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6 May 2004 : Column 1702W—continued
Public Sector Workers (Assaults)
Helen Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what information his Department collects on assaults on public sector workers during the course of their work. [169450]
Ms Blears:
In January 2004, the Home Office published an on-line report entitled "Violence at Work: Findings from the 2002–2003 British Crime Survey". This report includes information regarding the occupation of victims of violence at work. It is
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available on the Home Office Research and Statistics website at: http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/pdfs2/rdsolr0404.pdf
Assaults on public sector workers which are recorded by the police are included in Home Office recorded crime statistics. However, the only assaults on public sector workers which are identified separately are 'Assaults on a constable' Statistics on these offences for England and Wales are given in Table 3.04 of HO Statistical Bulletin 7/03 'Crime in England and Wales 2002–03'. This is also available on the website at: http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/pdfs2/703chap3.xls
Road Safety
Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many prosecutions have been brought against people speaking on a mobile phone whilst driving. [171104]
Ms Blears: The specific offence of driving while using a hand held mobile phone came into effect on 1 December 2003.
Data on police action (written warnings, fixed penalty notices and court proceedings) for the new offence of driving while using a hand held mobile telephone will not be available until the Autumn of 2004. Use of a hands free mobile phone is not an offence.
Serious Organised Crime Agency
Michael Fabricant: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether the Serious Organised Crime Agency will include in its remit the activities of animal rights activists; and if he will make a statement. [168933]
Caroline Flint: Proposals for the Serious Organised Crime Agency were set out in the White Paper 'One Step Ahead: A 21st century strategy to defeat organised crime' (CM6167), published on 29 March. We have invited comments on the proposals by 30 July and will consider those carefully before making decisions as to the full remit of the new agency.
Terrorism
Patrick Mercer: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he plans to make the results of the recent consultation questionnaire regarding the level of preparedness of each council known to individual councils and their emergency planning officers. [170070]
Mr. Raynsford: I have been asked to reply.
The Government Offices in the Regions are currently providing written reports on this exercise for the Regional Resilience Forums (on which local authorities are represented). If individual local authorities want to discuss the exercise, they should approach the relevant Government Office, who will be happy to brief them.
Traffic Police (Sussex)
Mr. Gibb: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many traffic police there are in Sussex Police. [169443]
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Ms Blears: Published information on police strength by police force area is available for rank, gender and ethnicity but not function. Figures on police atrength for March 2003, were published in Home Office Statistical Bulletin 11/03, copies of which are available in the Library or on the internet site: http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/hosbpubs1.html.
UK/US Extradition
Mr. Russell Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on progress with implementation of the UK-US Extradition Treaty set up in March 2003. [164220]
Caroline Flint: The new Treaty was signed by my right hon. Friend the Home Secretary and the US Attorney General on 31 March 2003. It was approved by both Houses of Parliament on 16 and 17 December 2003 and it has already been given effect in the UK by the Extradition Act 2003,which came into force on 1 January 2004. The Treaty will be brought into force in the United States when it has been approved and ratified by the US Senate.
INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT
Bilateral Aid
Tom Brake: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development if he will list the top 20 countries in receipt of bi-lateral aid from his Department, and the amount of aid given to each, in (a) 1998–99 and (b) 2002–03. [170982]
Hilary Benn: The top 20 recipients of bilateral aid from the Department of International Development in each of the years in question were as follows:
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HIV/AIDS
Sir Archy Kirkwood: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what projects his Department funds to combat the spread of AIDS in Africa; how much expenditure is committed to each project; and what the time scale is of each project. [170596]
Hilary Benn: I have arranged for a copy of a table entitled 'Africa—Operational Projects/Programmes to combat HIV/AIDS' to be placed in the Library of the House. This identifies all those programmes or projects currently funded by the Department for International Development, which have a policy objective of "combating HIV/AIDS ". The total commitment is more than £1 billion. This figure includes expenditure already incurred against these ongoing activities as well as some future planned spending.
Sir Archy Kirkwood: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what plans he has to increase expenditure levels for projects in Africa to combat the spread of AIDS over the next three years. [170597]
Hilary Benn: In December 2003, the UK Government's Call for Action on HIV/AIDS announced that DFID will make HIV/AIDS a priority for the additional funds that the UK will be devoting to Africa by 2006. Many of those African countries worst affected by HIV/AIDS are among the DFID's bilateral country partners, (over 80 per cent. of AIDS' deaths occur in DFID's 16 African partner countries). The new UK Strategy on HIV/AIDS, to be published this summer, will cover the level of the UK's future resource commitments for HIV/AIDS.
Several DFID African bilateral country programmes have recently stepped up expenditure in support of programmes to help combat HIV/AIDS; for example: a £25 million project for strengthening Nigeria's capacity to respond effectively to HIV/AIDS, and in Tanzania, DFID is working with the Tanzanian Government to set
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up an HIV/AIDS Fund of around £15 million per year over the next three years. In Malawi a programme is being designed that focuses on actions to help address the impact of HIV/AIDS on human resources in health and other sectors.
However, scaling-up the HIV/AIDS response will not only require additional expenditure for HIV/AIDS-specific programmes. The socio-economic impact of HIV/AIDS and the vulnerability of the poor people in developing countries to HIV/AIDS mean that DFID's overall development effort around support for country owned Poverty Reduction Strategies remain of central importance. DFID's continuing work in the area of capacity building, education, public and financial sector reform and strengthening of civil society will all contribute to combating HIV/AIDS.
DFID will make HIV/AIDS and Africa a centrepiece of the UK's Presidencies of the G8 and the EU in 2005. This creates an opportunity to work with the international community to increase the global HIV/AIDS response in Africa. If DFID is to succeed with our efforts we shall need to focus on four challenges that are seen as key to unlocking faster progress: Stronger political direction, better funding, better donor co-ordination and better HIV/AIDS programmes.
Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development (1) when the Department will report progress on its targets (a) to reduce maternal mortality and (b) to tackle HIV/AIDS in Asia; [171682]
(2) if he will make a statement on progress on (a) the reduction of the under five mortality rate and (b) the TB treatment rates in Asia. [171684]
Hilary Benn: DFID's Departmental Report for 2004 (Reference code CM 6214), published on 5 May, reports on progress against the targets to reduce maternal mortality and to tackle HIV/AIDS and also to increase TB treatment rates in Asia. Copies of this report have been placed in the Library of the House.
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