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Contraceptive Commodity Support Programme

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what contribution the UK has made to the United Nations Family Planning Agency's Contraceptive Commodity Support programme in (a) 2000, (b) 2001 and (c) 2002; and if she will make a statement. [37236]

Clare Short: No contribution was made in 2000 to the United Nations Population Fund's Contraceptive Commodity Support programme. My Department contributed £25 million in 2001. A decision has not yet been made about a contribution in 2002.

Afghanistan

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what projects her Department is supporting in respect of maternity clinics in Afghanistan; what steps her Department is taking to improve the conditions in (a) Malalai Maternity, (b) Rabia Balkhi Women's Hospital and (c) Kheikhana Hospital in Kabul; and if she will make a statement. [37235]

Clare Short: Maternal mortality in Afghanistan is the second highest in the world, and one in four children dies before reaching the age of five. Recent surveys have highlighted the weaknesses in Kabul's MCH services, which are mirrored elsewhere in the country.

Our support of £8 million to UNICEF includes assistance to MCH clinics including those in Kabul, by providing training on pregnancy and childbirth. We have also contributed £3 million to the World Health Organisation for public health surveillance and disease control. In addition, we are providing £1 million to the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent societies, to support the Afghan Red Crescent Society's

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nationwide network of 48 clinics offering MCH services; and supporting a number of quick impact recovery projects to rehabilitate MCH clinics.

Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development if she will make a statement on humanitarian aid to Afghanistan disbursed through the Central Asian Republics. [36122]

Clare Short: Significant quantities of food and other assistance have been delivered to Afghanistan through the Central Asian republics by the United Nations, the Red Cross movement and non-governmental organisations. The main routes are the Friendship Bridge from Uzbekistan, the Nizhny Pianj barge crossing from Tajikistan, the land route through Krgyztan and Tajikistan into Badakhshan via Ishkashim (used by the Russian Ministry of Emergencies with DFID funding), and the land route from Turkmenistan to Herat. In addition, the World Food Programme has flown food supplies into Faizabad from Kulyab Tajikistan.

The Central Asian routes were of particular importance while southern routes from pakistan and Iran could not be used for security reasons. With the improvement in the general security situation, the southern routes are now the main supply routes into Afghanistan.

Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what action her Department is taking to help internally displaced people surrounding Herat in western Afghanistan return to their homes. [36125]

Clare Short: The area surrounding Herat in western Afghanistan is home to the largest gathering of internally displaced people (IDPs) in the country. The largest organised camp is at Maslakh in Herat with an estimated population of 200,000. Assisted by the United Nations

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High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and non- governmental organisations (NGOs), the International Organisation for Migration is currently re-registering the IDPs in Maslakh as the first step in returning them to their homes.

We have committed over £3.5 million to the IOM and £3 million pounds to UNHCR to include provision for displaced people in the region; including for facilitating their safe return home.

Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what assessment she has made of levels of malnourishment amongst internally displaced people in Afghanistan. [36124]

Clare Short: There have been a number of nutritional surveys conducted by humanitarian agencies. These indicate that some remote areas are facing difficulty in receiving sufficient food aid.

The World Food Programme (WFP), the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and other humanitarian agencies are continuing to do their best to deliver life-saving assistance to those in need. WFP have recently launched rapid assessment helicopter missions to investigate reports of food shortages and other urgent needs in difficult-to-access areas of Afghanistan, especially western Afghanistan. We have contributed £6 million towards WFP's operations inside Afghanistan, for both direct procurement and transportation of food and for logistical support to help speed up the movement of food aid into the country. We have also supported a number of agencies—the United Nations, Red Cross and non-governmental organisations (NGOs)—for supplementary feeding and secondary distribution of food inside Afghanistan.

Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development if she will make a statement on the levels of humanitarian aid disbursed via the friendship bridge between Uzbekistan and Afghanistan. [36123]

Clare Short: The Friendship Bridge crossing from Termez, Uzbekistan to Hairaton, northern Afghanistan, has been operational since it was reopened by the Uzbek authorities on 9 December 2001. Useful quantities of food and other relief assistance have been transported by United Nations agencies and non-governmental organisations across the bridge, which is an important route into the north for both humanitarian and commercial traffic; for example, earlier this month over 3,700 tonnes of assistance were transported in one week across the bridge.

Advertising

Mr. Salmond: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what the expenditure was per campaign for the five most expensive media advertising campaigns her Department undertook in the past five Parliamentary sessions including the current Parliamentary session in (a) Scotland, (b) England, (c) Wales and (d) Northern Ireland; and for the last two Parliamentary sessions and the current session, when each advertising campaign (i) began and (ii) ended in (A) Scotland, (B) England, (C) Wales and (D) Northern Ireland. [37397]

Clare Short: DFID does not run a programme of media advertising campaigns.

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Mr. Salmond: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what the cost was of media advertising in each of the past five parliamentary sessions including the current session, for her Department in (a) England, (b) Wales and (c) Northern Ireland; and for the last two Parliamentary sessions and the current Parliamentary session, what the media advertising expenditure was per month in (i) England, (ii) Wales and (iii) Northern Ireland. [37409]

Clare Short: DFID does not undertake media advertising campaigns. The bulk of our media advertising expenditure is in relation to recruitment advertising, on which we spend around £1 million per year. It would involve disproportionate cost to break this figure down to the level of detail requested.

In addition, DFID commissioned a 12-page supplement in The Independent on the subject of globalisation to accompany the Government's second White Paper on International Development. The report was published on 12 December 2000 at a cost of £40,276.

Union Duties

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how many staff in her Department, agencies and non-departmental public bodies receive paid leave to undertake union duties; how many days they are allocated; and what has been the cost to public funds in each of the last four years. [36215]

Clare Short: There are 18 members of staff who are entitled to paid leave to undertake union duties in addition to two full time representatives of the Public and Commercial Services Union; in practice, one of two may take up that entitlement in any one year. There is no formally agreed number of days, each case being handled on its merits. The estimated cost to public funds in each of the last four years has been as follows:

Year	£
1998	356
1999	96
2000	155
2001	175

Website

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what the total cost of her Department's website was in real terms in each of the last four years; and how many hits it received in each of those years. [36146]

Clare Short: The total costs for the DFID website for the financial years 1998–99 to 2001–02 (to date) were as follows:

1998–99: £40,305


1999–2000: £42,731


2000–01: £61,612


2001–02: £131,381.

These figures include salary costs for the website manager, but exclude the costs of centrally provided departmental services (e.g. telephone charges). The figures for the current year include one-off costs for a

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complete redevelopment of the website to allow for a significant expansion in departmental material made available in electronic form, and in response to an increasing interest in the work of the Department.

The average weekly assessed hits for the same periods were:

1998–99: 37,000


1999–2000: 38,000


2000–01: 40,257


2001–02 ¹ : 77,841


¹ To date

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