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Written Answers to Questions

Wednesday 3 December 2003

INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Iraq

Harry Cohen: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development if he will list the projects to be funded by the sums pledged by (a) the UK and (b) the EU as reconstruction aid to Iraq indicating the sum allocated to each project; what the expected UK contribution to (i) the World Bank loan and (ii) the IMF loan is; to what purposes these contributions are expected to be put; and if he will make a statement. [141118]

Hilary Benn: It is too early to say how the money pledged at Madrid will be allocated by DFID and the EU as priorities are still being determined in coordination with the interim Iraqi Administration and other donors. Equally it is too soon to say what the UK contribution to the World Bank and IMF loans will be.

As soon as DFID approves its reconstruction projects for Iraq, details will be placed in the House Library and published in the weekly sitrep that can be obtained on the DFID website www.dfid.gov.uk

Mr. Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how much of the projected aid budget for reconstruction in Iraq has been funded by changes in the aid budget for other countries in financial year 2003–04. [141256]

Hilary Benn: None of the funding for reconstruction in Iraq this financial year has been found from planned expenditure for other countries. Of the £312 million budget for 2003–04 £180 million is additional resources for reconstruction from Treasury reserves and a further £75 million has been sourced from the DFID contingency reserve. The rest has been found from existing allocation for Iraq, MOD funds, the Global Conflict Prevention Pool and our share of EC funding for Iraq.

Gender Advisers

Mr. Gummer: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what the sexual balance is of the team of gender advisers he has assigned to Iraq. [141828]

Hilary Benn: Both members of the team are female.

Malaria

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how many (a) children and (b) pregnant mothers died of malaria in developing countries in each of the last five years, using figures from his Department's research. [141193]

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Mr. Gareth Thomas: Children and pregnant women are at the greatest risk of dying from malaria. The WHO'S most recent official estimates of children under-5 dying of malaria for year 2000 are close to 1 million deaths globally. There are no official WHO estimates of malaria related mortality for pregnant women. WHO and Roll Back Malaria (RBM) recognise the importance of having more accurate estimates, which are important to measure progress and ensure that global targets are met.

DFID has contributed £48 million over four years (1999 to 2003) to RBM, a global partnership which includes national governments, UN agencies, pharmaceutical companies and NGOs, with the objective of working to half the world's malaria burden by 2010. This will be done through expanding coverage for preventative interventions (e.g. insecticide-treated mosquito nets), expanding effective treatment for the disease and strengthening national capacity for surveillance, monitoring and planning.

Middle Income Countries

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development which of his Department's programmes for middle income countries will (a) be ended early and (b) have their funding reduced in (i) 2004–05 and (ii) 2005–06. [140869]

Mr. Gareth Thomas: The Secretary of State outlined intended changes to programmes for middle-income countries in his statement to the House of 6 November 2003, Official Report, column 42WS. More detailed plans are now being made, in consultation with partner countries and other donors. They will be embodied in the annual revision of DFID's Aid Framework, which is expected to be completed over the next two months.

Namibia

John Barrett: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what response he will make to the drought relief appeal in Namibia. [141370]

Hilary Benn: The Government of Namibia launched an appeal to donors at a meeting in Windhoek on 20 November. We and other agencies are currently considering this appeal and the wider issues it raises for emergency planning and response in Namibia.

Uganda

Mr. Chope: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what action the Government are taking to address the humanitarian crisis (a) in Northern Uganda and (b) in the Anglican Diocese of Soroti. [141514]

Hilary Benn: The situation in Northern and Eastern Uganda has resulted in the UK disbursing an additional £4.4 million over the last 12 months specifically targeted at the humanitarian situation. This assistance has been channelled through the World Food Programme, UNICEF, and the Uganda Red Cross Society to support those affected by the conflict. We are currently considering how best to programme a further £4.1 million for urgent humanitarian needs. This will include additional support to the Red Cross specifically for helping those suffering in Eastern Uganda, including Soroti.

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UNICEF

Ms Keeble: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development if the Government will support the UNICEF strategy for orphans and vulnerable children. [140465]

Hilary Benn: The UK supports UNICEF's Medium Term Strategic Plan 2002–05 which provides support to orphans and vulnerable children through its five priority areas of: child protection; girls' education; immunisation; early childhood development; and tackling HIV/AIDS. The UK supports UNICEF's Plan by providing £17 million a year to UNICEF's regular resources. In 2002, the UK provided a further £34 million in extra-budgetary support.

TRANSPORT

Air Accidents

Miss McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many air accidents or serious incidents, in addition to total losses, involving United Kingdom-registered airlines are registered on the Airclaims CASE database for the last 10 years for which information is available; and what the comparable accident level was for airlines registered in (a) the Republic of Ireland and (b) Germany. [141246]

Mr. McNulty: The following table sets out the number of major partial loss and minor loss accidents for United Kingdom, German and Irish airlines contained in the Airclaims CASE database for the period 1 January 1993 to 31 December 2002.

Accidents other than total loss accidents for the period 1 January 1993 to 1 January 2003

	Passenger operations	Cargo operation
	Aircraft >5,700 kg mtwa	Aircraft <5,700 kg mtwa	Aircraft >5,700 kg mtwa	Aircraft <5,700kg mtwa
UK airlines	29	0	5	0
German airlines	12	0	2	0
Irish airlines	3	0	1	0

Note:

Mtwa = maximum total weight authorised.

These figures are not directly comparable because of differences in other factors such as the number of hours flown.

Cycling (Helmets)

Mrs. Brooke: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many cycling (a) fatalities and (b) serious injuries occurred among (i) adults and (ii) children in each of the last three years; and in each category what percentage of these adults and children were wearing helmets. [140472]

Mr. Jamieson: The following table shows fatal and serious pedal cycle casualties among adults and children for each of the last three years.

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	2000		2001		2002
Severity	Child	Adult	Child	Adult	Child	Adult
Fatal	27	98	25	111	22	107
Serious	731	1,856	649	1,840	572	1,694

Note:

Figures exclude cases where the age of the casualty was unknown.

Information on the percentages of adults and children in each category wearing helmets is not held centrally.

Highway Land

Bob Russell: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will require statutory undertakers and private companies to pay a rent to local authorities for the stationing of (a) fixed equipment and (b) street furniture on highway land; and if he will make a statement. [141034]

Mr. McNulty: We have no plans to introduce legislation to require statutory undertakers and private companies to pay a rent to local authorities for such activities on highway land.

London Underground

Harry Cohen: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport who is responsible for replacement of rolling stock on the London Underground Victoria Line; and if he will make a statement. [141178]

Mr. McNulty: Responsibility for London Underground transferred from the Government to Transport for London in July this year. Improvements to the Victoria Line infrastructure are the responsibility of Metronet Rail BCV. Metronet are committed to the delivery of 47 new trains on the Victoria Line, all of which will enter service between 2009 and 2012.

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