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Secondments

Mr. Cousins: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what secondments (a) PricewaterhouseCoopers, (b) Deloitte & Touche, (c) Ernst & Young and (d) KPMG has made to his Department since 2001; for what (i) periods and (ii) tasks

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the secondments were made; whether secondments of staff from his Department have been made to those firms; and for what (A) periods and (B) tasks. [156931]

Mr. Gareth Thomas: Secondments are part of the Interchange Initiative which promotes the exchange of people and good practice between the Civil Service and other organisations. The Department for International Development has not engaged in any secondment activity with PricewaterhouseCoopers, Deloitte & Touche, Ernst & Young and KPMG since 2001.

St. Helena

Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what proportion of his Department's budget will be directed to St. Helena in 2004–05; and if he will make a statement. [163530]

Mr. Gareth Thomas: DFID's assistance to St. Helena in the coming Financial Year, as part of a new three-year package, will be discussed with the island Government in St. Helena next month. DFID provisionally expect to disburse around £11 million in the present Financial Year, representing under 1 per cent. of total DFID expenditure. This includes funding, which we intend to maintain, in support of the island's annual recurrent budget and dedicated shipping service.

Training Courses

Hugh Bayley: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what support (a) his Department and (b) UK educational institutions have given to develop courses for African educational institutions in respect of (i) teacher training courses, (ii) training of health professionals, (iii) distance learning courses and (iv) other courses; and if he will make a statement. [164422]

Hilary Benn: The existence of high quality teacher training institutions and infrastructures is central to the delivery of Education For All in Africa. Likewise, well-educated health professionals are critically important for the delivery of programmes designed to reduce the impact of HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis. Appropriate distance education programmes, delivered in part through the use of modern Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs), can help to provide courses and resources to teachers and health professionals who would not otherwise have access to them.

DFID is therefore committed to providing support to African Governments and educators to help them to develop sustainable and relevant programmes that will deliver such training. We do this both through the substantial budgetary support that we provide for African Governments, and also through more focused programmes of technical assistance. The Department for International Development is committed to spending over £1 billion for education in the next three to five years, including a substantial investment in Africa. Furthermore, the £7 million Prime Minister's Imfundo initiative (www.imfundo.org) is working in eight African countries to use ICTs to deliver enhanced educational programmes in association with partners drawn from the private sector, civil society and academic institutions, and focuses particularly on teacher training. We are also working closely with

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colleagues in the Department for Education and Skills, to help ensure that best UK practice in educational training can be shared with our partner governments in Africa.

Other relevant initiatives supported by DFID include £2 million support for the African Virtual University (www.avu.org) which delivers distance based university level courses across Africa, and £1 million a year funding for the Commonwealth of Learning (www. col.org), an intergovernmental organisation created by Commonwealth Heads of Government to encourage the development and sharing of open learning and distance education knowledge, resources and technologies.

The UK Higher Education Institutions are independent and autonomous bodies, and as such no central record is kept of the number and range of distance learning courses suitable for delivery in Africa, or indeed elsewhere. The Higher Education and Research Opportunities (HERO) website (www.hero. ac.uk) has details of courses available at UK Higher Education Institutions, including those delivered by distance learning. However, many UK institutions do indeed provide support for capacity building and course development in the fields of education and health. DFID has, for example, supported specific distance-learning initiatives between African and British universities in these fields through the Commonwealth Scholarship Commission, and organisations such as The British Council also help to co-ordinate such collaborative activities.

FOREIGN AND COMMONWEALTH AFFAIRS

Study Visas

Hugh Bayley: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how much money overseas students applying for a visa to study in the UK are required to show that they have available to support themselves while they are in the UK. [164155]

Mr. Mullin: There is no set amount of money that overseas students need to show that they have available in order to gain entry clearance to study in the UK. The Immigration Rules state that students must be able to show that they have sufficient funds to pay for their course and accommodate themselves without working or help from public funds. There are two exceptions to this. A student can meet some of his/her costs through earnings from employment if that employment is either at a publicly funded institution of further or higher education which is itself providing and guaranteeing the employment or a sandwich course placement which the college or university can guarantee will be available to the student.

As a rough guideline the British Council estimates student living costs (excluding fees) for 2002–03 as £768 per calendar month (£6,912 per academic year, which is a nine month period) for a course in London and £600 per calendar month (£5,400 per academic year) for a course outside London. Offer letters from educational establishments often contain an estimated cost for living expenses and the Entry Clearance Officer can also use these figures as a guide.

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Aquila Al-Hashemi

Mr. Gardiner: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will release in part or in full the police report into the killing of Aquila Al-Hashemi. [163412]

Mr. Rammell: After the assassination of Iraqi Governing Council member Dr Aquila Al-Hashemi in September 2003, an investigation was launched by the Iraqi police with assistance from the Coalition, into her death. Once the investigation is complete it will be for the Iraqi police to decide whether the report is released in part or in full.

Asset Sales

Mr. Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will list the (a) high commissions, (b) embassies, (c) buildings and (d) land being considered for sale. [164207]

Mr. Rammell: The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) maintains a pro-active role in the management of its estate. Consideration of prospective sales is continual and we have no definitive list of future sales. In order to preserve the FCO's ability to obtain best value for any individual sale we cannot release general information about possible future sales in advance of individual assets being placed on the market. I am withholding this information under exemption 13 of Part 2 of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information.

Mr. Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will list the (a) high commissions, (b) embassies, (c) buildings and (d) land which have been sold since 1997. [164206]

Mr. Rammell: I refer my hon. Friend to the answers I gave to the hon. Member for Stratford-on-Avon (Mr. Maples) on 26 January 2004, Official Report, columns 56–58W and to the hon. Member for Ribble Valley (Mr. Evans) on 29 March 2004, Official Report, column 1148W, which listed the sales of residential accommodation and land.

Since 1997 the Foreign and Commonwealth Office has also sold the following office accommodation:

	Sold office accommodation
1998–99	British Embassy Bogota
	British Embassy Casablanca
1999–00	British Embassy Bonn
2000–01	British Consulate Malaga
	British Consulate Seville
2001–02	British High Commission Mbabane
2002–03	British Consulate Naples
	British Embassy Tirana
2003–04	British High Commission Capetown

BACS

Brian White: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what progress his

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Department has made to manage the changeover from the Bank Automated Clearing System to the new BACSTEL-IP system for electronic payments. [164315]

Mr. Rammell: The Foreign and Commonwealth Office has already installed BACSTEL-IP. The system has been tested and is planned to be in use from April 2004.

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