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Uganda

Mr. Blizzard: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what steps he is taking to seek to end the conflict in Northern Uganda. [157667]

Mr. Mullin: We deplore the violence perpetrated against innocent civilians by the Lord's Resistance Army in the north of Uganda. We continue to encourage the Ugandan Government to seek a peaceful resolution to this conflict and to take steps to improve prospects for dialogue.

UK support to date has focussed on humanitarian assistance (£8.4 million in the last twelve months); targeted support to reconciliation processes; promotion of human rights, international humanitarian law, and supporting the role of civil society and improving international donor coordination.

We continue to keep in close contact with the Government of Uganda and the international community to see what more we can do to help.

Mr. Blizzard: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what action he is taking to obtain the support of international organisations to address the conflict in Northern Uganda. [157669]

Mr. Mullin: We are working closely with the international community and organisations to improve donor coordination and support a resolution of the conflict in northern Uganda. The UK was instrumental in the founding of the Donor Technical Group on the North in Kampala and currently holds the position of Deputy Chair of the Group. This is widely seen as the most important co-ordinating forum on donor responses to the conflict and has contributed to the development of agreed approaches and programmes in support of conflict resolution.

Mr. Blizzard: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what meetings his Department has had with the Ugandan Government regarding the conflict in the north of the country. [157670]

Mr. Mullin: We continue to raise the conflict with the Lord's Resistance Army with the Government of Uganda at official and ministerial level. My right hon. Friend the Prime Minister and I discussed the situation in northern Uganda with President Museveni during his visit to London on 29 January. We urged President Museveni to seek a peaceful solution to the conflict. We encouraged him to take steps to improve prospects for dialogue. Our High Commissioner in Kampala is in constant touch with the Ugandan President about this issue.

Mr. Blizzard: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what steps he is taking to prevent the abduction of children in Northern Uganda by the Lord's Resistance Army. [157672]

Mr. Mullin: The vast majority of Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) fighters are the innocent children of civilians, abducted and forced to fight against their will. The degree of violence and the practice of making

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children a main target of their war is deeply repellent. We are supporting efforts to seek a resolution to this conflict and providing support to rehabilitate children who escape their LRA captors. Over the last year the UK has given £1.3 million to UNICEF and Save the Children Fund for relief activities, and their work to protect children at risk of abduction and to reintegrate child ex-combatants into society.

United Nations

Mr. Spring: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what the Government's policy is on the establishment of a United Nations council for sustainable and human development. [157112]

Mr. Rammell: The UK believes the UN has an important role to play in promoting sustainable and human development. We believe the key is to strengthen the effectiveness and co-ordination of existing organisations, rather than creating new ones.

The Millennium Declaration in 2000 and the World Summit for Sustainable Development in 2002 established concrete measures for judging performance on sustainable development through the Millennium Development Goals and the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation. The UK is now working at the national and international level to meet these commitments. The UK provides substantial support for those UN bodies dealing with sustainable and human development.

The UK believes the UN must change to better reflect current demands, and is taking part in the continuing discussion on reform of the UN system. As part of this process we are looking at the work of those UN bodies dealing with sustainable and human development.

Mr. Spring: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will support the launch of an international convention for the reform of the United Nations in 2005. [157110]

Mr. Rammell: We do not see the need for new mechanisms to reform the United Nations, as we would prefer to work through existing processes. The UK is a strong advocate of reform at the United Nations. The effectiveness of the organisation must be enhanced to ensure that the UN is able to meet the challenges currently facing the international community. Our priorities are a Security Council that deals effectively with the full range of threats to international peace and security: we welcome the establishment by the Secretary-General of a High Level Panel to look at this issue. We are supporting efforts to revitalise the General Assembly and the Economic and Social Council, and moves to reform the development agencies. We have also strongly supported Kofi Annan's 2002 proposals to improve the UN Secretariat and its budgetary procedures. We believe that these existing processes will lead to an organisation better equipped to meet current challenges.

Zimbabwe

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what assessment he has

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made of the regulations on presidential powers issued this month by the Zimbabwe Government; and what representations he has made about them. [157535]

Mr. Mullin: The regulations provide for the automatic detention in custody for nine days for people charged with a wide range of political and economic crimes, including those charged with advocating and organising violence, boycotts or civil disobedience under the Public Order and Security Act. They could be used to harass members of civic society, the independent media and ZANU (PF)'s political opponents.

At the General Affairs and Economic Relations Council on 23 February, EU Foreign Ministers issued a strong statement condemning the Government of Zimbabwe for its human rights abuses.

EDUCATION AND SKILLS

Basic Skills Training

Mr. Simmonds: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many adults he plans should participate in learning and skills training up to their first level 2 in each year from 2003 to 2006. [154976]

Mr. Ivan Lewis: We expect around 475,000 adults to participate in learning up to their first full level 2 funded by the public sector between 2003 and 2006. In addition there will be a number of learners participating in privately funded learning. We expect this privately funded learning to deliver around 180,000 adults with a first full level 2 between 2003 and 2006.

Taken together with the change in the levels of qualifications of people in the workforce through young people entering the labour market (as adults) and replacing poorer qualified retirees, we expect this level of participation to enable us to meet our commitment to increase the number of adults with a full level 2 qualification by 1 million between 2003 and 2006.

Broadband

Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what proportion of (a) primary and (b) secondary schools have a broadband connection. [157190]

Mr. Charles Clarke: As at December 2003, 41 per cent. of primary schools and 98 per cent. of secondary schools (49 per cent. of all schools), in England, were connected to broadband compared to just one in eight two years ago. This data has been extracted from LEA connectivity statistics.

Computer Access

Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what successor schemes there are to the Computers in Reach scheme; and what support is in place to maintain equipment acquired under that scheme. [158151]

Mr. Charles Clarke [holding answer 2 March 2004]: The Computers Within Reach Scheme closed on 31 October 2001 having delivered over 24,000 recycled computers to people in 22 pilot areas, at a cost of

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£7.1 million over two years. Those eligible were in receipt of certain working age benefits or a State Pension with minimum income guarantee.

An evaluation was conducted, and copies have been placed in the House of Commons Library. The report highlighted a number of difficulties. In view of these difficulties, we considered carefully whether to repeat the scheme against alternatives that might provide more effective access to ICT and learning opportunities for those currently without access.

At the time it was decided to channel the remaining £7.9 million into purchasing wireless technology equipment and laptops for Adult and Community Learning Centres serving deprived wards around the country.

There are no current plans to initiate any similar projects.

Each individual who received a refurbished computer from one of the contracted suppliers would as part of the agreement receive a one year warranty with the machine. All costs for maintenance and upgrades would then fall to the owner when the years warranty expired.

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