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19 Nov 2003 : Column 938W—continued
Women's Sport
Angela Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what proportion of the New Community Development Fund sports budget will be available to women and girls who do not participate in traditional mainstream sports. [139567]
Tessa Jowell: The £60 million Community Club Development Programme will run from 2003–04 to 2005–06, and is designed to effect improvements in facility provision at amateur sports clubs. In selecting the sports which will benefit, the Government considered participation rates and the abilities of governing bodies to deliver improvement quickly. As a result, the programme will be delivered by established sports with significant numbers of participants.
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Funding is being made available to governing bodies as follows:
The Rugby Football Union, the Football Association, the England and Wales Cricket Board, and the Lawn Tennis Association have been allocated £9.4 million each. The following governing bodies have been allocated £20 million between them over these three years:
- the Badminton Association of England,
England Basketball,
the British Canoe Union,
British Cycling,
British Gymnastics,
the English Hockey Federation,
the British Judo Association,
the All England Netball Association,
the Amateur Rowing Association,
the Rugby Football League,
the Amateur Swimming Association, and
the English Table Tennis Association.
Angela Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what steps are being taken by her Department to encourage girls to participate in sport. [139569]
Tessa Jowell: The Government is committed to ensuring that everyone is given the opportunity to participate in sport. Sport England Lottery funding to governing bodies is now provided only where those bodies have acceptable equity policies in place as parts of their development plans. In addition, Sport England provides £200,000 a year to the Women's Sports Foundation to support the involvement of women and girls in sport.
World Heritage Status
Dr. Kumar: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many United Kingdom sites have World Heritage Site status, broken down by government office of the region area; and what steps she is taking to gain recognition for other sites. [139396]
Estelle Morris: The UK has 25 World Heritage Sites of which 22 are located within the UK mainland. A break down of these sites by regional Government Office is in the table.
In 1999, the Government produced a Tentative List of 25 sites that might be nominated for World Heritage Site status over the next 5–10 years. To date, seven sites on this List have been inscribed onto the World Heritage List and a number of other sites are preparing for nomination. Since 2002, only one nomination may be made each year.
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| Government Office | World Heritage Site |
|---|---|
| North East | Durham Cathedral and Castle |
| Hadrian's Wall | |
| North West | Hadrian's Wall |
| Yorkshire and the Humber | Fountains Abbey, St. Mary's Church and Studley Royal Park |
| Saltaire | |
| East Midlands | Derwent Valley Mills |
| West Midlands | Ironbridge Gorge |
| London | Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew |
| Maritime Greenwich | |
| Palace of Westminster, St. Margaret's | |
| Church and Westminster Abbey | |
| The Tower of London | |
| South East | Blenheim Palace and Park |
| Canterbury Cathedral (with St. Augustine's Abbey and St. Martin's Church) | |
| South West | City of Bath |
| Dorset and East Devon Coast | |
| Stonehenge, Avebury and associated sites | |
| Other Administrations | |
| Northern Ireland | Giant's Causeway and Causeway Coast |
| Scotland | Edinburgh Old and new Towns |
| New Lanark | |
| Hearth of Neolithic Orkney | |
| St. Kilda | |
| Wales | Blaenavon Industrial Landscape |
| Castle and Town Walls of Edward I in Gwynedd |
INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT
Palestinian Negotiation Support Unit
Mr. Clappison: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how much funding is given by the Government to the Palestinian Negotiation Support Unit; and what conditions are attached to the use of the funding. [139388]
Hilary Benn: DFID has committed a total of £9.2 million to support the Palestinian Negotiation Support Unit (NSU). This funding covers the period 1999 to 2006. To date £5.25 million has been disbursed.
The purpose of this project is to provide professional legal, technical, policy and communications advice to the Palestinian authorities in preparation for, and during, permanent status negotiations with Israel. Following the collapse of formal negotiations the NSU has broadened its role by seeking to encourage the resumption of permanent status negotiations by contributing to a variety of diplomatic peace initiatives. The project supports those in the Palestinian Authority who are committed to peace.
The project is managed on behalf of the Palestinian authorities by the Adam Smith Institute. There are no specific conditions attached, but it is subject to DFID's usual checks and balances to ensure funds are disbursed in accordance with the agreed objectives. In addition four other governments, Norway, Sweden, Netherlands and Denmark provide complementary funding. We are currently establishing with these partners, and with the NSU, a framework for the overall management of the project.
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Afghanistan
Mr. Hepburn: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what proportion of United Kingdom aid to Afghanistan since 2001 has been used to combat the production of opium. [138728]
Hilary Benn: Tackling opium production in Afghanistan requires action in many areas: to improve the ability of the government to enforce the law and implement a coherent counter-narcotics strategy and to improve the conditions for legal private sector economic growth to offer people involved in poppy cultivation the chance of a licit alternative livelihood.
DFID's assistance to Afghanistan contributes to all of these areas. Since October 2001, DFID has disbursed £157 million of aid to Afghanistan. This has included humanitarian support which prevents people from sliding into the marginalised criminal economy, £35 million of financial assistance to the Afghan Government, and over £5 million in assistance to develop the capacity of the Afghan Government.
DFID has already provided £2.5 million for specific sustainable livelihoods programmes and has projects being implemented worth nearly £10 million. DFID has recently doubled its budget for sustainable livelihoods programme to £20 million over three years. This represents over 10 per cent. of total DFID assistance over the next three years and over 20 per cent. of the budget for programmes excluding financial assistance.
The Government have allocated £70 million over three years specifically to combat the production of opium in Afghanistan. This includes a £5.4 million contribution from DFID's £20 million livelihoods budget. In total, this represents some 30 per cent. of planned UK assistance to Afghanistan over the next three years.
Departmental Staff
Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how many staff were employed in his Department on 31 December (a) 1997, (b) 1998, (c) 1999, (d) 2000, (e) 2001 and (f) 2002; and how many are employed there now. [139543]
Hilary Benn: Staff numbers for DFID permanent and pensionable Home Civil Service (HCS) staff, for each year from 1997 to 2002 inclusive, published in our annual Departmental Reports from 1998, are set out as follows.
Details of the available figures are contained in the following table:
| HCS staff in UK headquarters | HCS staff overseas | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1997 | 1,007 | 170 | 1,177 |
| 1998 | 1,200 | 180 | 1,380 |
| 1999 | 1,279 | 195 | 1,474 |
| 2000 | 1,292 | 209 | 1,501 |
| 2001 | 1,374 | 224 | 1,598 |
| 2002 | 1,433 | 241 | 1,674 |
Total HCS staff numbers (headquarters and overseas) at 1 October 2003 was 1,744.
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We do not hold annual staff numbers for locally appointed staff in our Overseas offices (SAIC). However, we can say that the number of SAIC in post in March 2003 was 914.
Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how many staff were employed in his Department when the 2002 spending review was completed; and how many he expects to be in post at the end of financial year 2005–06. [139544]
Hilary Benn: Details of DFID staffing figures for 2002 are taken from our published Departmental Report for 2003.
The numbers of permanent and pensionable Home Civil Service (HCS) staff in post at that time, are as detailed in the following table:
| Number | |
|---|---|
| HCS staff in UK headquarters | 1,433 |
| HCS staff overseas | 241 |
| Total | 1,674 |
By the end of the Financial Year 2005–06, we forecast that these numbers will have risen to 1,774.
The number of locally appointed In-Country staff (SAIC) was 914 in March 2003. At this stage, we cannot say what future impact our reduced effort in middle income countries will have on these figures.
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