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Yemen

14. Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State, Department for International Development what plans he has to visit Yemen to discuss bilateral aid. [183731]

Hilary Benn: I have no plans at present to visit Yemen. Yemen is the only low-income country in the region, and DFID plans to increase the size of our annual programme there from around £6 million this year to around £10 million next year. The main focus of our work is to support the Government's poverty reduction strategy programme, and DFID officials will be participating, along with the World Bank and other donors, in a progress review with the Government of Yemen in September.

The EC spends around £10 million a year in Yemen. Around £1.8 million of this is derived from funds attributed to DFID. The programme helps increase food security, improve access to reproductive health services, strengthen democratic processes, and support the role of civil society.
 
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Angola

Mr. Lyons: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what assessment his Department has made of progress with the removal of land mines in Angola. [183689]

Hilary Benn: DFID's Explosive Ordnance and Demining Adviser, together with the DFID Mines Programme Officer, will be visiting Angola 21—31 July to carry out an assessment of mines and unexploded ordnance in Angola and to identify possible areas for future support. The mission will build upon the assessments conducted by UNDP and the Angolan National Inter-sectoral Commission for Demining and Humanitarian Assistance (CNIDAH). We are currently providing assistance totalling £331,325 to the HALO Trust for road clearance in Cuando Cubango Province and £100,000 to Mines Advisory Group (MAG) for the same activity in Moxico Province. Additionally, we have provided support to the United Nations Development Programme project to strengthen the National Mine Co-ordination Office in Angola (US$ 300,000 in 2003–2004.)

We are also giving urgent consideration to requests to assist in specific road de-mining activities near the border with the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) to aid the return of refugees.

Departmental Accountancy Practice

Mr. Bacon: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development who the Finance Director of the Department is; what accountancy qualifications the Director holds; and on how many occasions there has been a qualified opinion on (a) the resource accounts and (b) other accounts of the Department in the last five years. [183421]

Hilary Benn: The Director of Finance and Corporate Performance at DFID is Richard Calvert, who is not a qualified accountant. There have been no occasions on which DFID's accounts have been qualified in the last five years.

Parliamentary Questions

John Thurso: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how many (a) ordinary written and (b) named day questions his Department received in (i) the 2002–03 session and (ii) this session. [182719]

Hilary Benn: During the Parliamentary session of 2002–03, the Department for International Development (DFID) received a total of 1942 Ordinary Commons Written questions and a total of 253 Named Day Written questions.

So far, for the Parliamentary session for 2003–04, DFID has received a total of 1,641 Ordinary Written questions and a total of 75 Named Day questions.

Iraq

Mr. Dalyell: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development if he will make a statement on the reconstruction of Iraq. [183835]

 
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Hilary Benn: Approximately US $32 billion in grants and soft loans were pledged for the reconstruction of Iraq at the Madrid Donors' Conference in October last year. DFID has committed over £287 million for humanitarian aid and reconstruction assistance to Iraq since March 2003, of which £70 million has been channelled through the International Reconstruction Fund Facility for Iraq (IRFFI).

The Iraqi Interim Government (IIG) is now leading the reconstruction effort in Iraq. DFID is working to support the new Iraqi Government in this process. At the national level, our Emergency Public Administration Programme is providing technical advice and training focused on the key ministries for taking forward reconstruction: Finance, Planning and Development Co-operation and Municipalities and Public Works. This support includes advice on the establishment of the new Prime Minister's Office. In the South we are planning major capacity building support to the southern governorates (£20 million over two years) to enable the effective management of the reconstruction effort and to promote economic development. Other major national projects include police sector support, civil society capacity building, promoting political participation, and supporting the development of the media.

Further details about our programme in Iraq over the next two years are set out in our Interim Country Assistance Plan, which has been placed in the House of Commons Library and can be found on the DFID website:

www.dfid.gov.uk

Zambia

Jane Griffiths: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development if he will make a statement on the progress of debt relief for Zambia. [183822]

Hilary Benn: Zambia reached Decision Point under the Enhanced Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Initiative in December 2000. Zambia's external debt service has averaged US$122 million per year in the three years since Decision Point. This compares with external debt service of US$570 million per year scheduled in the absence of debt relief.

The Government of the Republic of Zambia (GRZ) has stated its objective of reaching HIPC Completion Point at the earliest opportunity. The Department for International Development (DFID) supports GRZ in this objective. The recent approval of a new Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility with the International Monetary Fund is a major milestone towards this. DFID is also engaging in dialogue with GRZ and other donors to ensure that development assistance is effectively delivered in support of GRZ's Poverty Reduction Strategy after Completion Point.

HOME DEPARTMENT

Bottled Drinks

Helen Southworth: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if (1) he will take steps to require the producers of bottled drinks intended for
 
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consumption from the bottle in licensed premises and elsewhere to use plastic or non-breakable containers, [181293]

(2) what estimate he has made of the number of injuries caused by glasses and glass bottles in (a) licensed premises and (b) in the vicinity of licensed premises in the last year for which figures are available; and if he will make a statement, [181294]

(3) if he will make representations to the licensed trade, particularly the large pub chains, to transfer from breakable glasses to plastic, in order to reduce incidents involving injury to customers. [182485]

Ms Blears: The Alcohol Harm Reduction Strategy published on 15 March proposes that the use of safer forms of glass could be included in the voluntary social responsibility schemes for industry. We are taking this forward in discussions with the industry. We are concerned about injuries caused by glass as a result of antisocial behaviour associated with excessive drinking. Figures are not available on the number of injuries caused by glass bottles.

Drugs Misuse (Warrington, North)

Helen Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how much has been spent on tackling drugs misuse in Warrington, North in each year since 1997. [182775]

Caroline Flint: Following the launch of the National Drug Strategy in 1998 (Revised 2002) ring fenced investment in action to tackle drugs has increased significantly. Central drug specific allocations are supplemented by local mainstream and charitable funding. Information related to mainstream and charitable funding would only be available at local level. It would incur a disproportionate cost in staff time to gather figures for each year and they would be difficult to verify.

Breakdown of financial allocation to local constituencies is not available in the form requested as funding is allocated to Drug Action Team (DAT) areas. In this case Warrington DAT which covers Warrington, North and Warrington, South.

The period for 1997–98 is prior to the formation of the National Drug Strategy hence there is no locally held information on funding available for that financial year.

In 2003–04 the total drugs allocation for Warrington DAT was £938,628. In order to ensure consistency figures supplied are based on funding streams associated with the National Drug Strategy that are readily verifiable. These funding streams are specifically targeted at tackling the harm caused to individuals, families and communities by the misuse of drugs. Other mainstream funding is made available at a local level. This varies and both in amount and origin and as a result it is not possible to provide robust financial information.
2003–2004

	£
Partnership capacity	68,060
Treatment pooled budget	627,000
Through care after care pump priming	35,000
Building safer communities(14)	208,568
Total	938,628

⁽¹⁴⁾Contains non drug elements.



 
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