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INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT
South Africa (AIDS)
Mr. Simon Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how much financial aid the UK Government have allocated to help combat the AIDS epidemic in South Africa. [14455]
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Clare Short: DFID is currently designing a new multi-sectoral HIV/AIDS programme, due to start next year, with an anticipated budget of £40 million over four years. Since 1994, the UK Government have allocated £19 million to help combat the HIV/AIDS epidemic in South Africa.
Mr. Simon Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what steps she has taken to help combat the AIDS epidemic in South Africa. [14454]
Clare Short: DFID's co-operation with South Africa includes support to the Government's National HIV/AIDS and STD programme, finance for a national condom social marketing programme and assistance to various NGOs to help promote behaviour change and improve HIV/AIDS-related services. We are now working with South African partners to design a substantial new initiative which will extend our support to include the education system and the private sector.
Democratic Republic of Congo
Dr. Tonge: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development if she will make a statement on progress made by the UN panel in Zimbabwe on the report into resource exploitation in the Democratic Republic of Congo. [14401]
Clare Short: The final report of the UN panel into resource exploitation in the Democratic Republic of Congo has not yet been published. The report is due to be published in the near future. We are not aware of the contents of the final report.
Commonwealth Scholarships
Dr. Tonge: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how many students from southern Sudan have been awarded Commonwealth scholarships in 2000–01. [14400]
Clare Short: Sudan is not a member of the Commonwealth and is not eligible for such awards.
Dr. Tonge: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how many Commonwealth scholarships have been awarded to students who were nominated by bodies other than the student's own Government in 2000–01. [14399]
Clare Short: In 2000–01, 241 individuals took up places under the Commonwealth Scholarship and Fellowship plan, 134 of whom were nominated through agencies appointed by the governments of their respective countries. 107 were also nominated directly from their universities, except in the case of the Indian sub- continent, where nominations come from the national university authorities of the countries concerned.
World Trade Summit
Llew Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development which non-Governmental organisations she has invited to accompany the United Kingdom delegation to the world trade negotiations in Doha. [14683]
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Clare Short: The official UK delegation included representation from the Confederation of British Industry, the Trades Union Congress and the UK NGO Trade Network.
Llew Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development if she will set out the policies she plans to put forward at the world trade summit in Doha; and if she will place in the Library copies of all documents (a) submitted by the United Kingdom to the Doha summit and (b) distributed at Doha by (i) other countries and (ii) international bodies. [14694]
Clare Short: I advocated the launch of a 'Development Round' in which cuts are made to the tariffs and subsidies which act as barriers to the exports of developing countries, and in which the problems developing countries face in implementing WTO agreements are addressed.
I will have the documents submitted by the UK to the WTO Ministerial placed in the Library. However, I regret that the other documents requested are not available to me.
Uganda/Rwanda
Mr. Austin Mitchell: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development if she will make a statement on the outcome of the talks between the presidents of Uganda and Rwanda on Tuesday 6 November. [14534]
Clare Short: This was an important and fruitful meeting. The two Presidents signed an Understanding not to interfere in each other's affairs and to set up mechanisms to monitor this with the UK acting as Third Party. The Prime Minister briefly joined the talks.
Sex Trade (Africa)
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what actions the Government are taking to reduce the sex trade in young girls in (a) the Ivory Coast and (b) Africa. [14074]
Clare Short: The Government have signed the optional protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child that strengthens the protection it gives against the sale of children, and child prostitution, and also the new convention against transnational crime that includes a protocol on trafficking of women and children.
Our support for the work of the International Labour Organisation is focused on eliminating such worst forms of child labour.
We are working with European partners and African states on this issue. It was one of the most important issues tackled at the recent Africa-EU summit. The states in the region are making serious efforts to counter it.
Consultation Documents
Sandra Gidley: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how many consultation documents were issued by her Department and its predecessor office from (a) 15 October to 14 January, (b) 15 January to 14 April, (c) 15 April to 14 July and (d) 15 July to 14 October in each year from 1996. [12900]
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Clare Short: The following consultation documents were issued by my Department:
- One in the period 15 July 20 14 October 1997;
- Two in the period 15 April to 14 July 1999;
- Three in the period 15 October 1999 to 14 January 2000;
- One in the period 15 January to 14 April 2000;
- Two in the period 15 April to 14 July 2000;l
- One in the period 15 October 2000 to 14 January 2001; and
- One in the period 15 January to 14 April 2001.
HEALTH
Cardiologists
Mr. Swire: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many qualified cardiologists there were in (a) 1996–97 and (b) 2000–01. [15144]
Mr. Hutton: The information requested is provided in the table. Data for 2000 are the latest available.
| Number | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1996 | 1997 | 1998 | 1999 | 2000 | |
| All staff | 1,020 | 1,080 | 1,220 | 1,220 | 1,340 |
| Consultants | 390 | 400 | 460 | 470 | 550 |
Note:
Figures are rounded to the nearest ten.
Source:
Department of Health medical and dental workforce census
Nurses
Dr. Fox: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what is the baseline year for measuring the extra numbers of nurses recruited to meet the target contained in the National Plan. [15053]
Mr. Hutton: The baseline for the NHS Plan workforce targets is the 1999 workforce census.
Student Nurses
Mr. Heald: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what grants are available to student nurses on (a) diploma and (b) degree courses. [14141]
Mr. Hutton: National health service bursaries are available to those accepted onto NHS-funded pre- registration nurse training programmes at both diploma and degree levels.
Those undertaking the diploma-level qualification receive a non-means tested bursary (currently £5,305 (£6,232 in London)), while those on the degree-level programme receive a means tested bursary (current rate £2,098 (£2,578 in London)) and student loan. Degree- level students receive additional payments to take account of the longer length of academic year undertaken by health professional students and for both groups additional allowances are available to older students, single parents and others with dependants.
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In addition the NHS meets all students' liability for a tuition fee contribution (currently £1,075) on their behalf, in full and without means testing.
With effect from September the basic bursaries were increased by 10.4 per cent. coupled with a 2.4 per cent. inflation increase in the additional allowances and other elements of the bursary scheme. This is the biggest increase since the introduction of the bursary more than 10 years ago.
Mr. Heald: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what arrangements exist to help student nurses complete their courses in the event of financial hardship. [14142]
Mr. Hutton: National health service-funded students studying at degree-level who have taken out their full entitlement to a bursary and loan and who find themselves in financial difficulty can apply through their university/ college for additional help in the form of hardship loans. Degree-level students who have exhausted all other sources of financial help may, in exceptional circumstances be eligible for an NHS hardship grant.
My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Education and Skills announced on 4 October 2001 that there would be a review of student funding policy, to include consideration of hardship support. The Department will consider the findings of the review in relation to NHS- funded students.
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