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Water
29. Mr. Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development if she will make a statement on the work her Department is doing to promote poor people's access to water in developing countries. [111201]
Clare Short: Access to clear, safe water is a major focus for our programme as it is crucial to health, agriculture and industry and freeing women and girls' time for education and production. We are giving increased priority to water and sanitation in our work. One billion people still lack access to clean water and three billion to sanitation. It is estimated that by 2025 one in three people will be living in countries subject to chronic water scarcity unless water resources are used more efficiently.
Kenya (Schools)
30. Mr. Blizzard: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what steps her Department is taking to support the development of schools in Kenya. [111202]
Clare Short: We have recently made a grant of £13.36 million over a period of three years to assist the Kenyan Ministry of Education to strengthen primary education. In partnership with the Ministry of Education we will provide textbooks for the poorest schools in 25 of the poorest districts as well as implement a schools-based teacher development programme. Through this project we will work with the Ministry of Education to encourage key reforms and strengthen our dialogue with the Government of Kenya.
We are also supporting management training of all primary head teachers and all women primary deputy head teachers throughout Kenya in order to help increase the efficiency of primary school management and contributing to improved attitudes towards girls, and children with special needs.
Aid Statistics
Mrs. Gillan: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what percentage of British (a) bilateral and (b) multilateral aid was allocated to states in (i) Africa, (ii) Asia, (iii) Latin America and (iv) Europe in (1) 1996, (2) 1997, (3) 1998 and (4) 1999; and what is her estimate of the equivalent figure in 2000. [112114]
Clare Short: The information requested is given in the table for the Department for International Development expenditure only (other UK aid is excluded as we do not have the required details for the later years). Multilateral assistance cannot be readily broken down by region but we conduct special exercises periodically to estimate the geographical distribution of our contributions to multilateral institutions. The latest exercise was conducted in 1997.
(10) General allocations (eg humanitarian assistance, scholarship schemes) which cannot be assigned to regions in advance are included in 'other bilateral'.
(11) Includes contributions from other government Departments to multilateral institutions.
Note:
Columns may not sum to totals due to rounding.
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Mrs. Gillan:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what steps the Government are taking to alleviate the suffering of those people in the Congo who are under immediate threat of severe hunger. [112322]
Clare Short:
I refer the hon. Member to the reply I gave to the hon. Member for Buckingham (Mr. Bercow) on 27 January 2000, Official Report, column 320W.
Mr. Canavan:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development (1) what assessment she made
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of the human rights record of the People's Republic of China before her Department became involved in the exchange arrangements between the Scottish Police College and the State Police of the People's Republic of China; [112455]
Clare Short:
My Department has played no role in any exchange arrangements between the Scottish Police College and the State Police of the People's Republic of China.
1 Mar 2000 : Column: 301W
Mr. Field:
To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will list the local authorities inspected by the Benefit Fraud Inspectorate which were found to have Housing Benefit application forms that did not ask for a claimant's (a) income and (b) National Insurance number. [111240]
Angela Eagle
[holding answer 21 February 2000]: To date the BFI have completed 41 local authority inspections. They found:
The Verification Framework, available to all LAs as good practice guidance and a mandatory set of instructions for those LAs which receive additional funding, requires that the claim form should collect the NINO for the claimant and the partner.
Mr. Paul Marsden:
To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will estimate how many (a) widows and (b) widowers will benefit from the Welfare Reform Bill and by how much in (i) Shrewsbury and Atcham and (ii) Shropshire; and if he will make a statement. [111447]
Angela Eagle:
The information is not available in the format requested. Such information as is available is in the table.
(2) if she will make a statement about the role of her Department in the exchange arrangements between the Scottish Police College and the State Police of the People's Republic of China. [112454]
no cases where the Housing Benefit application form did not ask for any details of a claimant's income, although there were examples where the claim form did not request information on all relevant income required to determine entitlement to benefit;
one case (London Borough of Croydon, inspected in June 1998) where the form did not ask for the National Insurance number. There were other examples where the request for the National Insurance number was restricted to specific circumstances.
Since 6 September 1999, a person making a claim for Housing Benefit or Council Tax Benefit must provide (in relation to themself and any partner in respect of whom they are claiming benefit) a National Insurance number and evidence that that number has been allocated to them; or information to allow one to be to be traced or allocated. LAs should, therefore, now have procedures in place to ensure that claimants meet this requirement and to be able to show that this procedure has been followed.
| Widows | Widowers | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Numbers affected | Average gain (£) | Numbers affected | Average gain (£) | |
| Bereavement Payment | 40,000 | 1,000 | 15,000 | 2,000 |
| Widowed Parents Allowance | -- | -- | 25,000 | (12)45-50 |
| Bereavement Allowance | -- | -- | 10,000 | (12)30 |
(12) Per week (net)
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Housing Benefit
Mr. Neil Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will list the amount of housing benefit paid to each local authority in respect of non-local authority rented housing for the years (a) 1995-96, (b) 1996-97, (c) 1997-98, (d) 1998-99, and (e) 1999-2000, indicating the average number of recipients for each authority. [110949]
Angela Eagle: The information has been placed in the Library.
CSA
Mr. Alexander: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many compensation payments from the Child Support Agency have been awarded since its establishment of (a) under £100, (b) £101 to £500, (c) £501 to £1,000 and (d) £1,001 to £5,000; and what has been the total amount paid in compensation payments. [111437]
Angela Eagle: The administration of the Child Support Agency is a matter for the Chief Executive, Mrs. Faith Boardman. She will write to my hon. Friend.
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| Number of payments | Total amount paid (£) | |
|---|---|---|
| 1998-99 | 151 | 458,206 |
| 1999-2000(13) | 216 | 395,323 |
(13) Up to 30 September 1999
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