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31 Mar 2004 : Column 1478W—continued

Vets

Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many veterinarians the Department (a) employed and (b) had on establishment in each of the last five years for which records are available. [163529]

Mr. Bradshaw: The total number of vets the State Veterinary Service (a) employed and (b) had on establishment is shown in the table below.

			Of which:				Of which:
	(a) Employed	Fixed term appointee	Casual	(b) Had on establishment	Fixed term appointee	Casual
1 January 1999 to 31 December 1999	12	—	—	185	—	—
1 January 2000 to 31 December 2000	13	1	1	198	1	1
1 January 2001 to 31 December 2001	22	3	1	220	4	2
1 January 2002 to 31 December 2002	60	2	33	279	5	35
1 January 2003 to 31 December 2003	22	—	11	252	—	13
1 January 2004 to 25 March 2004	14	—	12	259	—	23

Note:

The figures are given on a head count basis.

NORTHERN IRELAND

Hospital Finance

Lady Hermon: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what assessment he has made of the implications for (a) acute services and (b) care for the elderly as a result of the funding shortfall within the Ulster Community and Hospitals Trust. [164574]

Angela Smith: The Department is aware that there have been additional service pressures placed on the Ulster Community and Hospitals Trust as a result of funding issues, but at this stage the Trust expects to achieve a break-even position for 2003–04.

In recognition of the demands placed on the Trust, during 2003–04 an extra £1 million funding was made available to support Acute Services and the Elderly Programme of Care in the North Down and Ards area. Further work is also being carried out on re-balancing funding allocations, with a subsequent consultation exercise planned to take place in May 2004.

In the longer term, developments at the Ulster Hospital, including the current major re-development programme, are expected to address the equity gap. The Department continues to monitor the position and has been assured that all reasonable steps are being taken to address pressures on local community and hospital services.

Lady Hermon: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what steps he plans to take to address the funding shortfall within (a) the Ulster Hospital, Dundonald and (b) the Ulster Community and Hospitals Trust. [164575]

Angela Smith: Equity in resource allocation to localities such as that covered by the Ulster Community and Hospitals Trust is a matter for the Board concerned. In 2003–04, the Eastern Board has allocated £0.7 million specifically to address the equity issue in North Down and Ards. In addition, a further £1 million funding was made available to support Acute services and the Elderly Programme of Care. The Eastern Board will continue to address the issue of equity within its resource constraints.

On-going developments at the Ulster Hospital are expected to close the equity gap in Acute services over a number of years. In addition, a review of the formula currently used to allocate resources to HSS Boards, due for consultation in May 2004, may alter the equity position to some extent at locality level. The Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety will continue to work closely with the Eastern Board on this matter.

Hotels

Mr. Trimble: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many hotel beds were available in Northern Ireland in each of the last five years; and what his estimates are for the occupation rates of hotel bedrooms in Northern Ireland in each of the last five years. [164067]

Mr. Pearson: The hotel figures detailed as follows are prepared by the Northern Ireland Tourist Board (NITB) Quality Assurance advisory staff at the time of the statutory inspection. These figures are published monthly in the Accommodation Survey in relation to Bed Occupancy.

The total number of hotel bed spaces available in Northern Ireland is detailed as follows.

31 Mar 2004 : Column 1479W

	Bed spaces per year
1999	11,163
2000	11,317
2001	11,927
2002	13,310
2003	13,247

The hotel bedroom occupancy rates in Northern Ireland for the last five years are as detailed in the following table. These figures have been taken from the NITB's Research Department's hotel occupancy report.

	Percentage occupancy rates
	Bedrooms	Bed spaces
1999	53	34
2000	53	33
2001	53	33
2002	53	34
2003	56	37

Housing

Mr. McGrady: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will make a statement on the time taken to release payments for discretionary grants by the Northern Ireland Housing Executive, Southern Division. [164610]

Mr. Spellar: The Northern Ireland Housing Executive, which has an overall grants budget of £41.13 million in the 2003–04 financial year, aims to make payments within six weeks of a request for inspection provided that all the relevant invoices, guarantees and certificates have been received. In the south area 89.7 per cent. of payments are made within six weeks against a target of 90 per cent.

Manufacturing Workforce

Mr. Trimble: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what percentage of the workforce in Northern Ireland was employed in manufacturing during the last five years; and what the equivalent figure was for the whole of the United Kingdom. [164057]

Mr. Pearson: Estimates of the percentage of employee jobs in Manufacturing in Northern Ireland and the United Kingdom between December 1998 and December 2003 are provided in the following table:

Percentage of employee jobs in manufacturing in Northern Ireland and the UK

Seasonally adjusted—December of each year	Northern Ireland	United Kingdom
1998	17.3	16.7
1999	16.6	15.8
2000	16.0	15.1
2001	15.0	14.3
2002	14.3	13.8
2003	13.5	13.4

Source:

Quarterly Employment Survey, DETI; Office for National Statistics.

31 Mar 2004 : Column 1480W

DEFENCE

Bowman Radio System

Mr. Key: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence which private sector companies are training Army personnel to use Bowman radios; and what the value of the contract is. [162840]

Mr. Ingram: As prime contractor for the Bowman tactical communication system, General Dynamics United Kingdom Ltd. has sub-contracted the conversion training of around 75,000 personnel from all three services to Westland Helicopters Ltd. Training delivery and distributed learning is led by Westland and supported by Outstart and Vosper Thornycroft UK Ltd. Conversion training began on time in July 2003 and, to date, almost 3,500 personnel have completed their individual training.

The prime contract with General Dynamics United Kingdom Ltd. was awarded competitively. I am withholding details about the value of the contract under Exemption 13 of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information for reasons of commercial confidentiality.

Brimstone Missile

Mr. Gerald Howarth: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence for what reasons there was a delay in the provision of trials aircraft for the development of the Brimstone missile. [162641]

Mr. Ingram: The delay was due to a later than planned delivery of a trials aircraft from the Tornado upgrade programme.

Mr. Gerald Howarth: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence whether it is his intention that the Brimstone missile will supplant the use of the RBL755 cluster bomb in the anti-armour role; and if he will make a statement. [162642]

Mr. Ingram: Brimstone is an advanced air-launched anti-armour weapon designed to defeat modem and future main battle tanks and other armoured fighting vehicles by precision attack. It is intended that the Brimstone missile will replace the RBL755 in the anti-armour role.

Computer Misuse

Mr. Webb: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many cases of computer misuse there were in his Department in (a) 1997 and (b) 2003, broken down by category of misuse; and how many of those cases resulted in disciplinary action. [163248]

Mr. Caplin: In 1997 and 2003, the following instances of computer misuse were recorded across the Ministry of Defence.

31 Mar 2004 : Column 1481W

	1997	2003
	Unauthorised access to computer material
Incidents	2	2
Disciplined	1	1
	Unauthorised access with intent to commit or facilitate commission of further offences
Incidents	7	0
Disciplined	1	0
	Unauthorised modification of computer material
Incidents	0	0
Disciplined	0	0

It should be noted that in 1997 these incidents were not reported to a central focal point, as has since been required, and that details of disciplinary action taken are only collated once the action concerned has been completed. The above figures are the most accurate that can be made readily available under current reporting arrangements, and additional information could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

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