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Digital Equipment
Mr. Yeo: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how many digital radios are owned by her Department for use in departmental buildings from which Ministers work; and what the (a) cost and (b) date of purchase of each radio was. [52852]
Clare Short: DFID have no digital radios.
Solar Panels
Ian Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what buildings owned by her Department in the United Kingdom have solar panels installed. [53489]
Clare Short: DFID have no solar panels installed on our buildings. Options for utilising renewable energy resources were studied in 2000–01. Solar panels were not appropriate or viable due to the configurations and locations of our two main UK offices. The studies showed that subject to planning permission, a wind turbine should be investigated for our East Kilbride office. This work, looking at location and wind regimes, is on-going.
Belize
Matthew Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, pursuant to her answer of 20 March 2002, Official Report, column 369W, regarding Belize, when in November 2001 officials from her Department held a meeting with Prime Minister Musa and Minister Fonseca; and where this meeting took place. [53413]
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Clare Short: My officials met with Prime Minister Musa and Minister Fonseca on 20 November 2001 in Belmopan.
Matthew Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, pursuant to her answer of 20 March 2002, Official Report, column 369W, regarding Belize, when she took her decision not to grant debt relief under the Commonwealth Debt Initiative to Belize. [53411]
Clare Short: My decision not to grant debt relief under the Commonwealth Debt Initiative to Belize was taken in September 2001.
Press Office
Mr. Burns: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what the total cost of running the Department's press office was in (a) 1996–97 and (b) the latest year for which figures are available. [46814]
Clare Short: DFID's Information Department includes the Public Enquiry Point, Publications, Development Awareness and Knowledge Management as well as the press office. It would involve disproportionate cost to break down the press office element of the total expenditure.
Engineering
Mrs. Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development if she will make a statement regarding the projects within her Department that aim to strengthen professional engineering in developing countries, indicating which countries are involved. [49829]
Clare Short: The provision and maintenance of water, transport and energy infrastructure underpins much of what we do to eliminate poverty and encourage pro-poor economic growth. In all programmes we will try to include an element of strengthening and training into the institutions which provide the engineering services. Our Knowledge and Research programmes regularly look at projects which try to improve the technical standards and the quality of decision making for the engineering profession in developing countries.
However more specifically the Strengthening Professional Engineering Associations Project (SPEAP) has been using the Institution of Civil Engineers to study the particular needs of the engineering profession in Bangladesh, India, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Nepal, Pakistan, Tanzania, and Uganda.
Infrastructure services consume a very large proportion of public funds in developing countries. The rationale for the project lies in the recognition that poor quality engineering often leads to the inefficient use of those funds and the rapid deterioration of facilities. Earthquake disasters result in loss of life which could be mostly avoided by implementation of simple engineering good practice. As we move away from donor supervised project level support towards budget and sectoral support the quality of local professional services becomes increasingly critical. A strengthened profession will help to maintain higher standards and improve decision making to the benefit of the whole community.
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The project will also address the impact of strengthened professional standards on professional integrity and corruption and look at the potential impact of the GATS 2000 decisions in respect of the worldwide trade in engineering services. If engineering qualification and standards are not raised to internationally accepted norms then the full benefits will not be realised.
Throughout our work in engineering we are continuously emphasising the broader responsibilities of engineers towards the social and environmental issues associated with infrastructure developments.
Afghanistan
Llew Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what steps Her Majesty's Government have taken to provide aid to Afghanistan following the earthquake in that country on 25 March. [49270]
Clare Short: The earthquake which struck northern Afghanistan on 25 March is estimated to have killed around 800 people and left 20,000 families in need of food and shelter assistance.
My Department deployed a team from its Kabul office to assess the situation and established a co-ordination centre in the affected area on behalf of OCHA.
While most of the acute needs of the affected population have been met, the focus of the response is now shifting towards reconstruction. UN agencies have delivered relief items from existing stockpiles including tents, blankets, mattresses, plastic sheeting, clothing, shoes, kitchen sets, jerrycans, hygiene kits, and soap.
Since September last year, DFID has provided £60 million in response to the Afghan crisis, through UN agencies, the Red Cross movement and non-governmental organisations.
Annual Report
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development when her Department's annual report is being published. [48873]
Clare Short: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given on 24 April 2002, Official Report, column 316W.
Debt Relief
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how the Government calculates the cut-off date for eligibility for debt relief; and what post cut-off date relief packages have been agreed. [53613]
Mr. Boateng: I have been asked to reply.
The United Kingdom grants 100 per cent. debt relief on all official debt currently owned by countries eligible for the enhanced heavily indebted poor countries' initiative once these countries have reached decision point. No distinction is made between pre and post cut off date debt as defined by the Paris Club of official creditors. The Government have pressed all creditors to follow this example.
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DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER
Bushmeat
Mr. Gardiner: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what plans he has to raise the subject of the trade in bushmeat at the Johannesburg World Summit. [48156]
Mr. Meacher: I have been asked to reply.
The Government's work to tackle the trade in bushmeat is primarily channelled through the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) and the Convention on Biodiversity (CBD). We have funded research to analyse knowledge on the bushmeat trade, highlight gaps in data and understanding, and recommend further action. The Government support a number of initiatives with links to bushmeat, such as the UK Bushmeat Working Group.
Although the UK Government have not planned to raise the specific subject of trade in bushmeat at WSSD, this issue has links with the Johannesburg agenda. The Government's priorities for the summit include poverty eradication and sustainable livelihoods. Action in these areas will address the diverse underlying causes of bushmeat trade.
National Insurance
Mr. Andrew Turner: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what his estimate is of the cost in a full year of the Budget changes to employers' National Insurance contributions to (a) his Department, (b) agencies of his Department, (c) local government carrying out functions within the responsibility of his Department and (d) the Duchy of Lancaster. [51954]
Mr. Leslie: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to him by the Chief Secretary to the Treasury, my right hon. Friend the Member for Oxford, East (Mr. Smith) on 29 April 2002, Official Report, column 544W.
Civil Service
Mr. McNamara: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what the salary costs have been to each Government Department of employing staff from employment agencies to undertake work as (a) administrative assistant or equivalent, (b) administrative officer or equivalent, (c) administrative executive officer, (d) higher executive officer and (e) senior executive officer located in (i) London and (ii) the south-east in each year since 1995. [52095]
Mr. Leslie: Details of salary costs incurred as a result of employing staff from employment agencies are not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Mr. McNamara: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what the starting salary is for a civil servant employed at each level for each Government Department. [52094]
Mr. Leslie: Responsibility for pay, outside the senior civil service, is delegated to Departments and agencies. Starting salaries are therefore a matter for the Department or agency concerned and will depend on the job to be done and the skills and experience of the individual.
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Information on civil service pay, broken down by salary and responsibility level, is published in the "Civil Service Statistics 2000" and is based on 1 April 2000 data. Copies of the publication can be found in the Library of the House.
Tim Loughton: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister if his Department is running a recruitment campaign to encourage graduates to join the civil service. [53261]
Mr. Leslie: The Cabinet Office is responsible for fast stream recruitment which is aimed at graduates who have the potential to reach the senior levels of the civil service. The current recruitment campaign includes elements aimed both specifically at the fast stream, and also at encouraging interest in civil service careers more generally, for example:
- Production and distribution of fast stream information packs to all university career services in the UK
Attendance at career fairs, including diversity fairs, at universities around the country (programme to date has been placed in the Library)
Advertising in The Guardian (Society and Rise sections)
Advertisement in Disability Now
Advertisement monthly in Ready Willing and Able (disability publication)
An entry on the following internet sites:
www.skills.org.uk
www.gradunet.co.uk
www.blackbritain.co.uk
www.prospects.ac.uk
Advertisement in Prospects Directory (annual, guide to employers)
A programme of careers presentations in universities by current fast streamers
Publicising and administering the summer development programme to select 60 ethnic minority undergraduates for a six to eight weeks development programme with the civil service
Two publications, "Work Experience in the Civil Service" and "Sandwich Course Placements", lodged with university career services and available on the internet, promoting work experience in the civil service
Work with the disability charity, Workable, to secure disabled undergraduates work experience in the civil service.
In addition to the fast stream, the Cabinet Office itself opens up a proportion of its junior and middle management posts (for which graduates may be eligible to apply) to external recruitment and plans to continue to do so in the coming year.
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