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HOUSE OF COMMONS COMMISSION

Select Committees

Jon Trickett: To ask the hon. Member for Roxburgh and Berwickshire, representing the House of Commons Commission what his estimate is of the total amount of staff hours spent in 2003–04 in support of (a) select committees of the House other than the Committee of Public Accounts and (b) the Committee of Public Accounts; what the budget allocated to each is in 2003–04; and if he will make a statement. [153383]

Sir Archy Kirkwood: I refer the hon. Member to Part 10 of the Sessional Return for 2002–03, which was published yesterday as House of Commons Paper 1 of this Session. This gives details of the staff who serve each committee. In addition, the Committee of Public Accounts is supported by the National Audit Office which has a staff of 811 in total. There is no budgetary allocation to individual committees; however, expenditure attributable to each committee appears in the Sessional Return.

INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Action for Southern Africa

Mr. Best: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development if he will make a statement on the decision to reject the funding application from Action for Southern Africa. [153769]

Mr. Gareth Thomas: Action for Southern Africa (ACTSA) was unsuccessful in securing a grant from the Development Awareness Fund last year for the following reasons.

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There was no real evidence that there was a demand for the project from the intended beneficiaries.

The project relied too heavily on DFID funding (80 per cent.) and, at the time, of applying, the remaining 20 per cent. had not been secured from other donors.

There were concerns that the target audiences were spread too widely and as a consequence, the messages conveyed would lack focus.

Feedback covering these concerns was given to ACTSA in May 2003 with an invitation to contact the Department with a view to working with them in the future.

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Adam Smith Institute

Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what the purposes were of each of the contracts awarded by his Department to the Adam Smith Institute in each of the last four years. [153277]

Hilary Benn: The following table sets out the purpose of our contracts with Adam Smith International Ltd. in each of the last four years. All contracts with Adam Smith International Ltd. have been awarded and managed in line with DFID's standard procurement procedures.

	Project title (Contract purpose)	Country	Current value(1) (£)
1999	PR Unit Support For Parastatal Sector Reform Commission (PSRC) (Public Relations Unit)	Tanzania	430,625
1999	Privatisation Project Phase 3 and 4 Managing Consultant	Guyana	1,718,736
1999	Privatisation Agency Support Project Consultancy	Zimbabwe	560,752
1999	Technical Assistance for Public Enterprise Reform in Orissa	India	3,667,571
1999	Assistance to the Palestinian Negotiations Affairs Department	West Bank and Gaza	9,131,555
1999	Additional Support to the Privatisation Board	Bangladesh	106,241
1999	UK-Ireland Privatisation and Regulation Study Tour	Tanzania	11,145
1999	Medium Term Programme of Capacity Building for PURC (Public Utilities Regulatory Commission)	Ghana	1,559,960
1999	Initial Support to the Budgetary Processes of the Government of Macedonia	Macedonia	44,315
2000	Rehabilitation of Cyclone Damaged Lift Irrigation Points in Orissa	India	1,296,327
2000	Seminar on Export Credits and Developing Countries	United Kingdom	102,594
2000	Lead Adviser to Parastatal Sector Reform Commission (PSRC)	Tanzania	229,966
2000	Russia Trade Policy Project (Technical Support)	Russia	1,199,986
2001	Conference on Disinvestment (Organisation of Conference)	India	70,000
2001	Support for Public Sector Undertaking Reforms and Social Safety Net in Madhya Pradesh	India	80,000
2001	PSRC: Water Privatisation and Regulation Study Tour (Parastatal Sector Reform Commission)	Tanzania	54,924
2001	Communications Film for Department of Disinvestment	India	89,500
2001	Consultants for Standards, Technical Regulatory Barriers Programme (Problems of access to EU market experienced by developing countries)	Global (Non Project Specific)	92,870
2002	Trade Training for DFID Staff	United Kingdom	20,075
2002	Pilot Training and Capacity Building in International Watercourse Law	Kyrgyz Republic	151,008
2002	Trade Training for DFID Staff—Bangkok	United Kingdom	32,328
2002	Support for Capacity-Building in the Ministry of Finance and Central Bank	Afghanistan	3,277,815
2003	Support Services for Public Enterprise Restructuring in South Africa	South Africa, Republic of	6,363,435
2003	Support to Water Sector Regulation by PURC-Ghana (Public Utilities Regulatory Commission)	Ghana	1,079,100
2003	Andhra Pradesh Economic Restructuring Programme-Public Enterprise Reforms, Phase II	India	416,435
2003	Economic Support within 1st Military Division Hq Basra	Iraq	55,510
2003	Economic Development within 1st Military Division Hq Basra	Iraq	119,848
2003	Support to the Office of the Prime Minister and to the Cabinet Office, (capacity building support to the Palestinian National Authority)	West Bank and Gaza	100,400
2003	ITD-DFID Staff Training (International Trade Department)	Global (Non Project Specific)	288,685
2003	Asia Trade Consultancy (A paper for DFID on the regional trade issues in Asia)	United Kingdom	44,200
2003	International Lawyer within 1st Military Division Hq Basra	Iraq	131,868
2003	Economic Support to Coalition Provisional Authority South (CPAS)	Iraq	111,255
2003	Secondment of Negotiations Support Staff to the Office of Prime Minister	West Bank and Gaza	75,800
2003	Legal Adviser within Coalition Provisional Authority South (CPAS)	Iraq	72,925

⁽¹⁾ Original contract value plus cost of any increases or extensions.

Burundi

John Barrett: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development if he will make a statement on the humanitarian situation in the Kirundo region of Burundi. [153348]

Mr. Gareth Thomas: Months of drought throughout 2003 have affected the 2004 agricultural season especially in the Bugabira and Ntega districts. 29,000 households in Bugabira district and 18,900 households in Ntega district and neighbouring zones of Kirundo are facing this problem. The Food and Agricultural Organisation field crops evaluation report informs us that beans, potatoes and maize have been strongly affected by the prolonged lack of rain. Cassava mosaic disease has affected the cultivation of cassava, one of the main foodstuffs.

Humanitarian international NGOs and agencies working in the food security sector are looking at the situation. The World Food Programme is organising food distribution in Kirundo from 16 February. The Food and Agricultural Organisation has increased the number of Seeds Protection Rations beneficiaries from 15,000 to 24,000 households, set up the distribution of

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potato cuttings and is providing additional support to provincial committees working on local solutions to the cassava mosaic disease.

Liberia

John Barrett: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what progress is being made on the demobilisation of child soldiers in Liberia; and if he will make a statement. [153345]

Mr. Gareth Thomas: The United Nations estimates that there are approximately 15,000 Children Associated with Fighting Forces (CAFF) to be demobilised in Liberia. Currently, about 190 children have been demobilised and are held in four Interim Care Centres (ICCs), which will allow them to be separated from adult fighters, and where they will receive specialised care and assistance. The ICCs are positioned in Monrovia, Buchanan and Tubmanburg, and are run by Save the Children UK, Don Bosco Homes and Samaritan's Purse International Relief. UNICEF have recently arranged, with UNDP and UNMIL, for children at the ICCs to be formally demobilised and to be registered and issued with their Disarmament, Demobilisation, Rehabilitation and Reintegration (DDRR) numbers. We understand that this exercise will start during the week of 9 February. We have provided £300,000 to UNICEF to establish five Interim Care Centres.

John Barrett: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what steps he is taking to ensure long-term (a) economic stability (b) investment and (c) economic growth in Liberia. [153347]

Mr. Gareth Thomas: The conditions for the establishment of long-term economic stability, investment and growth will depend on peace and security, and a successful programme, by the National Transition Government of Liberia (NTGL), of reconstruction. The recent, successful, Liberia Reconstruction Conference showed strong support from the international community for the Results Focussed Transition Framework, agreed by the NTGL and the international community as the basis for an extensive reconstruction programme.

We have committed £6 million for Disarmament, Demobilisation, Rehabilitation and Reintegration (DDRR); our share of EU programmes in 2003 and 2004 is about £13 million. These amounts are in addition to our contribution to humanitarian programmes of £10.6 million to date.

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