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Nuclear Power

Llew Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what matters from its work programme remain to be reported on by the Radioactive Waste Management Advisory Committee; and if she will make a statement on the future of the Advisory Committee. [104009]

Mr. Meacher: The Government's advisory machinery in the field of radioactive waste management is currently being reviewed in light of the decision to set up the new Committee on Radioactive Waste Management (CoRWM). Pending the outcome of this review, the existing Radioactive Waste Management Advisory Committee (RWMAC) is continuing with its current work programme. A joint study with the Health and Safety Commission's Nuclear Safety Advisory Committee (NuSAC) of current UK regulatory arrangements and a review of the potential of partitioning and transmutation techniques to aid radioactive waste management are the main items that remain to be published from this current programme.

Public Service Agreements

Matthew Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs pursuant to her answer of 13 February 2003, Official Report, column 884W, on Public Service Agreement, if she will publish the efficiency plans for each business area; and if she will make a statement. [104372]

Alun Michael: There are no plans to publish the efficiency plans of individual business areas as they are active management tools that contain sensitive staffing, commercial and operational information so It would not be appropriate to place them on the public record. This approach is consistent with part 2 of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information. As part of the Department's business planning process, business areas have to demonstrate how they will make the efficiency savings that underpin the 2002 Spending Review settlement.

Recycling

Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what percentage of printed newspapers were recycled in (a) 1995, (b) 2000, (c) 2001 and (d) 2002. [103929]

Mr. Meacher: Information available from the Newspaper Publishers Association (NPA) show that recycled paper made up 63.5 per cent of the raw material for UK newspapers in 1995. The comparative figures for 2000 were 60.3 per cent and 63.5 per cent for 2001. Data for 2002 are not available.

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Special Advisers

Pete Wishart: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many special advisers in the Department (a) have left and (b) will be leaving to work in Scotland for the Labour Party in the forthcoming Scottish parliamentary elections. [103617]

Margaret Beckett: The rules relating to Special Advisers' political activities are set out in the Model Contract for Special Advisers. Further guidance in respect of elections for the Scottish Parliament is set out at paragraph 13 of the Guidance on Conduct for Civil Servants in UK Departments, published by the Cabinet Office on 10 March.

The reasons for a Special Adviser's resignation are a private matter between the Department and Adviser, and are therefore exempt from disclosure under paragraph 12 of the Code of Practice on Access to Information.

Volatile Organic Compounds

Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what progress is being made in reducing emissions of volatile organic compounds from solvents. [104549]

Alun Michael: Total emissions of non-methane volatile organic compounds were estimated to be about 2,686 kilo tonnes in 1990 and had fallen to about 1,676 kilo tonnes in 2000. The National Emissions Ceiling Directive (2001/81/EC) requires that the UK reduces emissions to 1,200 kilo tonnes by 2010, and we expect to achieve this target.

Of these totals, emissions from solvent use in 1990 were estimated to be about 665 kilo tonnes and 445 kilo tonnes in 2000.

INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Iraq

Mr. Lyons: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how many countries will be involved in the reconstruction of Iraq. [104737]

Clare Short: It is too soon to say how many countries might be involved. UN mandate will be required to provide legal authority for the reconstruction effort, and to make possible the engagement of the International Financial Institutions and the wider international community. The Government is working to ensure such a mandate is put in place.

Mr. Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what recent discussions she has had with her European counterparts regarding plans for humanitarian aid in Iraq following any military action. [104242]

Clare Short: My Department is in frequent contact with European Commission counterparts on these issues.

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On 21 March the College of European Commissioners proposed to release an additional 79 million euros from the Emergency Aid Reserve, increasing their total commitment to 100 million euros. This funding is still to be approved by the Council.

Palestinian Authority

Linda Perham: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development if she will make a statement on the assistance the Government is providing for the reform of the Palestinian authority. [104483]

Clare Short: Institutional development, and capacity building, are key elements of DFID's programme of support to the Palestinian authority. We have worked with a number of ministries to help develop systems and skills which enable services to be better delivered. We have recently played a leading role in helping the Palestinian authority develop a comprehensive strategy for overall public administration and civil service reform. We are now discussing with them the detail of a further package of technical assistance which would support its implementation over the next three years. In addition we are providing legal advice and financial support for the development of a constitution for the nascent Palestinian state.

Zimbabwe

Mr Liddell-Grainger: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development if she will make a statement on humanitarian help for Zimbabwe. [104479]

Clare Short: My Department has provided over £51 million in humanitarian assistance for Zimbabwe since the crisis began in September 2001. We are helping the World Food Programme to feed 5 million people, and our direct NGO programmes are providing supplementary food to 1.5 million more—largely children, ex-farm workers, pregnant and nursing women, people living with AIDS, and the elderly.

DFID has built technical capacity in local NGOs and the UN agencies and has funded vulnerability assessments. We have helped prevent avoidable disease through essential drug supply, and have distributed seed and fertilizers to 188,000 households in communal areas, affecting the food prospects of 1 million people.

Monitoring suggests that feeding interventions have been effective and have reached target populations. Malnutrition rates have been kept down, and mortality has not increased significantly despite the complete absence of food, other than food aid, in many districts. Despite high profile incidents at Insiza and Binga, there has been relatively little obstruction of food distribution. Politicisation remains a matter of concern in the Zimbabwe Government humanitarian programmes, but has not been a significant problem for donor-funded programmes.

Sadly, it has been evident for some months that food production in Zimbabwe will be affected for a third year in succession. This is due to mismanaged land reform that has disrupted farming; economic policies and controls that are disincentive to production; the lack of agricultural inputs and credit; and erratic rains. We anticipate that continued international humanitarian

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assistance will be needed until 2004, and expect to maintain a significant role in protecting the vulnerable in Zimbabwe in the coming year.

DEFENCE

Departmental Website

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the total cost of his Department's website was in the last 12 months; and how many hits it received in the same period. [104205]

Dr. Moonie: Direct costs for the Ministry of Defence's departmental website: http://www.mod.uk are recorded for expenditure on hardware, contractual support and staff costs for the central MOD website team. Total costs for the financial year 2002–03 are £124,350.

Usage of the MOD website began to be measured on a monthly basis in December 1997. The departmental website received 47,076,412 hits in the period December 2001 to December 2002.

EU Defence Policy

Mr. Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make a statement on the future of the European Common Defence and Security Policy. [104352]

Mr. Hoon: In co-operation with all other member states, we continue to make progress in developing the European Defence and Security Policy (ESDP).

The detailed arrangements to implement the "Berlin Plus" agreement, giving the European Union assured access to NATO's planning capabilities and a presumption of availability of NATO common assets and capabilities, have recently been agreed by the EU and NATO. This is a major milestone in establishing the strategic partnership between the two organisations in crisis management that the UK has always envisaged. Agreement has enabled the EU to launch its first military mission in Macedonia at the end of this month, following on from NATO's Allied Harmony. The operation will be conducted with recourse to NATO assets and NATO Deputy SACEUR will be the Operation Commander.

The EU has also indicated its willingness to lead a military operation in Bosnia and Herzegovina following SFOR. ESDP also includes civilian aspects of crisis management. The first civilian operation, the EU police mission to Bosnia, was launched on 1 January 2003.

Progress has also been made on improving military capabilities. The European Capabilities Action Plan (ECAP) is addressing capability shortfalls against the targets in the Helsinki Headline Goal and the multi-national panels proposing solutions to meet each shortfall are in the process of issuing their final reports. Member states will take these suggestions forward on a voluntary basis and steps are being taken to establish project groups to assist with this. The recently concluded Berlin Plus arrangements also include a mechanism for ensuring that capability development within the EU and NATO is coherent and mutually reinforcing.

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We are also actively engaged in the debate on the future of ESDP in the Convention on the Future of Europe. The United Kingdom has put forward proposals intended to strengthen ESDP's capacity to play a full role in support of the EU's CFSP objectives including by: modernising and extending the categories of ESDP operations, known as the "Petersberg tasks"; establishing a European defence capabilities development and acquisition agency to drive forward European military capability improvements; and indicating support for a "solidarity" clause through which member states would undertake to use all the resources at their disposal, both civil and military, to help another member state deal with the consequences of a terrorist attack or other major disaster.

We await publication of the draft Treaty clauses on defence issues. Final decisions on the new EU treaty are a matter for the Intergovernmental Conference in 2004.

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