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HIV/AIDS

13. Jim Dobbin: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what action his Department is taking to tackle HIV/AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa. [157883]

Hilary Benn: DFID recognises that HIV/AIDS is a terrible human catastrophe and is one of the most important development challenges facing Africa. The UK is the second largest bilateral donor of HIV/AIDS assistance in the world. In 2002–03 UK spend to address HIV/AIDS and sexual health globally amounted to over £270 million. This Department has HIV/AIDS

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investments in most of our 16 focus countries in sub-Saharan Africa. In addition, indirect support is being provided to address HIV/AIDS through budget support. We have committed over £25 million to support the International Partnership Against AIDS in Africa (IPAA) initiative—a regional, Africa-led initiative, and $280 million over 8 years to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria. We will make reducing the vulnerability of poor people to HIV and to the impact of AIDS a priority for the extra resources the UK will be providing to Africa in 2006.

Considerable additional financial support continues to be provided through institutions such as WHO, UNAIDS, UNFPA, and NGOs and civil society organisations in a coherent effort to combat the disease and support those already living with it.

But we are committed to doing more. The Government has published a Call for Action on HIV/AIDS. This is the first stage in an intensified effort on HIV/AIDS, and a new UK strategy will be published later in the year. The Call for Action highlights the need for: better funding, better donor co-ordination, better HIV/AIDS programmes and stronger political support. The UK has pushed for HIV to be a focus issue for the Africa Partners Forum. HIV remains a high order issue for the G8 Africa Action Plan. The UK will prioritise HIV/AIDS and Africa during the UK Presidency of the G8 in 2005.

15. Vera Baird: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development if he will make a statement on his Department's contribution to the global campaign to tackle AIDS. [157885]

Mr. Gareth Thomas: The UK is the second largest bilateral donor of HIV/AIDS assistance to developing countries. Our bilateral funding has increased seven-fold, from £38 million in 1997–98 to more than £270 million in 2002–03. The UK was instrumental in setting up the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria and has committed US$ 280 million over seven years to ensure it has long term stability of funding. The Government published its Call for Action on HIV/AIDS on World AIDS Day, which emphasises the UK's commitment to AIDS and highlights the need for stronger political direction; better funding; better donor coordination and better HIV/AIDS programmes.

Ethiopia

14. Tony Baldry: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development if he will make a statement on development assistance to Ethiopia. [157884]

Hilary Benn: As I saw during my recent visit, the problems facing Ethiopia are immense. Almost one half of its 70 million people live below the national poverty line. Hunger, HIV/AIDS and the need to provide basic services pose enormous challenges.

The time is right for the international community to play a much larger role in helping Ethiopia meet these challenges. This is what the UK intends to do. On current plans, UK development assistance will increase from £19 million this financial year to £57 million in 2005–06. This will include substantial direct budget support. We will also support the Ethiopian Government's own plans to tackle the roots of hunger.

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At the same time, we will continue to respond to immediate humanitarian needs. This year, despite the good harvest, some 7.2 million people will still need support to stay alive. The reason is not a shortage of food as a whole in Ethiopia—it is poverty. During my visit, I agreed to provide immediate further assistance of £10 million to meet both food and non-food needs, including water, sanitation and health. We will continue to keep the situation under very close review.

Employee Ownership

Mr. Reed: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development whether his Department provides support to governments actively to develop employee ownership of business units programmes. [157794]

Hilary Benn: DFID provides support to governments both directly and indirectly to develop programmes that promote employee ownership of business units. In South Africa, for example, DFID is providing a range of assistance to Government to support employee ownership of privatised enterprises. This has included assistance to the Department of Public Enterprises to incorporate employee share ownership schemes in its programme to divest the state-owned forestry company's holdings. DFID is also providing support to the Government of Serbia to implement its privatisation programme, which allows for employees to bid for up to 30 per cent. of the shares in the companies.

DFID also contributes indirectly to promoting employee ownership of business through its membership of major international financial institutions such as the World Bank Group and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, which actively promote employee share ownership in restructuring and privatisation programmes in a number of countries. DFID has not received requests from governments to help develop employee ownership of existing business units in the private sector.

Mr. Reed: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what support his Department provides to governments undertaking privatisation programmes to enable employees to buy and run businesses. [157795]

Hilary Benn: Few governments have as a policy objective privatisation programmes aimed specifically at enabling employees to buy and run businesses. However, DFID provides extensive support to governments to develop the micro, small and medium enterprise sector. Our support includes assistance to governments to improve the legal and regulatory framework for enterprise; the development of financial institutions to increase the availability of finance needed to establish and operate businesses; and programmes to strengthen local management skills and business support services. These support programmes encourage and enable all entrepreneurs in the community to buy and run businesses, including employees of state-owned enterprises.

In China, for example, DFID's support to the enterprise sector combines support for state-owned enterprise reform with an enterprise development

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programme to promote the development of small, private businesses. This programme includes consulting and training services and a credit guarantee scheme to increase bank finance for small enterprise and is open to employees of state-owned enterprises and to the wider entrepreneurial community.

CDC

Gregory Barker: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what the airline travel policy for the directors of (a) CDC and (b) Actis is in respect of (i) European and (ii) inter-continental flights. [157826]

Hilary Benn: The existing CDC airline travel policy will apply to both CDC and Actis and covers all staff, including directors.

Economy class travel will be used for all flights of less than six hours duration, while business class travel is allowed for flights of over six hours duration or for overnight flights. First class travel may only be used in special circumstances such as intra-continental travel where business class is not available and is subject to prior approval.

Gregory Barker: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what estimate he has made of the total cost of the reorganisation of CDC and Actis. [157828]

Hilary Benn: Our estimate of the total costs of the reorganisation of CDC is £11.5 million. This is made up as follows:

	£ million
DFID Advisory costs	3.5
CDC Advisory and staff costs	5.6
CDC Implementation costs	2.4

Both CDC and DFID have statutory duties and duties of due diligence to discharge. These have to be carried out fully and thoroughly and need properly qualified professional expertise. It was also important to find the right corporate model and to achieve the best value for money. The costs are commensurate with the degree of care and attention needed in the restructuring of a £1.1 billion enterprise.

Chad

Dr. Tonge: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what assistance has been given to Chad to deal with displaced people from Darfur, Sudan. [158593]

Hilary Benn: The United Nations estimates that there are 110,000 Sudanese refugees in Eastern Chad, displaced by the fighting in the Darfur region of Sudan.

We contributed £1 million to UN High Commissioner for Refugees' work in Chad in October last year. We are currently considering some further contributions to international agencies working with Sudanese refugees.

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