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Civil Servants

Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development if he will list for each civil service grade within his (a) Department and (b) Department's executive agencies, the total number of staff employed, broken down by (i) gender, (ii) ethnic group and (iii) age group; and how many are registered disabled. [166399]

Hilary Benn: Details of DFID Home Civil Service staff numbers (there are no executive agencies), by Civil Service grade, and broken down by (i) gender; (ii) ethnic group (iii) disability status and (iv) age group, are contained in the following tables:
DFID staff by gender

Grade	Male	Female	Total
Senior Civil Service	54	17	71
A1 (Level 6)	131	47	178
A2 (Level 7)	211	157	368
A3 (Senior Executive Officer)	67	72	139
B1 (Higher Executive Officer)	166	131	297
B2 (Executive Officer)	132	163	295
C1 (Administrative Officer)	99	207	306
C2 (Administrative Assistant)	39	51	90
Totals	899	845	1,744

DF1D staff by ethnic origin

Grade	Asian	Black	Chinese	Mixed	Other Ethnic Minority	White	Undeclared Ethnic Origin	Total
Senior Civil Service	3	0	0	1	2	51	14	71
A1 (Level 6)	3	0	0	10	0	121	44	178
A2 (Level 7)	7	1	0	5	3	238	114	368
A3 (Senior Executive Officer)	3	4	0	1	1	88	42	139
B1 (Higher Executive Officer)	17	11	0	5	3	189	72	297
B2 (Executive Officer)	9	15	2	5	8	219	37	295
C1 (Administrative Officer)	11	19	0	7	4	214	51	306
C2 (Administrative Assistant)	5	2	0	0	0	54	29	90
Totals	58	52	2	34	21	1,174	403	1,744

DFID staff by disability status

Grade	Disabled	Non- Disabled	Total
Senior Civil Service	1	70	71
A1 (Level 6)	2	176	178
A2 (Level 7)	2	366	368
A3 (Senior Executive Officer)	0	139	139
B1 (Higher Executive Officer)	4	293	297
B2 (Executive Officer)	4	291	295
C1 (Administrative Officer)	13	293	306
C2 (Administrative Assistant)	3	87	90
Totals	29	1,715	1,744

 
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DFID staff by age group

Grade	Under 25	25 to 34	35 to 44	45 to 54	55 to 64	65+	Total
Senior Civil Service	0	0	19	37	15	0	71
A1 (Level 6)	0	7	56	81	34	0	178
A2 (Level 7)	0	107	163	74	24	0	368
A3 (Senior Executive Officer)	0	30	56	46	7	0	139
B1 (Higher Executive Officer)	10	107	92	74	14	0	297
B2 (Executive Officer)	6	92	114	67	15	1	295
C1 (Administrative Officer)	18	71	114	65	36	2	306
C2 (Administrative Assistant)	11	14	15	26	24	0	90
Totals	45	428	629	470	169	3	1,744

These details form part of our bi-annual staffing level returns to the Cabinet Office. Data on staffing levels in the Civil Service is collected by the Cabinet Office and published in "Civil Service Statistics". A copy of "Civil Service Statistics 2002" is available in the Library of the House, and at www.civil-service.gov.uk/statistics. The 2003 edition setting out these latest figures will be published in summer 2004.

Common Foreign and Security Policy

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what the published objectives were of the Common, Foreign and Security Policy activity reported in the financial tables of the 2003 Commission report on EU Development Policy and the Implementation of External Assistance in 2002; what his Department's involvement in the activity was; what results it achieved; and what assessment he has made of its value for money. [165182]

Mr. Gareth Thomas: Detailed descriptions of the objectives of the Common Foreign and Security Policy, as described under chapter 8 in the financial tables of the EC Annual Report, are given as part of the "Final adoption of the general budget of the European Union for the financial year 2002". This was published in the Official Journal of the European Communities on 31 of January 2002 (volume 45 L29, pp.1345). A copy of this is available in the parliamentary Library or via the Commission website at http://europa.eu.int/eur-lex/en/archive/2002/l   02920020131en.html.

In 2002 DFID contributed approximately £50,000 towards land mine clearance in Croatia managed under chapter 8. However overall responsibility for chapter 8 lies with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

The activities under the CFSP budget are subject to a regular prioritisation debate against political objectives by the Political and Security Committee in which the UK takes a full part. Issues relating to value for money may be discussed as part of this review process.

Democratic Republic of the Congo

Ms Oona King: To ask the Secretary of State for    International Development what steps the Government are taking to ensure that the expansion of industrial logging in the forests of the Democratic Republic of the Congo will not compromise the rights and livelihoods of the people dependent on the forest for their survival. [165480]

Hilary Benn: The Government of the DRC recognises that there should be better management of natural resources, including forests, so as better to contribute to
 
19 Apr 2004 : Column 392W
 
national development and poverty reduction. DFID plans to support the strengthening of natural resource governance in the DRC, including forestry. As a first step we are currently supporting an analysis of the governance framework for natural resource extraction and options for improvements. In the meantime the Government is receiving assistance in the forestry sector from the World Bank, and DFID officials have been in dialogue with the Bank about this work. There is a possibility that DFID will provide assistance in this area to support the Bank's programme.

Commercial logging needs to bring real benefits to the population of the DRC, and the interests of the large number of forest-dependent poor people in DRC should not be prejudiced by logging activities. With World Bank encouragement the Government of the DRC has put a moratorium on new forestry concessions until appropriate regulations are in place to govern the process. The World Bank is also supporting a review of previously allocated concessions, to ensure they meet the new forest code which includes provisions to ensure the rights of local communities.

DFID is also supporting the involvement of civil society in Central African countries to follow up on the Africa Forest Law Enforcement and Governance Conference that took place last year. In addition, the EU aims to develop partnership agreements with individual countries under its Action Plan to strengthen forest governance in the Central African region.

Departmental Computers

Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what plans he has to update computer (a) hardware and (b) software standard packages used in his Department. [166376]

Mr. Gareth Thomas: Computer hardware and software updates are determined and agreed as part of DFID's e-business, ICT and Knowledge Sharing strategic studies.

Hardware refresh cycles are subject to a rolling programme based upon the expected life span of the equipment involved—usually every 4–5 years. Details of the current hardware upgrade plans are at Table 1.

The timing of software updates tends to be driven by the need to deliver additional functionality, to comply with legislative changes (e.g. payroll) and to remain within support matrices for the products. Details of the current software update plans are at Table 2.
 
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Table 1: Hardware upgrades

Hardware type	Date purchased	Life (years)	Upgrade due
HP4 L2000 Mini computer	2000	4–5	2004–05
HP AutoRAID Mini computer	2001	4–5	2005–06
HP5 L2000 Mini computer	2001	4–5	2005–06
HP6 L2000 Mini computer	2002	4–5	2006–07
Compaq Storage Area Networks (3)	2001–03	3–4	2004–07
NT Web Servers (45)	2000–02	4–5	2004–07
Network servers	2001	4–5	2005–06
Desktop pcs	2002	4–5	2006–07
Laptop pcs	2003–04	2–3	2005–07
Printers	2003	3–4	2006–07
PDAs	2003–04	n/k	n/k
Copiers	2002	4–5	2006–08

 
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Table 2: Software Upgrades

Software description	Installed	Upgrade path	Upgrade due
HP Unix Operating System v11	2001	HPUXv12	2005?
Windows 2000 (network os)	2001	Windows 2003	2004
Oracle v8i (corporate database)	2001	Oracle v9i or 1 0g	2004
CODA v7 (Financial)	2001	(136)n/k	n/k
Rebus v3.4 (HR)	2003	Rebus v 3.6	2004
Citrix XP (Thin client Access)	2003	Citrix (newer version)	2006?
Novell NetWare v 5.1 (network os)	2002	Windows 2003	2005–06
Win98 desktop os (UK)	2002	WinXP	2005–06
Win2000 desktop os (overseas)	2002–04	WinXP	2005–06
Novel GroupWise v5.5 (e-mail)	2002	Microsoft Exchange	2005–06
Microsoft Office 2000	2002	MS Office XP	2005–06

⁽¹³⁶⁾ Will be reviewed as part of the Aries project and may be replaced.

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