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Written Answers to Questions

Friday 6 February 2004

PRIME MINISTER

BBC

Mr. Andrew Turner: To ask the Prime Minister (1) if he will list the occasions in the last 12 months when (a) he and (b) his staff have made (i) written and (ii) oral representations to the BBC about news and current affairs coverage;. [153268]

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The Prime Minister: In the last 12 months, my office will have had many discussions with all sections of the media, including the BBC, as part of their normal day-to-day duties. A list of all such discussions is not maintained centrally.

CULTURE, MEDIA AND SPORT

Adzido Pan-African Dance Ensemble

Mr. Moss: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what the Arts Council funding for the Adzido Pan-African Dance Ensemble was in each of the last three years; how many staff are employed by the ensemble, broken down by (a) dancers and (b) others; and how many performances it has put on in each year since 2000. [152252]

Estelle Morris: The following table provides a breakdown of the information requested.

2000–012001–022002–03
FundingArts Council England Funding£748,250£781,956£981,704
EmploymentDancers161615
Other171511
PerformancesUK Performances596418
International Performances261
Education workshops and participatory sessions55629638

The Company was accepted into the Arts Council's Recovery Programme in 2002, receiving an additional £500,000 to their core grant above, to help stabilise it. It is anticipated that it will begin creating and touring new work in the 2004–5 financial year.

INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Afghanistan

Mr. Lyons: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what improvements in health care have taken place in Afghanistan since the end of the war. [150623]

Mr. Gareth Thomas: Since April 2002 72 hospitals, clinics and women's healthcare centres have been rebuilt. The Ministry of Health has established a Child and Adolescent Health Department and a Department of Women and Reproductive Health to tackle high infant and maternal mortality rates.

The World Bank, the United States Agency for International Development and the European Community are helping the Afghan Ministry of Health, through NGOs, to provide a basic healthcare service to the entire population. The package consists of services for (i) maternal and newborn health; (ii) child health and immunisation; (iii) nutrition; (iv) communicable disease; (v) mental health; (vi) disability; and (vii) supply of essential drugs.

Immunisation is having a real impact. 12 million children have been immunised against polio and 16 million against measles since 2002, saving 30,000 lives. Cholera and diarrhoeal diseases are being tackled through health education, water chlorination and the construction of wells throughout the country.

Recruiting, training and deploying health care workers (especially women) is a real challenge, especially in rural areas. The absence of female health workers is being addressed by the World Health Organisation, which is running a variety of health courses to boost the number of skilled birth attendants, nurses and midwives.

Despite the substantial investment in the provision of basic health care in Afghanistan, the effective delivery of services across the whole of the country will take many months. But efforts to improve the health of people in Afghanistan will need to continue for many years and will require the support of the international community over the long term.

Overseas Offices

Tony Baldry: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development if he will list the devolved offices the Department has overseas which are able to take decisions on local spending policy. [152081]

Hilary Benn: I have listed the devolved DFID offices that take decisions on local spend and policy. Based on wide experience, DFID considers that country programmes are best planned and managed within the country concerned, subject to the size of programme being such as to warrant the costs.

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TREASURY

Inland Revenue (IT Service)

Mr. Gray: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer pursuant to his answer of 30 January 2004, Official Report, column 570W, and in connection with the 28th Report of the Committee of Public Accounts, Session 1999–2000, HC 431, Inland Revenue/EDS Strategic Partnership, Re-tendering the contract in 2004, Paragraph 54, and Minutes of Evidence (HC 431-i) Questions 14 and 40, who the board member responsible for Mr. John Yard's division on 12 April 2000 was; on what date he commenced planning for retendering the Inland Revenue's information technology service; and on what date it was decided that a market-making exercise would be held prior to retendering that contract. [153408]

Dawn Primarolo: The Board member responsible for Business Services on 12 April 2000 was Tim Flesher, who at that time was the Inland Revenue's Deputy Chairman. As I stated in my answer of 16 December 2003, Official Report, column 803W, planning for the ASPIRE project began in January 2001. In addition, as I stated in my answer of 14 October 2003, Official

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Report, column 141W, the Market making exercise was conceived by the Inland Revenue between August and October 2001; it was also committed to at that time.

National Insurance

Mr. Webb: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will make it his policy not to collect national insurance contributions from individuals who will reach state pension age during the course of a financial year where those individuals will be unable to accrue any additional rights to contributory benefits in respect of those contributions. [153409]

Dawn Primarolo: The UK national insurance scheme operates on the "pay as you go" principle so that the contributions paid by people of working age fund the benefits of people who are currently claiming benefit. The Government believes that it is right that working people between the ages of 16 and the state retirement age should contribute to the payment of benefits of those not in work and to the funding of the NHS.

Mr. Frank Field: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the size of the surplus on the national insurance fund has been in each of the last 20 years; and how much of this surplus was borrowed by the Government, and at what rate of interest, in each of those years. [153407]

Dawn Primarolo: The following table shows the excess of receipts over payments for the National Insurance Fund for the past 20 years. Negative figures indicate an excess of payments over receipts.

Financial yearExcess of receipts over payments(£ million)
1983–84580
1984–85374
1985–86316
1986–87414
1987–881,581
1988–893,081
1989–90-62
1990–911,485
1991–92-3,459
1992–93-4,897
1993–941,112
1994–952,279
1995–961,008
1996–97-98
1997–981,871
1998–992,669
1999–20002,161
2000–014,841
2001–024,351
2002–032,899

Notes:

1. Figures refer to the Great Britain National Insurance Fund only. Northern Ireland has a separate Fund.

2. Figures are taken from the National Insurance Fund accounts, which are published annually by The Stationery Office.

Details of investments are set out in the National Insurance Fund Accounts published annually by The Stationery Office.

Ivory

Miss Widdecombe: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many seizures by Her Majesty's

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Customs of ivory and items containing ivory resulted in successful prosecutions in each year since 1997; and what percentage of such seizures those prosecutions represented in each year. [153011]

John Healey: There have been no prosecutions relating to Customs seizures of ivory or ivory products in this period.

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