Mr. Ben Chapman: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what assistance is being given to Vietnam to(a) strengthen the Civil Service and (b) eliminate corruption. [210524]Mr. Alexander: Public administration reform and corruption are key areas for UK assistance to Vietnam.The Department for International Development's (DFID) support to Vietnam is one of the fastest growing UK aid programmes in theworld. DFID programme resources are projected to reach £55 million in 2005-06. This support includes helping the NationalAssembly to strengthen its oversight function. Recent results include the scrutiny of the draft Audit Law which has led to the StateAudit department reporting to the National Assembly as opposed to the Government, and on-going revisions to the new law onanti-corruption. DFID is financing the Ministry of Planning and Investment's Inspectorate which has provided three pilot inspectionreports to the Minister of Planning and Investment to review and take appropriate action. DFID also financed technical training inperformance auditing for 30 people, and awareness training in planning and investment inspection for 140 officials.DFID is contributing to a multi-donor effort to improve public financial management. This support has helped design a budgetaryyearbook which will be made available to the public, and financed the recent public expenditure review which will be endorsed by theGovernment and made public at the end of January 2005. DFID is also supporting the introduction of a Treasury and Budget ManagementInformation System to comply with international best practice in budget execution and reporting.We took part in the Vietnam Consultative Group's (CG) main annual stock take on 1-2 December, together with representativesof the Government of Vietnam, donors,international agencies, international NGOs and the private sector. Corruption was one of the key challenges identified; and wewelcome Vietnam's increasing openness in this respect.This was the first such dialogue with donors. We will continue to support Vietnam's efforts to combat corruption and to strengthenits civil service.