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Vietnam

Mr. Ben Chapman: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development if he will make a statement on development in Vietnam. [172694]

Mr. Gareth Thomas: The Government of Vietnam has made rapid progress in reducing poverty in recent years and in maintaining a high rate of economic growth. The number of people living in poverty halved from 58 per cent. in 1993 to 29 per cent. in 2002 and economic growth has averaged at approximately 7 per cent. over the last 10 years. Despite this, approximately 23 million people still live below the poverty line and an estimated 8.8 million live in hunger. However, health and education indicators are at similar levels to those normally seen in a country with a per capita income two or three times higher than Vietnam's.

This progress is a result of the Government of Vietnam's sustained commitment to development and poverty reduction. Recognising this, DFID has rapidly increased it's programme in Vietnam from £19 million in 2002–03 to an expected spend of up to £60 million by 2005–06. The programme supports the Government of Vietnam's own poverty reduction and growth strategy, and DFID works very closely with the Government and other donors to ensure that we achieve the maximum impact of our resources. Copies of DFID's new Country Assistance Plan for Vietnam have been placed in the House Library.
 
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DFID also supports poverty reduction in Vietnam through our contributions to the European Commission development budget (currently approximately 18 per cent. of the total budget). The EC spent 22.7 million Euros in Vietnam in 2002 (UK contribution: 4.1 million Euros), and is likely to spend 101 million Euros between 2002 and 2004 (UK contribution: 18.2 million Euros).

NORTHERN IRELAND

Academy for Irish Cultural Heritages

Rev. Martin Smyth: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will make a statement on the role of the Academy for Irish Cultural Heritages; and how it is funded. [173196]

Mr. Gardiner: The Academy for Irish Cultural Heritages at the Magee campus of the University of Ulster is one of the centres of research excellence funded under round one of the Support Programme for University Research. The Department for Employment and Learning provides 50 per cent. of the total cost over the period of the programme, the other half being provided by the charitable organisation, Atlantic Philanthropies.

The role of the project is to conduct research of international excellence in the fields of History, Celtic Studies and English.

Alcohol-Related Illness

Mrs. Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will break down the funding allocated to treat alcohol-related illness by (a) main budget head and (b) recipients. [173594]

Angela Smith: The information is not available in this format.

Autism Services

Mrs. Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what action he is taking to improve services for children with autism in the Northern Board area. [173616]

Angela Smith: In the forthcoming year the Northern Health and Social Services Board proposes to improve diagnostic and assessment services by investing £77,000 to strengthen the existing service in Homefirst Trust with additional speech and language therapy, occupational therapy and clerical support.

£50,000 is also being provided to increase paediatrician and speech and language therapy input, in addition to clerical support, to begin to establish a local service.

£7,000 has been made available for staff training related to Autistic Spectrum Disorders.

Essential Skills

Mr. Beggs: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what plans he has to extend educational policy on essential skills beyond numeracy and literacy; and if he will make a statement. [173212]

 
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Mr. Gardiner: The Department for Employment and Learning is currently considering its position on the introduction of Information and Communications Technology as a third essential skill along with literacy and numeracy.

Parliamentary Questions

John Thurso: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland (1) how many (a) ordinary written and (b) named day questions his Department received in (i) the 2002–03 and (ii) this parliamentary session up to the most recent date for which figures are available, broken down by month; [170766]

(2) what proportion of (a) ordinary written questions to his Department were answered within five sitting days of tabling and (b) questions for a named day received a substantive answer on that day in (i) 2002–03 and (ii) the current parliamentary session up to the most recent date for which figures are available, broken down by month. [170767]

Mr. Paul Murphy: The following table sets out the total number of ordinary written question and named day questions asked of my department by hon. Members in 2003 and up to 31 April 2004, broken down by month.

	2003	2004 (up to 31 April)
Ordinary written
January	233	324
February	163	263
March	198	327
April	125	248
May	208	—
June	354	—
July	214	—
August	0	—
September	172	—
October	147	—
November	105	—
December	143	—
Total	2,062	1,162
Named day
January	15	22
February	34	31
March	32	49
April	33	27
May	9	—
June	19	—
July	16	—
August	0	—
September	10	—
October	17	—
November	10	—
December	28	—
Total	223	129

The other information sought is not available in the form requested, but the following may be of use. From 1 January 2003 to 31 December 2003, a total of 3,134 parliamentary questions, including those asked by Members in Another Place, were tabled for answer by ministers in my Department, or on their behalf.

From 1 May 2003 to 31 December 2003, the 11   Departments of the NI administration for which I   currently have responsibility answered 986 ordinary
 
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written questions, of which 79 per cent. were responded to within a working week of the question being tabled. of the 65 named day questions tabled in the same period 80 per cent. were answered by the specified date. The corresponding information in respect of the Northern Ireland Office itself is not currently available.

Productivity

Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what his policy is for (a) increasing the productivity and (b) cutting the costs of (i) his Department and (ii) its agencies and non-departmental public bodies. [172179]

Mr. Pearson: The NIO is committed to delivering the Government's policy on efficiencies of 2.5per cent. a year over the SR2004 period. This policy is applicable to the core Department, its agencies and non-departmental public bodies.

The same focus on promoting efficiency will apply to   the 11 Departments of the Northern Ireland Administration, with a target for annual efficiency gains of at least 2.5 per cent. applying to Departments, and other public bodies funded by them, over the SR 2004 period. This will be a central theme to the Northern Ireland Priorities and Budget process, which will conclude with the publication in December 2004 of the Government's spending and efficiency plans. As a starting point, the departments have been asked to draw up plans for efficiency gains, with measures to include a combination of productivity gains and cost reductions that will free up resources to be redeployed to priority front line public services.

Recycled Paper

Mr. McGrady: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what percentage of printing in Government Departments in Northern Ireland in 2003–04 was on recycled paper. [168932]

Mr. Pearson: The percentage spend on recycled paper, compared with new paper, during the period April 2003 to 31 March 2004 is 5.63 per cent.

This answer is based on the value of orders placed electronically by Departments for the purchase of paper used for printing and reprographic purposes "in house" and paper purchased by the Central Print Unit, Department of Finance and Personnel. Data on all printed matter produced in-house by Departments and purchased from commercial printers is not readily available and could only be obtained at a disproportionate cost.

Following the adoption of guidance to integrate environmental considerations into procurement practices, as approved by the Procurement Board on 6 April 2004, Departments are required to move to the use of recycled paper. CPD is now implementing this decision.

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