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6 Oct 2003 : Column 1012W—continued

Kosovo

Adam Price: To ask the Minister of State, Department for International Development what humanitarian contribution the Department has made since 1999 to help children in Kosovo who lost their parents owing to the conflict there in 1999. [130348]

Mr. Gareth Thomas: Immediately after the end of the 1999 conflict, DFID disbursed £108 million as humanitarian assistance, covering food supplies, shelter, health care, mines clearance and support to small enterprises, and funding for international relief agencies working with refugees both in Kosovo and in neighbouring countries. This assistance included the provision of £4.5 million to UNICEF for support to schools. DFID also provided humanitarian support through its contributions to the EC Humanitarian Office.

Since then DFID has collaborated with the Kosovo authorities and the World Bank to review social welfare policies, and is providing a £2 million grant to assist with social policy reform. This includes the provision of social assistance to families and children in need, and social services for the protection of children. DFID has also co-funded a major poverty assessment to assist the design and monitoring of social services and benefits. In parallel with this, DFID has provided support to the United Nations Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) for the strengthening of systems for setting standards and quality assurance for children's services.

Liberia

Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Minister of State, Department for International Development what measures are in place to improve the (a) sanitary conditions and (b) water supply in Liberia. [130301]

Mr. Gareth Thomas: During the peak of the conflict the NGOs that remained in Liberia managed to ensure a minimum level of water supply to the displaced in Monrovia, but sanitation became a major cause for concern. The current situation is that water supply and sanitation issues are being addressed in Monrovia by the UN, NGOs and the Red Cross with the help of DFID funding, but access to areas outside Monrovia and its environs are still hampered by security concerns.

Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Minister of State, Department for International Development if he will make a statement on the security situation in Liberia and its impact on humanitarian relief. [130302]

Mr. Gareth Thomas: Security remains the major issue hampering humanitarian access in Liberia and the capacity of ECOMIL to ensure security outside of

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Monrovia is limited. Access to areas outside Monrovia is being hampered by militia groups and access to other major towns is sporadic.

Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Minister of State, Department for International Development what recent assessment he has made of the availability of (a) food, (b) shelter and (c) medicines for the people of Liberia. [130303]

Mr. Gareth Thomas: Food supply and nutritional issues are being addressed by the UN and NGOs. From 16 August until 5 September, the World Food Programme (WFP) has provided assistance to 419,177 beneficiaries with 2,994 metric tons of food. In addition, WFP distributed 337 metric tons of food to an estimated 62,130 people through special feeding programmes, approximately 50,000 of whom were fed under Action Contre la Faim's DFID-funded emergency food distribution.

The Red Cross and the UN are addressing non-food items and shelter requirements, and a number of our partners on the ground are supplying medical equipment and drugs to Liberian health centres (Figures currently unavailable).

To address all these needs, we have committed £4.7 million to support the humanitarian work of the UN, the International Committee of the Red Cross and NGOs. This in addition to the £2.9 million we have provided to international agencies and NGOs in Liberia previously this year.

Microsoft

Norman Lamb: To ask the Minister of State, Department for International Development how much was paid to Microsoft in licensing fees by his Department and its agencies in each of the last three years; and how much has been budgeted for (a) 2003–04 and (b) 2004–05. [130672]

Hilary Benn: DFID undertook a major upgrade of its systems in the period 2000–02 and the resulting licence fees paid to Microsoft takes account of this. The figures are:

	£
2000–01	223,451(4)
2001–02	162,849
2002–03	55,000

⁽⁴⁾ includes ASSIST 2000 Upgrade Project licence fees

Our budgets for future years (providing we continue with Microsoft) will be approximately £60,000 for both 2003/04 and 2004/05.

Middle East/North Africa

Mr. Gibb: To ask the Minister of State, Department for International Development if he will make a statement on his assessment of the link between accountable regimes and economic growth in (a) the Middle East and (b) North Africa; and what action his Department is taking to promote good governance in the regions. [129892]

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Mr. Gareth Thomas: The Middle East and North Africa compares badly with other regions of similar incomes and characteristics in terms of public accountability and inclusiveness. A number of reports have been published recently which highlight the relationship between accountable governance and economic growth in the Middle East and North Africa. The 2002 "Arab Human Development Report" concluded that social and economic development was being hampered by deeply rooted shortcomings in the structures of governance in the region. More recently, a World Bank's report, "Better Governance in the Middle East and North Africa", noted that income growth per head averaged just 0.5 per cent. across the region in the period 1985–2000, and at the heart of this poor record was a noticeable "governance gap". Taken together, these reports provide a substantial body of evidence to support the view that improving accountable governance, strengthening political and economic freedoms, and enhancing public participation are prerequisites for lasting economic, social and human development in the region.

Promoting better governance is a key feature of DFID's bilateral programme to the region: this is set out as a central theme of our soon-to-be-published Regional Assistance Plan. Examples include support to public administration and civil service reform in both Jordan and the Palestinian Territory. We are also working to help ensure that the European Commission's development programme takes proper account of the need to improve governance and respect for human rights, and reduce poverty, in partner countries in the Middle East and North Africa.

Parliamentary Questions

Mrs. Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Minister of State, Department for International Development how many Questions directed to the Department remain unanswered. [130760]

Hilary Benn : According to our records there are 17 outstanding questions (not answered by their due date in the question book, which is two days from date of tabling) from before the Conference recess.

Of these, 16 including this one, are due to be published on 6 October. The reply to the outstanding one will be published shortly.

Reproductive Health Services

Richard Ottaway: To ask the Minister of State, Department for International Development pursuant to his reply of 16 July 2003, Official Report, column 332W, what percentage of the money spent on reproductive health services, is being spent on (a) HIV/AIDS programmes and (b) family planning; and in which countries. [130514]

Hilary Benn: The Department for International Development spent £31 million in 2002–03 on activities within the Sector-Wide Approaches (SWAPS) that had support for reproductive health services as one of their objectives (the reply of 16 July 2003, Official Report, column 332W refers).

The breakdown is as follows:

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Country	Title	Expenditure 2002–03 (£)
Ghana	Health Grant	3,500,000
Malawi	Health SWAP	163,126
Mozambique	Essential Medicines	4,700,000
Tanzania	Health Sector Programme	9,489,992
Zambia	Health SWAP	7,621,863
Bangladesh	SHAPLA(5) WB Time Slicing	5,000,000
Cambodia	Health Sector Support	226,835
Total		30,701,816

⁽⁵⁾ Support for Health and Population for the Less Advanced Programme: World Bank Time Slicing.

DFID support for reproductive health is wide ranging. It covers HIV/AIDS programmes, prevention and treatment of sexually transmitted infections and maternal and adolescent health. Reproductive health also encompasses the services for family planning, contraception and childbearing that make an important contribution to increasing women's choice and opportunity and to preventing unplanned or unwanted pregnancy. Family planning services also provide an important opportunity to improve sexual health and in particular to increase women's access to methods that help prevent HIV infection. The £31 million expenditure for 2003–03 cannot therefore be apportioned between HIV/AIDS and Family Planning, as many reproductive health programmes and projects contribute to both objectives (for example through the provision of information on family planning and HIV/AIDS prevention or the provision of condoms).

The figures above include only the DFID contributions to SWAPS. If our other expenditure on Reproductive Health and HIV/AIDS (for example through multilateral organisations) were included the amounts would be considerably higher.

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