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28 Apr 2003 : Column 145W—continued
Accountancy Services
Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what the total cost to her Department was for accountancy services in 2002–03. [109488]
Clare Short: In 2002–03 DFID spent £540,000 on accountancy services for the development programme and £84,000 on support to our Accounts Department. These figures do not take into account lower value contracts, details of which are not held centrally.
Age Discrimination
Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what steps her Department is taking to address the issue of age discrimination. [109457]
Clare Short: My Department has been committed to eliminating, and has a published Equal Opportunities Policy forbidding, discrimination on grounds of age for many years. Negative assumptions about age are being tackled as part of the Department's Diversity Action Plan and age will be included as an area for study in our continuing equal pay audit work. The implications of the EU Framework Directive on Equal Treatment will be kept under active review. Those implications are likely to centre mainly on the question of mandatory retirement ages. Within the last year DFID has implemented the recommendations of "Winning the Generation Game" and now allows staff below the Senior Civil Service to serve on to age 65.
Bilateral Aid
Chris McCafferty: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development if she will list bilateral aid to the health and population sector, broken down by
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(a) project, (b) programme, (c) technical, (d) grants, (e) humanitarian aid and (f) CDC investments, in 2002–03. [109945]
Clare Short: The following estimated amounts were spent by my Department during 2002–03 on bilateral aid to the health and population sector. This information is broken down by the nearest equivalents that we have to the types of aid specified. These figures are provisional. Final figures will be published in this years edition of Statistics On International Development.
| Provisional 2002–03 expenditure | £000 |
|---|---|
| Project or sector aid | 62,777 |
| Programme aid | 3,500 |
| Technical cooperation | 178,108 |
| Grants and other aid in kind | 44,911 |
| Humanitarian assistance | 4,148 |
| Total DFID programme | 293,444 |
| CDC investments | 17,877 |
| Total gross public expenditure | 311,321 |
An explanation is available in Statistics On International Development 1997–98 to 2001–02, a copy of which is available in the House of Commons Library. The figures in the table represent expenditure on projects specific to the sector but do not capture the full extent of our efforts in the area because they exclude multisector projects and programmes, strategic funding to civil society organisations and budget support and balance of payments. Also excluded are activities funded through multilateral channels.
Departmental Grants
Chris McCafferty: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how much funding her Department gave to (a) UNFPA, (b) WHO, (c) UNICEF, (d) UNAIDS, (e) IPPF, (f) MSI, (g) Population Concern and (h) IFH in 2002–03. [109944]
Clare Short: The following estimated amounts were given by my Department during 2002–03 to the organisations specified. Note that figures for amounts given to NGOs are not yet available for 2002–03. Figures for previous years can be found in back issues of Statistics On International Development, which is available in the House of Commons Library. The figures below are currently provisional. Final figures will be published in this years edition of Statistics on International Development in October 2003.
| Provisional 2002–03 expenditure | £000 |
|---|---|
| UN Aids | 3,052 |
| UN Childrens Fund-UNICEF | 17,366 |
| UN Population Fund | 9,000 |
| World Health Organisation | 46,008 |
| International Planned Parenthood Federation | 4,500 |
Eritrea
Dr. Tonge: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what discussions her
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Department has had with the European Commission for Humanitarian Aid and Development regarding the humanitarian situation in Eritrea. [109704]
Clare Short: We have regular discussions with the Commission. DFID officials visited Eritrea at the end of January and met representatives of the Commission, and discussed the humanitarian situation.
Since August 2002 the EC has committed £16.3 million for humanitarian work in Eritrea. A consignment of 24,000 metric tonnes of wheat for free distribution is being delivered to the Eritrean Relief and Refugee Commission (ERREC). In addition the Commission's Humanitarian Office (ECHO) are expected to contribute a further £1 million. DFID funds about 19 per cent of EC programmes.
Dr. Tonge: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what recent assessment her Department has made of the humanitarian situation in Eritrea. [109706]
Clare Short: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave the hon. Member for Glasgow, Anniesland, on 1 April 2003, Official Report, column 656W.
Poverty Reduction Strategy
Chris McCafferty: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what assessment she has made of the impact of her Department's adoption of SWAPs and the PRSP approach on the support made available by NGOs. [109947]
Clare Short: We have not undertaken an assessment of the impact of the adoption of SWAPS and PRSP approaches on support made available by NGOs. DFID provides Civil Society Organisation (CSO) funding through several means and for different purposes. The total given through UK CSOs has remained around £190 million for the past three years. More details are in the table which shows the amounts given over the past three financial years.
| 1999–2000 | 2000–01 | 2001–02 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Total | 195 | 184 | 191 |
| Of which | |||
| Country Programme | 75 | 50 | 54 |
| Humanitarian assistance | 34 | 73 | 69 |
Country Programme funds are those given to CSOs to undertake development activities on behalf of DFID channelled through individual bilateral and multilateral programmes. The full set of figures, recipients and an explanation of terms is shown in Statistics on International Development Table 14. Figures for 2002–03 will be published in this year's edition in October.
Research and Development
Lynne Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what progress has been made since the publication of the Development White Paper in increasing commercial incentives to invest in research and development to meet the needs of poor people. [109546]
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Clare Short: For medicines there is a range of innovative public options that can be employed. These were explored through a working group on Access to Medicines which was published in November 2002. DFID investment in public/private partnerships for research and development for medicines is of the order of £21.5 million which includes the Medicines for Malaria Venture and the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative. In addition, the Chancellor has introduced new tax credits to promote research and development into diseases that predominantly affect people living in developing countries.
Prospects are also promising in rural and agricultural environments where new initiatives are being developed to connect developing country demand for technological improvements with relevant technologies in the public and private sectors.
Sexual and Reproductive Health
Chris McCafferty: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development if she will list bilateral aid for sexual and reproductive health and rights, broken down by (a) project, (b) programme, (c) technical, (d) grants, (e) humanitarian aid and (f) CDC investments, in 2002–03. [109946]
Clare Short: In 2001–02, the latest year for which data are available, DFID's new commitments to working towards our reproductive health policy goals totalled £268 million. These included £140 million for the Global Health Fund. In total these commitments represent approximately 19 per cent. of all bilateral aid commitments recorded during 2001–02.
Figures for 2002–03 will be published in Statistics On International Development in October. These figures will exclude the assistance in this sector that we provide through other multilateral channels.
Chris McCafferty: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how much funding her Department gave to sexual and reproductive health through the CSCF in (a) 2000–01, (b) 2001–02 and (c) 2002–03. [109948]
Clare Short: DFID has provided the following funding to sexual and reproductive health, some of which is also HIV/AIDS related support, through the Civil Society Challenge Fund (CSCF).
| Funding through CSCF | |
|---|---|
| 2000–01 | 377,040 |
| 2001–02 | 1,084,496 |
| 2002–03 | 1,672,917 |
Chris McCafferty: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development whether her Department is supporting NGOs in (a) Afghanistan and (b) Iraq to deliver reproductive health care. [109950]
Clare Short: DFID provided approximately £1.5 million to NGOs in Afghanistan to deliver a variety of primary healthcare services, including reproductive healthcare during 2001–02 and 2002–03. Our humanitarian aid for 2003–04 will be focussed on the priorities identified in the Afghan Transitional
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Authority's National Development Budget, to assist refugees and internally displaced persons. Primary healthcare will be a component of this strategy.
DFID is currently supporting a number of NGOs in Iraq working in the health sector, including reproductive health. These include Merlin, International Medical Corps, Save the Children UK and GOAL.
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