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INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Crisis Management

Mr. Cohen: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how much of her Department's budget has been allocated to (a) crisis management and (b) crisis prevention in the current financial year; what the figures were five years ago; and if she will make a statement. [113063]

Mr. Foulkes: We have allocated £61 million for centrally funded conflict and humanitarian assistance in 2000-01. This compares with expenditure of £57 million in the same area in 1997-98 (the earliest year in which comparable figures are available). Chapter 6 of the Departmental Report 2000, a copy of which is in the Library of the House, provides information on the Government's policy and performance in this area.

Tanzania

Mr. Streeter: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what assessment she has made of the application of Tanzania for debt relief. [118038]

Mr. Foulkes: Although it is one of the world's poorest countries, over recent years Tanzania has made important progress in introducing structural reforms and stabilising its economy. Despite limited resources, with help from its international partners including Britain, Tanzania, to its credit, has met most of its very substantial external debt obligations. It has now begun to repay domestic debt arrears and is refocusing its budget on poverty reduction. As a result, the Boards of the World bank and the IMF agreed last week to support a comprehensive debt reduction package under the enhanced Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Initiative. This will be worth about US$3 billion over 20 years from all creditors and will be used by the Government of Tanzania for additional public expenditures on poverty reduction measures. Pending achievement of a number of conditions, including preparation of a comprehensive Poverty Reduction Strategy taking account of the views of civil society, interim relief from the IMF and the IDA will begin this month.

Secondments

Mr. Don Foster: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, pursuant to her answer of

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8 February 2000, Official Report, columns 89-90W, concerning secondments, which of the secondees listed were appointed for a period of 12 months or less. [124827]

Mr. Foulkes: None of the secondees were appointed for 12 months or less.

Albania

Dr. Tonge: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what progress has been made with the weapons for development project in the Gramsh region of Albania; and if she will make a statement. [125014]

Mr. Foulkes: A total of 5,812 arms and 137 tonnes of ammunition have been collected in Gramsh District, Albania. Nine of the 12 projects identified by the local community for development have been completed; the remaining three are in progress.

The success of the pilot project in Gramsh has led to the formation of the Albanian Government's Weapons Collection Commission and the replication of the project by UNDP in two further districts, Elbasan and Diber, to which we have contributed an additional £600,000.

Kosovo

Dr. Tonge: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development if she will make a statement on the withdrawal of her Department's emergency and conflict funds for Kosovo. [125000]

Mr. Foulkes: As Kosovo enters a new phase, with the bulk of the UK's programme of immediate humanitarian support completed, so our focus, along with the rest of the international community, has switched to longer term reconstruction and development. This year we have already committed £29 million in bilateral support for reconstruction; as part of this we are developing a technical assistance programme of £5 million to support institution and capacity building. In addition, we shall contribute around £39 million as our share of the EC's programme.

We will continue to monitor the humanitarian situation and will respond accordingly should a new emergency arise. We have committed an additional £8 million for humanitarian mine action this financial year and continue to support the work of the international relief agencies.

European Community Humanitarian Office

Mr. Worthington: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what proposals she has to improve the performance of ECHO. [121096]

Mr. Foulkes: Two major independent evaluations of EU humanitarian aid were carried out in 1998 and 1999. These evaluations gave a positive overall assessment of ECHO's performance, but identified a number of areas for improvement. Last October the Commission produced a Communication in response to the evaluations, which set out an Action Plan to tackle the weaknesses. We broadly support the Commission's proposals, and are engaged in ensuring the Plan is implemented effectively.

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As part of this process, the Development Council has approved a resolution which will guide and encourage the Commission's actions.

Heavily Indebted Poor Countries

Dr. Harris: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how much each heavily indebted poor country has spent on arms exported from the UK in each of the last three years. [118333]

Clare Short: I refer the hon. Member to Part III of the Government's 1997 and 1998 Annual Reports on Strategic Arms Control. Part III lists numbers and values of UK exports of military equipment by country where this information is available. Information on exports of military equipment during 1999 will be included in the 1999 Annual Report which will be published in due course. The hon. Member should also refer to the accompanying text and explanatory note to the table in Part III which details the sources of the information used and the extent of the coverage of that information.

China

Mr. Streeter: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development if she will list the projects currently funded by her Department in China. [124561]

Mr. Foulkes: The UK is working with the Government of China to build up a new poverty-focused programme, targeting the inland provinces where the majority of the poor are located. My Department is providing support to health and education; economic reform; and the environment. The programme is expected to increase from £20 million in 2001-01 to £25 million in 2001-02.

A full list of activities, together with our Country Strategy Paper, will be placed in the Library of the House.

EDUCATION AND EMPLOYMENT

Playgroups

Ms Kelly: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment how much his Department has spent in each year since 1997 on the provision of playgroups; how many playgroups have been established; and how many children have used them. [122603]

Ms Hodge [holding answer 18 May 2000]: The Department will provide £40 million of funding for three-year-old nursery education in the voluntary sector (pre-schools and playgroups) during the financial year 2000-01 and this is estimated to provide 33,000 places. This compares with estimated funding of £16 million during the financial year 1999-2000, or the provision of 17,000 places. Playgroups will also benefit from child care grants and the Working Families Tax credit.

In addition, we have announced funding of £500,000 for a further scheme to assist pre-schools and playgroups facing financial difficulties, to give them a further breathing space as policy initiatives work through to individual groups, and £250,000 for projects to help pre-schools and playgroups, develop, in partnership with others, as the early education and care places expand.

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Information on the number of new playgroups which have been established since 1997 is not collected. Annual information on playgroups and other Day Care facilities is published in the Statistical Volume "Children's Day Care Facilities (as at 31 March)" which is available from the Library. The Department plans to publish provisional national estimates about playgroups (as at 31 March 2000) in a Statistical First release in July.

Around £357 million of Nursery Education Grant has been made available to fund early years places for four-year-olds in the private, voluntary and independent sectors since 1997.

Furthermore, the Department has provided over £8 million to the Pre-School Learning Alliance (PLA) since 1997 to support its training infrastructure and to help improve the quality and marketing of groups. This includes a grant under Section 64 of the Health and Public Services Act 1968 towards PLA core funding.

Training and Enterprise Councils

Mr. Boswell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if he will make a statement on his plans for the disposition of assets held by TECs in cases where it is unclear whether all or part of their acquisition costs was derived from public funds. [123977]

Mr. Wicks [holding answer 5 June 2000]: We intend to seek to reach agreement with each TEC on the disposition of all assets, irrespective of how they were funded. Our aim in discussions with TECs will be to ensure that assets continue to benefit local communities and that public resources are safeguarded. We envisage there will be a range of different solutions to reflect different local circumstances.

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