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Rural Payments Agency

Miss McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs under what Act the Rural Payment Agency is able to (a) demand money back from farmers and (b) deduct money from future payments after resolution of disputes over the slaughter premium scheme. [164599]

Alun Michael: A member state is obliged to recover any monies paid if an undue payment is made.

The basis upon which undue payments are recovered for Integrated Administration and Control System schemes, of which the Slaughter Premium Scheme is one, is Article 49 of Commission Regulation (EC) No. 2419/2001 laying down the detailed rules for applying the integrated administration and control system for certain Community aid schemes established by Council Regulation (EEC) No 3508/92.

The point raised at (a) is covered under paragraph 1 of this article;

"If undue payment is made, the farmer shall repay the amount in question plus interest calculated in accordance with the time the undue payment was made and the repayment date and in accordance with the provisions of the national law."

The point raised at (b) is covered by Article 38 of Commission Regulation (EC) No. 2419/2001;

"If the percentage established in accordance with paragraph 3 is more than 50% the farmer shall, moreover, be excluded once again from receiving aid up to an amount equal to that to be refused under the first subparagraph. This amount shall be offset against aid payments under the bovine aid schemes to which the farmer is entitled in the context of application he lodges in the course of the three calendar years following the calendar year of the finding."

Science Strategy

Dr. Iddon: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how her Department's Chief Scientific Adviser has ensured that the Department's scientific activities are well directed, as recommended in paragraph 7.11 of the Government's science strategy, Investing in Innovation, published in July 2002. [162484]

Alun Michael: Professor Howard Dalton FRS was appointed as Defra's Chief Scientific Adviser in March 2002. He is a full member of the Departmental Management Board. The Chief Scientific Adviser is responsible to Defra's Management Board and Ministers for the preparation of the Department's Science and Innovation Strategy. This sets out the vision for Defra science, and identifies the science needed to underpin and inform Defra policies across the three

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areas of environment, food and rural affairs. Defra's first Science and Innovation Strategy was published in May 2003.

CABINET OFFICE

Fisheries

Mr. Salmond: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office how much the Prime Minister's Strategy Unit report entitled, Net Benefits: a sustainable and profitable future for UK fishing cost to produce. [165070]

Mr. Alexander: The Strategy Unit's total budget for this financial year is £4.7 million, which funds a range of projects and other work.

A total of 12 people worked on the project, and six of these were engaged on a full time basis.

INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT

BACS

Brian White: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what progress his Department has made to manage the changeover from the Bank Automated Clearing System to the new BACSTEL-IP system for electronic payments. [164312]

Mr. Gareth Thomas: DFID has carried out some preliminary research with suppliers and will initiate a project in June to migrate our systems to BACSTEL-IP. It is anticipated that this project will be completed before the end of this year.

The requirement to comply with BACSTEL-IP has also been incorporated into the specifications for new systems.

Central America

John Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development if he will make a statement on his Department's aid policies for (a) Belize and (b) Central America. [164031]

Mr. Gareth Thomas: The information requested is as follows.

(a) In Belize our focus is on supporting the Government of Belize to meet the benchmarks for qualifying for debt relief under the Commonwealth Debt Initiative. We granted debt relief of £1.548 million for the year July 2002 to 30 June 2003 and reached agreement in principle to the granting of additional debt relief for a further two years from July 2003 to June 2005. Further debt relief is subject to progress on agreed benchmarks in line with the three Commonwealth Debt Initiative criteria of sound economic management, pro-poor policies and accountable and transparent governance. These are the key areas in which we operate a £600,000 strategic fund over the three year period from June 2003 to June 2006.

The UK supports the OAS-sponsored Confidence Building Measures in Belize and Guatemala through the FCO/DFID/MOD Global Conflict Prevention Pool. £1.5 million has been allocated for financial year

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2004–05. Our projects are aimed at reducing tensions, encouraging co-operation between security agencies, Government Ministries and Non Governmental Organisations, and addressing the underlying causes of conflict.

In addition Belize benefits from DFID's regional programme for the wider Caribbean which focuses on trade, security sector reform, HIV/AIDS, public sector reform and economic and fiscal management.

(b) We are reviewing our aid policy in relation to Central America. In 2004–05 DFID's Central American programme will be about £5 million of which £3 million will be to support our programme in Nicaragua. The DFID office in Honduras closes in 12 months time and we will withdraw from specific in-country activities in support of the Honduran Poverty Reduction Strategy.

Our policy in Central America is to work with other bilateral donors in order to enhance the impact on poverty of major multilateral agencies, such as the World Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank. Current priorities include enabling poor people to shape, participate in and benefit from access to markets and regional trade, and from more accountable and responsive public sector management, and political systems. In addition we engage regionally on issues of global concern—HIV/AIDS prevention and security. We have a larger programme in Nicaragua, where we are actively involved in the Poverty Reduction Strategy process.

Congo

Mr. Gardiner: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what support his Department is providing to the Congo Basin Forest Partnership; and whether his Department has participated in discussions about the partnership's objectives. [164588]

Hilary Benn: DFID welcomed the Congo Basin Forest Partnership when it was launched at the World Summit on Sustainable Development by the governments of the United States and South Africa. DFID staff have since participated in meetings of the Partnership in Africa. The UK contributes to the aims of the Partnership through DFID's work in Cameroon and our work in the region on forest law enforcement and governance.

EU Development Assistance

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development if he will make a statement on the commitment of EU development assistance to (a) Baltic, (b) cross-border and (c) regional co-operation in 2002. [163859]

Mr. Gareth Thomas: EU assistance to the Baltic States is largely provided through the PHARE programme (PHARE stands for Poland and Hungary Assistance with Reconstruction, although the programme expanded to cover other countries). The objective of PHARE is to help candidate countries ¹ preparations to accede to the European Union. This consists of technical assistance with the implementation of European legislation, and the building of institutional capacity. The Baltic States are also eligible for assistance under the ISPA programme (Instrument for Structural Policies for Pre-Accession: to help candidate countries to

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meet environmental standards) and the SAPARD programme (Special Accession Programme for Agriculture and Rural Development: to help candidate countries deal with the problems of the structural adjustment in their agricultural sectors and rural areas, as well as in the implementation of legislation concerning the CAP (Common Agricultural Policy) and related issues). The total planned allocation to the Baltic States under these three programmes was approximately Euros323 million in 2002.

In addition the Tacis programme (development assistance to the nations of Eastern Europe and Central Asia) contains an element for co-operation in the Baltic region. In 2002 this focused on the promotion of environmental protection and management of natural resources and support for the private sector and assistance for economic development. The total planned allocation for this in 2002 was approximately Euros8 million. Cross-border assistance also forms a part of the Tacis programme. It aims to assist border regions in overcoming specific developmental problems, encourage links between economic, social and transport networks, accelerate social and economic reform in the partner states and to reduce transboundary environmental risks and pollution. The total planned allocation for cross-border activities in Tacis in 2002 was approximately Euros27.5. The PHARE programme also contains provision for cross-border activities, the objective of which is to promote cooperation of border regions in countries in central and eastern Europe with adjacent regions in a neighbouring country. The total planned allocation for cross-border activities in PHARE in 2002 was approximately Euros151 million.

The PHARE and Tacis programmes, as well as the CARDS programme for assistance to the countries of the Western Balkans, contain the facility for spending to promote regional co-operation where that supports delivery of the overall objectives of the programme. It is not possible to produce an estimate for the total spending on regional co-operation in 2002 because this aspect is not individually accounted for in comparable ways across all of the programmes.

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