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Departmental Expenditure

Mr. Don Foster: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, pursuant to her answer of 14 December 1998, Official Report, column 343, if she will list the expenditure not included in her answer incurred by (a) her agencies and non-departmental public bodies and (b) the Central Office of Information for relevant work carried out for her Department. [71005]

Clare Short: The answers are as follows:

(a) Since May 1997 the Commonwealth Scholarship Commission has spent around £1,000 advertising overseas awards tenable for British students. In 1997 and 1998, the Commonwealth Development Corporation spent around £340,000 on corporate advertising and staff recruitment.

(b) None.

Mr. Don Foster: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development if she will list the expenditure incurred by her Department, agencies and non-departmental public bodies on (a) the setting up and (b) the operation of web sites, indicating the cases in which the expenditure has been above that budgeted; and if she will list for each web site (i) the topics covered, (ii) the current average number of hits per month and (iii) the estimated expenditure on each web site for each of the next three years. [70969]

Clare Short: DFID has a website which was set up at a cost of £10,000; maintenance of the site costs £10,000 per annum and development costs in the first year of operation--1998/99--are £3,500. The site covers:

"Who we are", including basic data on the departmental structure, aims and personalities, links with other development related websites.

"Working with us", including recruitment, projects in the pipeline, development awareness information, research programmes and details of funding schemes.

"A closer look", including strategy papers, publications, project evaluation reports.

"News Centre", including briefings; press releases, speeches, statements, public opinion research, and new items on the website.

The average number of page hits each month is 124,000.

Maintenance and development costs over the next 3 years are not planned to increase substantially over current levels. Costs so far have been within budget provision.

The only other relevant body with its own website is the Commonwealth Development Corporation (CDC).

The cost of setting up the CDC website was £11,500.

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The topics covered are:

Expertise: a summary of CDC's functions and methods

Investment terms: summary of investment terms together with instructions on how to make an investment proposal.

CDC Worldwide: summary of worldwide operations and world map.

Press Releases: access to all the press releases issued in the last twelve months.

Links: links to various sites, including the DFID web page, international financial institutions and various other organisations.

Annual Report: the full contents of the 1997 Annual Report.

The CDC does not maintain an accurate register of hits. Due to planned overhaul, estimated expenditure for the next three years is:

1999: £30,000

2000: £10,000

2001: £10,000.

Mr. Don Foster: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, pursuant to her answer of 14 December 1998, Official Report, column 343, if she will list the expenditure not included in her answer incurred (a) by task forces and review bodies, (b) by focus groups, (c) on market research and (d) for publications and publicity; and if she will list the bodies which incurred the expenditure. [71006]

Clare Short: The Department for International Development has no formal (a) task forces and review bodies or (b) focus groups, and since May 1997 has incurred no expenditure on (c) market research beyond the research included in my answer of 14 December 1998, Official Report, column 343.

Since May 1997, the Department for International Development has (d) spent around £1 million on publications and publicity.

Papua New Guinea

Mr. Swayne: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development if she will make a statement regarding (a) British and (b) EU aid to Papua New Guinea. [71484]

Clare Short: The UK has a small programme of development assistance focusing on education in the Pacific region. But the majority of UK development assistance to Papua New Guinea is provided through support for regional initiatives, such as the Pacific Community and the South Pacific Forum, and through the EU. Britain also contributed £140,000 in response to the July 1998 tidal wave disaster.

During the period 1990-1995 Papua New Guinea received over 220 mecu under the first phase of the EC's Lome IV Convention. This is equivalent to about £180 million, of which the UK share was some £30 million. Under the second phase (1995-2000) the UK will have committed about £5 million to a programme worth 50 mecu (about £40 million) aimed at human resource and rural environment development.

Staff Travel

Mr. Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development if she will list the mileage rates currently applicable to staff, indicating what

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changes have been made to encourage staff to switch from cars to public transport and other less polluting forms of travel. [70957]

Clare Short: For official travel by private car the rates are:

37p a mile at standard rate and


23.8p a mile at public transport rate (where suitable officially provided transport or public transport is readily available).

The use of private cars for official journeys by staff in my Department is minimal. A Departmental Green Transport Plan is currently being prepared which will detail what action will be taken by the Department to promote and support the Government's objective of reducing the impact of travel on the environment.

Zimbabwe

Mr. Maclean: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development if she will list the British advisers supported by the British Government currently working for (a) the Government of Zimbabwe and (b) state-owned companies in Zimbabwe. [70578]

Clare Short: The British Government currently fund the following British advisers in:

Department	Advisers
	(a) the Zimbabwe Government
Central Statistical Office	Economic Statistics Adviser
Forestry Commission	Project Co-ordinator
Ministry of Land and Agriculture	Epidemiologist, Research Adviser (x2)
Ministry of Defence	Civil Adviser, Military Advisers (x9)
Ministry of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs	Legal Training Adviser
Ministry of Industry and Commerce	Private sector development consultant
Ministry of Local Government and National Housing	Project Support Officer (x2)
	Development in Practice (consultancy team)
Ministry of Rural Resources and Water Development	Water Quality Adviser
	Hydrologist
	Hydrological Systems Analyst
Ministry of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare	Adviser to Public Service Commission
Ministry of Transport and Energy	Transport Research Adviser
	(b) State-owned companies
None

Ministerial Visits

Mr. Gray: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development if she will list the parliamentary constituencies which she has visited in an official capacity in the past 12 months. [71346]

Clare Short: The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State and I have undertaken a number of visits to regions around the UK in the past 12 months as part of the Department for International Development's strategy of engaging the public in development. Records of official

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visits are not held on constituency basis as many will have taken in more than one constituency at a time. Since March 1998, the following cities or regions were visited:

Bath;

Belfast;

Birmingham;

Blackpool;

Bradford;

Carlisle;

Cardiff;

Chester;

Durham;

Edinburgh;

Leeds;

Manchester;

Milton Keynes;

Northampton;

Oxford;

Western Isles;

York.

PRESIDENT OF THE COUNCIL

Staff Travel

Mr. Baker: To ask the President of the Council if she will list the mileage rates currently applicable to staff, indicating what changes have been made to encourage staff to switch from cars to public transport and other less polluting forms of travel. [70959]

Mrs. Beckett: No staff of the Privy Council Office currently claim car mileage allowances. Any such claims would be payable at a flat rate of 40 pence per mile for the first 4,000 miles in any year and 22.5 pence per mile thereafter. The policy of the department is not to provide higher differential rates for larger capacity engines.

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