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Irish Language

Rev. Martin Smyth: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many Irish language
 
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advertisements were placed by the Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety in each of the past three years. [176805]

Angela Smith: The number of Irish language adverts placed by the Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety in each of the past three years are as follows:

April to March	Number of Irish Language adverts
2001–02	52
2002–03	71
2003–04	69

Rev. Martin Smyth: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many Irish language applications were received by the Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety in each of the past three years. [176806]

Angela Smith: In each of the past three years, the Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety has not received any job applications written in Irish.

Rev. Martin Smyth: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what the total cost of Irish language advertisements placed by the Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety was in each of the past three years. [176807]

Angela Smith: The total cost of Irish language advertisements placed by the Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety in each of the past three years is as follows:

April to March	Total cost for Irish advertising (£)
2001–02	51,337.13
2002–03	38,197
2003–04	33, 845.91

July Orange Celebrations

David Burnside: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what plans the Department of Culture, Media and Sport has to promote this year's 12 July Orange celebrations as an inward tourist attraction symbolising British culture in the Province. [175696]

Mr. Gardiner: The Northern Ireland Tourist Board (NITB) features the 12 July Orange parades on the events page of its consumer website www.discover northernireland.com. NITB has encouraged the Orange Order to supply any information that could be useful for promotional purposes.

Maiden City Festival

Mr. Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how much public funding has been allocated through Northern Ireland departments to the Maiden City Festival in Londonderry in each of the last three years. [176631]

 
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Angela Smith: Funding for the Maiden City Festival from the Northern Ireland Departments has totalled £355,000 over the previous three years. This was comprised of £100,000 in 2001–02; £155,000 in 2002–03 and £100,800 in 2003–04.

Medical Prescriptions

Mrs. Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland when electronic transmission of medical prescriptions will commence in Northern Ireland. [176865]

Angela Smith: A project that will include electronic transfer of prescriptions between community pharmacists and the Central Services Agency is currently being developed. The project timetable indicates that implementation will begin in May/June of 2005 with roll-out across HPSS due to be completed in September 2006. This project does not include electronic transfer of prescriptions from GP practices but planned developments in the NHS will be monitored with the intention of learning from their experience and introducing similar facilities in Northern Ireland.

Milk Cup Tournament

Lady Hermon: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what estimate he has made of the value to the Northern Ireland economy of the annual Milk Cup Football tournament. [175904]

Angela Smith: The Northern Ireland Events Company, sponsored by the Department of Culture Arts and Leisure, has supported this event and commissioned independent research into the benefits generated by the 2003 NI Milk Cup. The report indicated that the value to the Northern Ireland economy was around £570,000. A copy of the full report will be placed in the Library.

Classroom Assistants (Braille)

Mrs. Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many classroom assistants were trained in Braille in each of the last five years, broken down by board area. [176872]

Mr. Gardiner: Training of this nature is generally sourced directly by schools in response to the needs of individual pupils and this information is therefore not readily available. However, Education and Library Boards have, in some cases arranged training in Braille for classroom assistants. The North Eastern Education and Library Board trained five classroom assistants in 2002; one in 2000; and one in 1999 while the South Eastern Education and Library Board trained one classroom assistant in 2001.

Health Care

Mrs. Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what plans he has to introduce national service frameworks in healthcare in Northern Ireland. [176873]

Angela Smith: National service frameworks are produced for the NHS in England. Although they have not been introduced to the health and social services in Northern Ireland, local service reviews over recent years
 
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in areas such as cardiac surgery and cardiology, cancer, renal services and diabetes have incorporated elements of national service frameworks where appropriate. In line with the Government's plans to raise standards of health and social care services in Northern Ireland, the need for further work in this area is being considered at present.

Mrs. Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what estimate he has made of the costs to public funds arising from back pain in each of the last five years. [176874]

Angela Smith: We estimate that the cost of treating complaints with a diagnosis of back pain in a hospital in-patient or day-case setting in Northern Ireland was £4.2 million in 2001–02 and £5.2 million for 2002–03. Further information is not available.

Mrs. Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what funding has been provided for (a) dermatology and (b) sleep disorders in each of the past five years. [176877]

Angela Smith: My Department has not earmarked funding specifically for either dermatology or sleep disorders in each of the past five years. Expenditure on the treatment of sleep disorders is not available but expenditure over the last five years on the dermatology specialty in a hospital inpatient, day case or outpatient setting is as follows:
£ million

Year ending March	Dermatology expenditure
1999	7.8
2000	8.0
2001	8.5
2002	8.7
2003	9.1

Mortality Statistics

Mrs. Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what percentage of deaths were due to (a) respiratory disease, (b) cardiac disease and (c) cancer in Northern Ireland in (i) the last year for which figures are available, (ii) 1994, (iii) 1984 and (iv) 1974. [176878]

Mr. Pearson: The following table gives the percentage of all deaths registered in Northern Ireland in 2003, 1994, 1984 and 1974 caused by (a) respiratory disease ¹ , (b) circulatory disease ² and ischaemic heart disease ³ and (c) cancer ⁴ .

¹ International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision codes J00-J99 for year 2003, Ninth Revision codes 460–519 for years 1994 and 1984 and Eighth Revision codes 460–519 for year 1974.

² International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision codes I00-I99 for year 2003, Ninth Revision codes 390–459 for years 1994 and 1984 and Eighth Revision codes 390–458 for year 1974. ³ International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision codes I20-I25 for year 2003, Ninth Revision codes 410–414 for years 1994 and 1984 and Eighth Revision codes 410–414 for year 1974. ⁴ International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision codes C00-C97 for year 2003, Ninth Revision codes 140–208 for years 1994 and 1984 and Eighth Revision codes 140–207 for year 1974.
 
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Table: Number and percentage of all registered deaths in Northern Ireland caused by respiratory disease, circulatory disease, ischaemic heart disease and cancer: 1974, 1984, 1994 and 2003

	Number of deaths				Percentage of deaths
Cause of death	1974	1984	1994	2003 1	1974	1984	1994	2003 1
Respiratory disease	2,223	1,952	2,398	2,082	12.8	12.4	15.9	14.4
Circulatory disease	9,153	8,178	7,011	5,448	52.8	52.1	46.4	37.7
Ischaemic heart disease	4,713	4,867	4,168	2,843	27.2	31.0	27.6	19.7
Cancer	2,866	3,290	3,595	3,757	16.5	21.0	23.8	26.0
All deaths	17,326	15,692	15,114	14,462	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0

⁽³¹⁾ Data for 2003 are provisional

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