all other Government departments endeavour to answer all Parliamentary Questions promptly and accurately.

David Burnside: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what has been the average time from 2001 for answering written questions to the Northern Ireland Office; and if he will make a statement. [86486]

Jane Kennedy: The information requested is not held in the format required and could only be provided at disproportionate cost. However, my Department's Parliamentary Section is currently introducing a

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computed Parliamentary Question Tracking system which will in due course allow for the provision of such statistics.

The Northern Ireland Office as with all other Government departments endeavours to answer all Parliamentary Questions promptly and accurately.

SOLICITOR GENERAL

Departmental Budget

Mr. Chope : To ask the Solicitor General what the total budget of (a) the Attorney General's Department and (b) its agencies is for official travel in 2002–03. [84937]

The Solicitor-General [holding answer 3 December 2002]: The official travel budget for the Legal Secretariat to the Law Officers in 2002–03 is #100,000. For Treasury Solicitor's Department for the same period it is #20,000 and for HM Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate #121,000.

The budget of the CPS for official travel in the year 2002–03 is #4,271,000 and that for the Serious Fraud Office #626,000.

Since 1999 the Government have published an annual list of all visits overseas undertaken by Cabinet Ministers costing #500 or more during each financial year. The Government have also published on an annual basis the cost of all Ministers' visits overseas.

Details of travel undertaken during the period 1 April 2001 to 31 March 2002, was published on 24 July 2002, Official Report, columns 1374 75W.

INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT

AIDS

Mr. Lyons: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what the Government are doing to help those suffering from AIDS and HIV in the developing world. [85389]

Clare Short: My Department continues to make a significant contribution to combating the HIV/AIDS epidemic. In our bilateral programmes alone, expenditure on HIV/AIDS related work has increased from #38 million in 1997–98 to over #200 million in 2001–02. Major new investments include support for programmes in Nigeria, Malawi, Zambia, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Mozambique, Russia, and Ghana, China and India totalling over #350 million. We have also pledged US$200 million to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria, and #30 million to the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative and the Medical Research Council's Microbicides Development Programme. Considerable additional resources have also been committed to United Nations agencies and civil society organisations to help combat HIV/AIDS and to help people living with the disease across the developing world. We will continue to support health system strengthening and comprehensive HIV/AIDS prevention, care, control and mitigation programmes. We are also supporting access to medicines, including

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for HIV/AIDS. The approach of the recently launched High Level Working Group on Access to Medicines Report is to facilitate widespread voluntary differential pricing of essential medicines for the poorer developing countries as the operational norm.

Dr. Tonge: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how much her Department has contributed to the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative in each year since its inception. [85632]

Clare Short: The International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI) is harnessing public and private resources to accelerate the development of safe, effective and accessible preventive AIDS vaccines that will be affordable to poor countries. The UK was the first Government to support IAVI, initially with #200,000, followed by a grant of #14 million over five years, which the Prime Minister announced at the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting in November 1999.

The annual breakdown of expenditure is as follows:

	#
1999–2000	625,000
2000–01	875,000
2001–02	1,500,000
2002–03	2,250,000

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