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Vulnerable Children/HIV/AIDS
Ms Keeble: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development if he will discuss with other (a) G8 and (b) EU member states making orphans and vulnerable children a priority during 2005. [205019]
Mr. Gareth Thomas: Our Presidencies of the G8 and the EU present an important opportunity to take action to bring the world together to make further progress to tackle HIV and AIDS.
The UK has two priorities for the G8 summit: Africa and Climate Change. DFID shall make AIDS a centrepiece of our Presidencies of the G8 and EU in 2005, and focus on AIDS at high level UN-General Assembly events, in the context of our strong commitment to Africa. The two key priorities for Ads this year are bringing the world together to tackle AIDS and maintaining HIV prevention momentum.
We have asked the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) to work with us to develop a plan of action to realise high-level, time-bound and concrete commitments to ensure delivery of the United Nations General Assembly Special Session (UNGASS) Declaration at country level. In early 2005, the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) and the UK will co-host a high-level meeting, "Making the Money Work", to agree an action plan, within the Three Ones' concept, to underpin future co-operation between developing countries and their partners. The aim of "Making the Money Work" is to achieve consensus on ways of stepping up the response to AIDS in the most affected countries and making sure that national governments can drive forward the action they need to take with the support of international partners.
We will also be hosting the Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria's second replenishment conference in September 2005. This meeting will be held alongside a broader AIDS funding meeting, building on the March event, which aims to close the financing gap for AIDS.
By the end of 2005, DFID intends to have agreement among donors and the international system on a harmonized and funded plan to tackle AIDS so that we can move forward on treatment, prevention, care for orphans and vulnerable children as well as research into better treatments, vaccines and microbicides.
Ms Keeble: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what discussions his Department has had with other (a) agencies and (b) governments on endorsing and adopting the UNAIDS/UNICEF strategic framework on orphans and vulnerable children during the global forum. [205020]
Mr. Gareth Thomas:
In July this year, DFID was one of the first bilateral development agencies, along with he Danish International Development Agency (DANIDA) and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), to endorse the UNAIDS/UNICEF Framework for the protection, care and support of orphans and vulnerable children living in a world with HIV/AIDS. Since then we have taken every opportunity to promote its use with governments and other organisations working to provide protection, care and support to children affected by AIDS.
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In sub-Saharan Africa, for example, our country programme teams have been engaged with the rapid assessment, analysis and action plan process. This has resulted in 16 national action plans for orphans and vulnerable children being developed. These are based on the Framework guidance.
On 16 December 2004, I spoke at the Global Partners Forum on Orphans and Vulnerable Children (OVC) in Washington (a copy of the speech is available in the Library of the House). The Global Partners Forum provided a good opportunity for policy dialogue with other agencies. There was discussion with the World Bank, which is developing work on vulnerable children around social protection, and with representatives from the Netherlands and Norway on how we might work more closely with them in this field.
The Global Partners Forum demonstrated that the Framework is widely accepted, even if not all agencies have officially endorsed it. The key issue now is ensuring it is put into practice. A good start has been made in sub-Saharan Africa. There and in Asia, DFID will be providing at least £150 million over the next three years to support national OVC responses guided by the Framework and working closely with international partners, in particular with UNICEF.
WORK AND PENSIONS
Conferences
Mr. George Osborne:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many conferences were (a) attended by officials from his Department,
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(b) cancelled by and (c) facilitated by his Department in each year since 1997; and what the (i) cost to the Department and (ii) location was in each case. [205764]
Maria Eagle: The information requested is not collected centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Correspondence
Mr. Steen: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions when he will respond to the letter from the hon. Member for Totnes dated 26 October 2004 about Mr. Keith Morris of Paignton and child benefit dependency increases, which was transferred from the Treasury. [207836]
Maria Eagle: I have replied to the hon. Member today.
Departmental Expenditure
Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the cost has been of criminal damage to his Department's buildings in each of the last two years. [202438]
Maria Eagle: No central records are kept and the information requested could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
Mr. George Osborne: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the running costs of the Department were in each year since 1997, broken down by (a) electricity, (b) water, (c) gas, (d) telephones, (e) mobile telephones and (f) televisions. [206671]
Maria Eagle: DWP was formed in June 2001 from the Department of Social Security (DSS) and parts of the former Department for Education and Employment, including the Employment Service (ES).
The available information is in the table.
Notes:
1. Figures for years prior to 2001–02 refer to the former DSS and ES.
2. Expenditure on mobile telephones was not collected separately prior to 2002–03.
3. Information on expenditure on televisions is not collected separately.
Pensioners (Means-tested Benefits)
Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what his estimate is of the number of pensioners in each region who are failing to claim means-tested income top-up. [207715]
Malcolm Wicks: The information is not available in the form requested. The most recent direct information on take-up levels of the minimum income guarantee can be found in the Department's report "Income Related Benefits: Estimates of Take-Up in 2001–2002", which is available in the Library. Corresponding estimates for 2002–03 are expected to be released later this month. Estimates of take-up in 2003–04 will cover the first six months of pension credit, which replaced the minimum income guarantee, and are expected to be released in late 2005.
Indicative, broad-brush estimates of pension credit eligibility at national and Government Office Region levels, based on 2002–03 Family Resources Survey data projected forward to 2004–05, are currently being revised consistent with pre-Budget report assumptions. The revised estimates will be available later this month.
Pensions
Mr. Webb:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many (a) men aged 60 to 64, (b) men
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aged 55 to 59, (c) men aged 50 to 54, (d) women aged 55 to 59 and (e) women aged 50 to 54 were contracted out of the state second pension into either an appropriate personal pension or a stakeholder pension in the latest year for which figures are available; and if he will make a statement on the distribution of earnings within each group. [208228]
Malcolm Wicks: The information is not available in the format requested. Such information as is available is in the following tables.
(5) Figures are subject to a high degree of sampling error and should be used only as a guide.
Notes:
1. Figures are based on scheme membership at the end of the 2002–03 tax year, the latest year for which the information is available.
2. They include those with earnings below the LEL (for example people on a career break or who are unemployed) who would not qualify for an age-related rebate for the 2002–03 tax year.
Source:
"Second Tier Pension Provision" published by the Department for Work and Pensions using the Lifetime Labour Market Database which uses a 1 per cent. sample of national insurance records.
(6) Figures are subject to a high degree of sampling error and should be used only as a guide.
Notes:
1. Figures are based on scheme membership at the end of the 2002–03 tax year, the latest year for which the information is available.
2. They include those with earnings below the LEL (for example people on a career break or who are unemployed) who would not qualify for an age-related rebate for the 2002–03 tax year.
Source:
"Second Tier Pension Provision" published by the Department for Work and Pensions using the Lifetime Labour Market Database which uses a 1 per cent. sample of national insurance records.
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