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UN Programmes
Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what reforms in the UN Development Programme and the UN Education, Scientific and Cultural Organisation have been assisted by financial support from her Department. [67485]
Clare Short: UNDP has embarked on an ambitious and wide-ranging reform programme which includes sharpening the focus of UNDP's programmes, improving the quality of its Resident Co-ordinators and developing its results-based management system. DFID has committed about £3.5 million in technical co-operation to support UNDP's reform programme. Our support is helping UNDP to strengthen its results-based management; to strengthen its partnerships with civil society, international financial institutions and the private sector; to focus the UN system around the Millennium Development Goals; and to develop the competencies for senior UNDP posts overseas. DFID is also providing significant support to build UNDP's capacity to respond to crisis and emergency situations.
DFID has collaborated with UNESCO to develop its results-based programming system and helped with training to the value of £100,000 for UNESCO's staff in project cycle management. DFID is supporting training (£750,000) for UNESCO staff in the use of new financial, budget and accounting systems, which support the results-based programming system. DFID also provides support (£250,000) for the evaluation work of UNESCO's new internal oversight system.
Departmental Office, East Kilbride
Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development if she will provide a breakdown of the costs of the refurbishment of the Department's offices in East Kilbride. [67487]
Clare Short: The estimated total budget for the full rehabilitation and the new annex is £17.6 million. The final design of the rehabilitation has still to be completed but the estimates are:
- Annex—£2.1 million
Main building rehabilitation—£11.6 million
Professional fees—£1.4 million
VAT @ 17.5 per cent.—£2.5 million.
Statistical Capacity
Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development if she will provide a breakdown of her Department's expenditure since 1998–99 on Statistical Capacity referred to on page 104 of the 2002 departmental report. [67514]
Clare Short: The Department for International Development is committed to improving the capacity of Governments in developing countries to produce, analyse
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and disseminate statistical information. This is essential to provide Governments with the information needed to prioritise scarce resources, to develop and monitor effective policies, and to monitor progress towards the Millennium Development Goals.
The majority of DFID's activities in this area consist of working with partner Governments directly to support their statistical capacity building programmes.
Recognising that there is a limit to what we can do individually, the Department is also increasingly supporting international statistical capacity building initiatives. This is the 'Statistical Capacity' expenditure given on page 104 of the Departmental Report. This includes providing funding to a World Bank Trust Fund for Statistical Capacity Building (TFSCB), supporting the Partnership in Statistics for development in the 21st Century (PARIS21) initiative (a consortium of statisticians, policy makers and civil society working to improve statistical capacity globally) and supporting poverty monitoring as part of Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSPs) and similar country-owned poverty reduction strategies.
A detailed breakdown is provided in the following table. Please note that this excludes expenditure going directly to countries, which is included within the bilateral country and regional programme expenditure. It also excludes any expenditure on statistics spent through sector programmes such as health or education.
| 1999–2000 | 2000–01 | 2001–02 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| World Bank TFSCB | 227 | 1,451 | 1,720 |
| PARIS21 initiative | — | 401 | 410 |
| PRSP poverty monitoring | — | — | 400 |
| International comparisons programme | — | — | 210 |
| World Bank poverty statistician | — | 163 | 116 |
| Training and research | 3 | 33 | 241 |
| Total | 230 | 2,049 | 3,097 |
As a comparison, the total expenditure going directly to statistical capacity building programmes in 1999–2000, 2000–01 and 2001–02 was £0.5 million, £3.6 million and £5.7 million, respectively. In addition to the expenditure in the table, these totals include some country statistical programmes. But these figures still exclude the majority of statistical capacity building assistance which is normally provided as part of broader development programmes and not recorded separately in our systems as statistical capacity building.
DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER
Social Housing
Jeremy Corbyn: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how many English planning appeals in each of the past three years have resulted in increased social housing provision. [68615]
Mr. McNulty: The information requested is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
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Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre
Laura Moffatt: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister whether a decision has been taken to authorise the replacement of the existing ozone-depleting CFC-based air conditioning chillers at the Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre with a new refrigerant system. [68861]
Mr. Leslie: The existing QEII Conference Centre air conditioning system uses CFC as a refrigerant. Legislation resulting from the Montreal Protocol proscribes the supply and topping-up of CFCs for the maintenance of refrigeration and air-conditioning systems. Taken together with the age of the existing plant, a replacement system is required.
Following extensive consultations and evaluation, I have decided to authorise the replacement of the old ozone-depleting CFC air conditioning chillers at the Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre.
The optimum replacement solution has been identified as ammonia-based chiller technology, which has no ozone or global warming depletion potential. Ammonia-based chiller technology is widely accepted as the most efficient and environmentally friendly refrigerant, has better whole life costs and represents value for money.
This decision has been taken fully in accordance with Government policy and the UK climate change programme.
Local Government Finance
Mr. Watts: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what plans he has to pay grant to local authorities under round 4 of the Invest to Save Budget and under the local government on-line programme. [68860]
Mr. Leslie: I have today laid before the House a report which sets out my Department's intention to pay some £21.7 million of grant to local authorities to support 23 innovative projects under round 4 of HM Treasury's Invest to Save Budget (ISB).
As is often the case with pioneering work, there have been some delays for a minority of projects funded under previous ISB rounds in achieving their key milestones. The report therefore contains powers to roll forward unclaimed grant to these projects to enable them to complete their work.
The report also contains powers to pay grant under the £350 million local government on-line programme of up to £47 million to help develop and support 64 e-government partnerships and up to a further £1.75 million to support further dissemination of best practice from the 25 e-government pathfinders.
Development Plans
Lawrie Quinn: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister when his Department will publish guidance on the better management and preparation of development plans. [68765]
Mr. McNulty: Today I am pleased to announce that we are launching a document called "Making plans".
Development plans are a way of mapping the future for communities and are critical to improving our towns and cities. So it is vital these must be up-to-date to reflect the
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changing aspirations and priorities of the community. Plans which do not have people at their heart are destined to fail.
It is time for councils to get on with these plans and not wait for any new legislation as the basic principles of good planning won't change. Plans need to be clear and they need to involve the community.
The guide makes it clear that many of the principles set out in last December's planning Green Paper can be acted on now. It emphasises the need for a clear strategy with an implementation programme.
But most of all it stresses a principle central to the Green Paper that real, proper participation by the community from the start of any planning process leads to much better plans at the end.
The report, produced by the consultants Baker Associates with BDOR and Gradwell Corporate Design, is available in the Library of the House.
Homelessness
Mr. Pickles: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister (1) how many homeless households were living in (a) bed and breakfast and (b) temporary accommodation in each of the last five years; and if he will make a statement; [65853]
- (2) how many households are living in accommodation arranged by local authorities under the homelessness provisions of the Housing Acts 1985 and 1996; and if he will make a statement; [65859]
(3) what estimate he has made of how many homeless people living in (a) bed and breakfast and (b) temporary accommodation are ex-service men; and if he will make a statement; [65991]
(4) how many homeless people are living in (a) bed and breakfast and (b) temporary accommodation, broken down by ethnic group; and if he will make a statement; [65852]
(5) what estimate he has made of how many children were homeless in England and Wales in each of the last five years; and if he will make a statement. [65855]
Mr. McNulty: Summary information on activity under statutory homelessness provisions is reported to the Department by local authorities in England. This includes the number of households accepted under the homelessness provisions of the 1985 and 1996 Housing Acts as being eligible for assistance, unintentionally homeless and in priority need, and the number of these households resident in various types of temporary accommodation at the end of each quarter.
National and some regional information on local authorities' activity is provided in a quarterly Statistical Release published by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister. Table 6 presents a breakdown of numbers of households in various types of temporary accommodation, including bed and breakfast, as at the end of each quarter since 1995. Copies are available in the Library, and also via the ODPM's website. The latest edition, published on 17 June 2002, presents statistics up to the end of March 2002. A copy is enclosed for the hon. Member's use.
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Available information collected centrally on the number of households living in various forms of temporary accommodation does not distinguish those including ex-service personnel, nor an analysis by ethnic group.
Precise information on the total number of children in households accepted as homeless is not collected, but rounded estimates derived from data reported by local authorities in England are as follows.
| Total households with children | Estimated number of children | |
|---|---|---|
| 1997 | 58,780 | 104,100 |
| 1998 | 61,400 | 109,100 |
| 1999 | 62,000 | 108,400 |
| 2000 | 64,980 | 112,600 |
| 2001 | 66,970 | 112,700 |
Source:
ODPM quarterly P1E housing activity returns
For corresponding information about Welsh authorities, I refer the hon. Member to my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Wales.
Mr. Laws: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how many people were homeless in (a) England, (b) the South-West, and (c) the Yeovil constituency in each year since 1985–86; and if he will make a statement. [66297]
Mr. McNulty: The Yeovil constituency is within South Somerset district council area, which also includes part of the Somerton and Frome constituency. The available information is as follows:
| England | South West | South Somerset district council | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1985–86 | (7)83,710 | 6,580 | 171 |
| 1986–87 | (7)91,960 | 6,940 | 170 |
| 1987–88 | (7)98,890 | 7,260 | 173 |
| 1988–89 | (7)102,500 | 7,640 | 124 |
| 1989–90 | (7)110,380 | 8,140 | 189 |
| 1990–91 | (7)128,090 | 9,040 | 209 |
| 1991–92 | 139,630 | 8,940 | 236 |
| 1992–93 | 136,230 | 8,910 | 221 |
| 1993–94 | 125,360 | 9,550 | 303 |
| 1994–95 | 116,850 | 9,320 | 353 |
| 1995–96 | 116,550 | 9,970 | 373 |
| 1996–97 | 110,810 | 9,450 | 367 |
| 1997–98 | 102,650 | 9,000 | 331 |
| 1998–99 | 104,150 | 8,920 | 397 |
| 1999–2000 | 106,130 | 9,790 | 416 |
| 2000–01 | 114,350 | 11,210 | 484 |
| 2001–02 | 118,360 | 11,200 | (8)— |
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England and the South West from 1991–92:
Southern Somerset and South West prior to 1991–92:
ODPM annual Housing Investment Programme returns.
National and some regional information on local authorities' activity in recent years is provided in a quarterly Statistical Release published by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister. Copies are available in the Library, and also via the ODPM's website. The latest edition, published on 17 June 2002, presents statistics up to the end of March 2002.
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