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Chris McCafferty (Calder Valley) (Lab): May I join others in welcoming the increase in the aid budget for developing countries, particularly for the purposes of health, education and anti-poverty strategies? May I also join others in congratulating the Chancellor on grasping the nettle and adopting a 0.7 per cent target for the very first time? Does he agree, however, that the best anti-poverty strategies are holistic? Should they not include good policies on reproductive health and maternal care, both before and after childbirth, and programmes to combat HIV/AIDS? Will he ensure that such programmes play an important part in the increasing aid budget?

Mr. Brown: I thank my hon. Friend for her comments, and her support for the statement of our objectives for international aid policy. She may have heard me announce that as part of the international aid budget, £1.5 billion will be provided over the next three years specifically for treatments and cures for HIV/AIDS. That will rise from £450 million to £500 million, and then to £550 million, over those three years. As for maternal services and dealing with the problems of infant mortality, our contributions to both the global health fund and the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation fund for immunisation have increased in recent years. As part of the international aid budget, we will spend considerably more on health generally, both in Africa and elsewhere. What my hon. Friend suggests will be very much part of that budget.

Mr. Patrick McLoughlin (West Derbyshire) (Con): In 2002, the Chancellor announced that he was going to reduce the number of staff in the Department for Work and Pensions by 18,000. Why has the number increased by 3,500 since that reduction programme started?

Mr. Brown: The hon. Gentleman cannot have been following the news in the past few days. The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions announced the locations of the DWP closures, the job losses in particular areas and
 
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the first stage of the gross reduction of 40,000 in civil service posts. The hon. Gentleman must look again at the facts. It is we who are taking the action necessary to cut back on bureaucracy, and we who rightly introduced the pension credit, which the Conservatives oppose. Of course we want the pension credit to be administered properly; the trouble is that the Conservatives do not want it at all.

Mr. Peter Pike (Burnley) (Lab): My right hon. Friend will know how important the housing renewal pathfinder project is in Burnley and east Lancashire. What is the exact nature of the Government's commitment to that very important project over the next three years?

Mr. Brown: Tomorrow, there will be a statement by the Deputy Prime Minister on the issues affecting his Department, which include housing. My hon. Friend will be able then to get more details on what is a threefold increase in the money available for improvements to low-demand housing areas in his constituency—to which I believe he is referring—and elsewhere in the north and the midlands. We understand the representations that he and others have made, and that the housing stock needs renovation. That requires resources, and a special amount of money must be set aside, which is exactly what the Deputy Prime Minister has done. The question of the impact on individual areas is a matter for my hon. Friend and the Deputy Prime Minister to discuss—hopefully, when we debate these matters tomorrow.

Mr. Ian Taylor (Esher and Walton) (Con): The Chancellor surely cannot be too surprised by the degree of scepticism about his plans, given that he is pre-committing expenditure before he has made the savings that he announced in order to justify such expenditure. Such savings will not come easily. As we know, many of the 84,000 people in question will be under contract, so redundancies will be necessary.

On a specific point, can the Chancellor assure the House that the budget for the research assessment exercise, which relates to the Department for Education and Skills, will increase in proportion to the welcome proposed increase in the science and technology budget? If the research assessment exercise budget is not increased in matching form, the universities will have a real problem.

Mr. Brown: On the hon. Gentleman's second point, the science budget covers all Departments, not just one. I hope that his question about the science budget—which relates to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and is a matter for the Secretary of State—will be answered. However, the science review was a cross-departmental review and does not relate to just one Department.

The Conservatives seem to be taking a very strange position on the question of job reductions in the civil service. We have announced that these jobs will have to go, and the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions has announced closures in particular areas. People now know where the first tranche of job losses will occur and
 
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how they will be affected, yet the Conservatives' position seems to be that nothing is happening. This is a painful process and we regret the fact that people have to lose their jobs, but we are helping them to get new ones. It really does nobody any good for the Conservatives to suggest that the big change that is taking place, and which has to take place, is not happening at all.

Mr. Gordon Prentice (Pendle) (Lab): I listened carefully to what the Chancellor said to my hon. Friend the Member for Burnley (Mr. Pike), and I want him to know that east Lancashire has the worst housing in the country. There are 4,000 empty properties in Burnley and 2,000 plus in my constituency. I welcome the trebling of resources for the nine pathfinder areas, but can he reassure me that the money on offer will make a material difference and turn things round?

Mr. Brown: This could be a very expensive afternoon indeed if I were to agree to the representations made by my hon. Friends the Members for Burnley (Mr. Pike) and for Pendle (Mr. Prentice). The overall sum was announced today, and the precise allocation to different areas is a matter for the Deputy Prime Minister and his budget. Indeed, my hon. Friends should make their representations to the Deputy Prime Minister and to the relevant local authorities. However, such representations now have the effect that they want. Money has been set aside, and we will help them to deal with this important issue, which must be dealt with soon. I agree that empty properties and those in a dilapidated state must be dealt with as a matter of urgency.

Sir Teddy Taylor (Rochford and Southend, East) (Con): While it would be wrong for any true Conservative not to applaud the Chancellor for his target of reducing the civil service by 84,000 jobs, which is more ambitious than anything proposed by Lady Thatcher's Government, is he confident that it can be done, bearing it in mind that, according to the figures that I have, the number of civil servants has been increasing by more than 500 every week over the past two years?

On relocation, will the Chancellor promise to bear in mind the fact that seaside towns such as Southend-on-Sea have far more unemployment and deprivation than other areas in the south-east?

Mr. Brown: I take it that the hon. Gentleman is making a representation for civil service jobs to come to his area, but the issue that he rightly raises is that a reduction of 84,000 jobs is a very serious matter. It is wrong of Conservative Members to suggest that it is nothing, or merely something flimsy—it is a serious issue, which deserves to be treated more seriously than they have done this afternoon. The fact is that 84,000 jobs are going; 20,000 jobs are being relocated; 20,000 additional job reductions will come as a result of what is happening in local authorities and in the devolved areas; £22.5 billion of efficiency savings will result; and then we will proceed to £30 billion of asset sales.

We have already started the process of reducing jobs, and it will happen, but I certainly understand the difficulties of areas, such as the hon. Gentleman's
 
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constituency, that have higher unemployment rates than others, perhaps in some cases seasonally, and that is why the new deal is being brought into play to help with the transition, including help for public servants moving to new jobs as a result of the changes. Our desire is not to leave people isolated as they face change but to help them through it and to equip them for the jobs that certainly are available, as witness the 600,000 vacancies in the economy today.

Linda Perham (Ilford, North) (Lab): I warmly welcome the increase in the transport budget to £12.8 billion, but does the Chancellor acknowledge the importance of the Crossrail project to equipping Britain for the global economy and to the regeneration of east London? Will Government funding for the project feature in the comprehensive spending review?

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