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EC Programmes (Developing Countries)
Mr. Matthew Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development if she has received the Environmental Resources Management report, "Evaluation of the Environmental Performance of EC Programmes in Developing Countries". [47458]
Clare Short: Further to my reply to the hon. Member's question on this subject, of 11 May 1998, Official Report, columns 24-25, my Department received the Environmental Resources Management report several months ago and we are still awaiting the European Commission's response. This is due within the next few weeks. We will comment on this response in due course.
Sudan
Mr. Cox: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what plans (a) she and (b) the Under-Secretary have to visit the Sudan. [47338]
Clare Short: We have no plans to visit the Sudan. My Relief and Rehabilitation Field Manager has been to the crisis area twice since February and reported to me. Our Ambassador in Khartoum also visits the South and reports. A visit by me or the Under-Secretary would serve to hinder and not help the main aim at the moment, which is to get the maximum amount of food in as swiftly as possible to those who sorely need it.
Public Registers
Mr. Cohen: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development if she will list the public registers which her Department has responsibility for. [47353]
Clare Short:
The Department for International Development does not have responsibility for any public registers.
29 Jun 1998 : Column: 38
Mr. Hoyle:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development if she will make a statement on the depletion of coral reefs; and what initiatives the Government are taking to prevent the destruction of coral reefs. [47811]
Mr. Foulkes:
This Department recognises that depletion of coral reefs is a significant cause of poverty in developing countries, where poor coastal communities often lack land and employment and the coastal ecosystems offer the only accessible source of nutrition and income.
Degradation of coral reefs is occurring in many regions of the tropical oceans as the recently published World Resources Institute/World Conservation Monitoring Centre (WRI/WCMC) report "Reefs at Risk" makes clear. Traditional management systems in many small island communities have permitted sustainable use of reef resources for many years, but increasing population pressure and inappropriate development have contributed to the breakdown of these community-based management systems and a decline in the resource base. Modern arrangements for protection of coral reefs often aim to combine conservation with tourism and, unless carefully planned, can impose costs on the poor through loss of livelihoods. This Department is examining ways in which resources provided by coral reef biodiversity can be sustainably used to support people's livelihoods.
The United Kingdom is a founder member of the International Coral Reef Initiative (ICRI) and this Department has recently published a Manual of Coastal Resource Management in South Asia, following up earlier financial and technical support for the ICRI South Asia Region Coral Reef Management Workshop. We are also helping our partners in South Asia to protect their coral reefs by providing funds and expertise to the International Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO for the development of a South Asia region coral reef monitoring network, the first regional component of a planned global network.
The Government support the development of new approaches to the conservation and sustainable use of coral reef resources through research projects in the Caribbean investigating the biological and social impacts of coral reef protection, and the rate at which degraded reefs can recover when protected. We have funded research to develop a new technology for accelerating the recovery of degraded reefs through research in The Maldives, where coral rock is mined for use as building material. Reefs which had been bare of living coral organisms for 20 years became recolonised within a period of 12 months. We have recently supported work to improve the accuracy of remote sensing methods used in monitoring the state of the coral reef environment.
Our concern for the protection of coral reefs, and other tropical coastal ecosystems, is to help our partners stabilise and regenerate natural resources which are of significant importance to global efforts to eradicate poverty.
29 Jun 1998 : Column: 39
Mr. Levitt:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health what measures he proposes to take to (a) prevent and (b) deal with overspending by primary care groups in the new NHS. [45482]
Mr. Milburn:
Primary Care Groups will be accountable to health authorities for the way in which they discharge their functions, including financial matters. Guidance on management arrangements and risk management plans for PCG budgets will be issued in the summer.
If a Primary Care Group overspends, the overspend will be managed within the funds made available to health authorities generally, and to the National Health Service more widely, much as health authority overspends are handled now.
Mr. Nigel Jones:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many patients have been treated for trauma in each health authority area for the last five years for which figures are available. [46511]
Mr. Boateng:
The number of patients treated for post-traumatic stress disorder drawn from the Hospital Episode Statistics for 1995-96, the most recent year for which figures are available, is in the table. Information for earlier years is not available in an equivalent form. However, it is likely that the figures reported for post-traumatic stress disorder under-represent the number of people treated for the psychological after-effects of trauma since other people may be diagnosed as suffering from depression, anxiety or an adjustment disorder.
29 Jun 1998 : Column: 40
Mental Health
Mr. Nigel Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Health which of the components of the NHS will make recommendations for the placement in mental nursing homes of people with learning difficulties or mental health problems under the new arrangements set out in the White Paper, The New NHS (Cm 3807). [46509]
Mr. Boateng:
The White Paper The New NHS makes no change in this respect. Clinicians, working where appropriate with the relevant social work professionals, will make decisions about the appropriate placing of people with learning difficulties or mental health problems within the health and social care systems.
29 Jun 1998 : Column: 41
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