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Secure Training Centres

Simon Hughes: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) what financial penalties have been imposed on the contractors for (a) Hassockfield and (b) Medway Secure Training Centres in each financial year that the centres have been operating; and what the reason for each penalty was; [107291]

(2) what financial penalties have been imposed on the contractor for (a) Rainsbrook and (b) Hassockfield Secure Training Centre in each financial year that each centre has been operating; and what the reason was for each penalty in each case. [106909]

Hilary Benn: Up to and including 31 March 2003, financial penalties reflecting contract failures by the Operating Contractor at each Secure Training Centre (STC) total £155,152 (Rainsbrook); £910,874 (Medway); and £74,572.08 (Hassockfield).

These cover failure to meet the scheduled opening date of the STC, non-availability of trainee places and failure to deliver specified services.

Security Service

Matthew Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what progress the Security Service has made in releasing its archives into the public domain since 1 May 1997; and how many files from its archives have been transferred to the Public Records Office since 1 May 1997. [107396]

Mr. Blunkett: The Security Service systematically reviews and, if appropriate, releases records in accordance with the criteria agreed with the Public Records Office and endorsed by the Advisory Council on Public Records. Since 1997, a total of 690 files, comprising 1,387 pieces (volumes) have been transferred to the Public Records Office. A further tranche of files are due for release at the end of May 2003.

Violence against Women

Sandra Gidley: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how much funding was given to the Rape Crisis Federation in each of the last five years for which information is available. [108160]

Hilary Benn: The Home Office began providing core funding to the Rape Crisis Federation (RCF) in April 2001. In 2001–02 the Department paid a grant of £406,000 to RCF. In 2002–03 the Home Office offered £432,000, although in the event RCF only drew down £302,000 of this. The Department plans to offer a similar level of funding to the RCF during 2003–04, subject to need.

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In addition to this core grant, the Home Office has also been supporting RCF's development of a statistical database on rape and sexual assault. Funding for this project amounted to £21,477 in 2000–01; £60,306 in 2001–02; and £52,432 in 2002–03.

Working Hours

Mr. Yeo: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what policy on (a) core hours and (b) flexible working hours is operated by his Department and each agency and non-departmental public body for which his Department is responsible. [107652]

Mr. Blunkett: Hours for Home Office staff with full-time attendance are 41 hours for staff in the London pay area and 42 hours elsewhere, including meal breaks. Within the Prison Service, prison officer and related grades work 39 hours per week, exclusive of meal breaks, which are unpaid. Many staff who work full-time or part-time are able to work flexible hours. For a 'traditional' full-time worker, core hours are 10:00 until 11:30 and 15:00 to 15:45. In some Home Office agencies and non-departmental public bodies these hours may vary by 30-minutes/one hour, but in general are within the times stated.

There are also a variety of flexible and 'non-traditional' working patterns available to Home Office staff. For example: part-time working, job sharing, home working and term-time working. An individual's working pattern is decided in conjunction with their local management to suit both the individual's preferences and the requirements of the office. Staff also now have the statutory right to request to work flexibly and there is a duty for managers to consider such requests seriously.

HOUSE OF COMMONS COMMISSION

Health Checks

Mr. Austin Mitchell: To ask the hon. Member for Roxburgh and Berwickshire, representing the House of Commons Commission, if he will restore regular medical checks on the health of hon. Members by the Occupational Health, Safety and Welfare Service. [108318]

Sir Archy Kirkwood: The Occupational Health, Safety and Welfare Service (OHSWS) is an advisory service provided by both Houses of Parliament. The OHSWS assesses the effects work has on health and offers specialist advice on all aspects of health and safety in the workplace.

A medical screening service is offered to hon. Members and Peers on a three yearly rolling programme and an earlier appointment can be requested if required. This service has been provided without interruption for more than 10 years. Between June 2002 and March 2003 79 hon. Members have been through the screening process.

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INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT

HIV/AIDS

Mr. Kidney: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what support she is giving to international efforts to tackle the spread of HIV and AIDS through (a) financial support and (b) the availability of medical treatments. [106760]

Clare Short: My Department continues to give support to international efforts to tackle the spread of HIV and AIDS. In our bilateral programmes alone, expenditure on HIV/AIDS related work has increased from £38 million in 1997–98 to over £200 million in 2001–02. Major new investments include support for programmes in Nigeria, Zambia, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Mozambique, Russia, Ghana, China and India totalling over £350 million. We have pledged US$200 million to the Global Fund to fight AIDS, TB and Malaria, and £30 million to the international AIDS Vaccine Initiative and the Medical Research Council's Microbicide Development Programme. Considerable additional resources have also been committed to United Nations agencies and civil society organisations to help combat HIV/AIDS and to help people living with the disease across the developing world. We will continue to support health system strengthening and comprehensive HIV/AIDS prevention, care, control and impact mitigation programmes.

We are currently working intensively to improve access to affordable, new and existing medicines, including for HIV/AIDS, for poor people in developing countries. In November 2002, the Prime Minister launched the Report of the High Level Working Group on Access to Medicines. The Group brought together UK Government, and involved partners to facilitate widespread voluntary differential pricing of essential medicines for the poorer developing countries as the operational norm. The report proposes that pharmaceutical companies provide drugs for HIV/AIDS, TB and Malaria at near to cost of manufacture to the poorest countries, and my Department is working hard to achieve these ambitions. We also support the Global Fund whose primary role is to provide drugs and commodities for the prevention and treatment of AIDS, TB and Malaria and some associated health system strengthening.

Iraq

Dr. Tonge: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what recent assessment her Department has made of the humanitarian situation in Nasiriyah; and if she will make a statement. [108700]

Clare Short: The International Committee of the Red Cross is extremely concerned about the situation of the civilian population in towns to the south of Baghdad including Nasiriyah, which have been the scene of heavy fighting. The ICRC no longer has access to Nasiriyah, following the destruction of a major highway bridge linking the capital to the south on 3 April. UNICEF report that a first convoy of water tankers is heading to Nasiriyah.

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Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what assessment she has made of the total bill for post-war reconstruction of Iraq. [108908]

Clare Short: No informed assessment has yet been made.

Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development who will be in control of deciding what money is spent on the post-war reconstruction of Iraq; and what the Government's priorities are for the post-war reconstruction of Iraq. [108909]

Clare Short: DFID assistance on post-war reconstruction will support the international effort co-ordinated by the UN and the International Financial Institutions. Iraq's reconstruction needs will be substantial. It is too soon to determine specific allocations or areas of UK focus.

Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what the Government's position is on transparency over oil revenues in a post-war Iraq. [108910]

Clare Short: UN oversight of Iraq's oil revenues will continue until the current sanctions regime is lifted. Beyond that, we will work for oil revenues to be reflected transparently in Iraq's public finances.

Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development whether Oil for Food funds (a) can and (b) will be used to refund Iraqi debt. [108911]

Clare Short: UN resolutions currently prevent Oil for Food Programme funds being used to repay Iraqi debt, but 25 per cent. of revenues will go to the UN Compensation Commission which pays reparations claims for the 1990–91 Gulf War.

Future Iraqi debt and reparations payments will need to be addressed in due course by the future Government of Iraq and the International Financial Institutions if Iraqi reconstruction is to be sustainable.

Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development whose control the Oil-for-Food Programme is under in (a) Central and Southern Iraq and (b) Northern Iraq; and what recent assessment she has made of food distribution to the people of Iraq through the Oil for Food Programme. [108912]

Clare Short: The UN has an administrative and oversight role over the Oil for Food Programme (OFF) in central, southern and northern Iraq. The UN bodies responsible for OFF are the Office of the Iraq Programme OIP (administration), the Office of the Humanitarian Co-ordinator UNOHCI (field co-ordination), and nine implementation agencies (FAO, UNESCO, WHO, ITU, UNICEF, UNDP, WFP, UNOPS, UN-Habitat).

The World Food Programme (WFP) estimates that the current food supply, distributed through the public distribution system under the Oil for Food Programme, will last through April. It has pre-positioned sufficient supplies to feed two million people for one month, which is intended to cover the initial phase of the conflict, and to support refugees and the malnourished

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and vulnerable inside Iraq. WFP concluded contracts last week to buy a further 400,000 metric tons of food aid for Iraq, which they intend to use to replenish the OFF distribution systems. These supplies should start reaching the region by late April. But they will only reach people if the distribution system can be kept in place. This means helping Iraqis keep 55,000 separate outlets across the country operating, 45,000 of which are in the centre and south of Iraq. In some parts of the country, they are still doing so; in others it will be a greater challenge. We are continuing to liaise closely with relevant UN agencies on these issues.

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