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Written Answers to Questions
Tuesday 22 February 2005
INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT
Kazakhstan
Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what representations he has made to the Government of Kazakhstan concerning (a) human rights and (b) the implementation of good governance practices. [215768]
Mr. Rammell: I have been asked to reply.
We continually raise, bilaterally and with our EU partners, the importance of respect for human rights and good governance in Kazakhstan. When I met the Kazakh Minister for Justice last May I raised democratic reform and human rights issues, including the death penalty and conditions in Kazakh prisons. Following the parliamentary elections in September/October 2004, the EU released a statement reflecting the concerns of the OSCE Election Observers that the elections had failed to meet international standards. The concerns were also raised by our Ambassador with the Foreign Minister in October 2004. More recently, in February, along with our EU partners we raised human rights issues at an EU-Kazakhstan sub-committee meeting. This month, we supported an EU statement in Vienna expressing concern at the new law on Extremism and the recent banning of an opposition party.
Wherever possible we also look to work with the Kazakh authorities to improve the human rights situation and have funded projects aimed at improving the conditions in prisons, preventing torture in places of detention and encouraging the abolition of the death penalty. We have an on-going dialogue with the government of Kazakhstan on transparency issues and are working closely with NGOs on this too.
We will continue to stress the importance of human rights and good governance with the Kazakh authorities and look for opportunities to provide suitable assistance. Kazakhstan has recently been identified as a priority country under the sustainable development strand of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office's Global Opportunities Fund. This will provide further scope for the UK Government to support rule of law, torture prevention and death penalty abolition initiatives.
Official Residences
Chris Grayling:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development if he will list the official residences for which his Department is responsible; who occupies each one; what the annual cost is of running each property; what contribution the current occupants
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make towards the running costs of each; what the total capital and refurbishment expenditure has been on those properties in each of the past five years; how much money was spent in each property on (a) flowers and plants, (b) wine and entertaining, (c) food, (d) telephone bills and (e) electricity and gas in 2003–04; how many (i)domestic and (ii) maintenance staff are employed at each property, broken down by post; and what the total cost of staff employment at each was in 2003–04. [213604]
Hilary Benn: DFID currently owns 11 domestic properties overseas, in Zimbabwe (3), Solomon Islands (1), and Malawi (7). DFID also provides approximately 450 UK-based staff posted overseas with commercially leased accommodation. DFID does not pay for flowers and plants, food, wine, or domestic staff, all of which are the responsibility of the occupier. Individuals receive a cost of living allowance, and where appropriate a gardening allowance, in respect of the additional costs incurred of living overseas, and these allowances vary depending on location.
Official expenditure on business phone calls and utilities are met from individual delegated budgets but are not separately identifiable and this detailed information cannot be obtained without incurring disproportionate cost. Similarly, information on the individual occupancy of each of the overseas properties, and the overall cost to DFID, are not held centrally and cannot be obtained without incurring disproportionate cost.
Publicity
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State, Department for International Development what the total expenditure by his Department on (a) advertising and (b) advertising and publicity was in (i) 1996–97, (ii)1997–98 and (iii) 2003–04; and what the estimate of cost of each will be in (A) 2004–05, (B) 2005–06, (C)2006–07 and (D) 2007–08. [211660]
Hilary Benn [pursuant to the reply, 10 February 2005, Official Report, c. 1642W]: The correct figure for expenditure on advertising for 2003–04 was £676,649 and the estimated figure for 2004–05 is £663,591.
It was originally stated that the expenditure on advertising for 2004–05, which was then believed to be higher than that for 2003–04, reflected a higher number of posts being advertised in 2004–05. On re-examination this is incorrect. The number of recruitment competitions for which advertisements were placed was in fact slightly more in 2003–04 than the number to date in 2004–05.
TREASURY
Consultants
Mr. Laws: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the total expenditure by his Department on external consultants was in (a) 1996–97 and (b) 2003–04; and what the estimated cost of employing external consultants will be in (i) 2004–05, (ii) 2005–06, (iii) 2006–07 and (iv) 2007–08. [211663]
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Mr. Timms: The Treasury's spending on external consultants was as follows:
| Revenue | Capital | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1996–97 | 1.03 | n/a | 1.03 |
| 2003–04 | 6.16 | 0.44 | 6.60 |
| 2004–05(1) | 6.04 | 0.60 | 6.64 |
n/a=not available
(1)estimated
Until the introduction of resource accounting from 2001–02, all expenditure was classed as revenue.
Estimates for future years are not available.
It has come to my attention that the answer I gave to the hon. Members for New Forest, East (Dr. Lewis) and Stratford on Avon (Mr. Maples) on 25 October 2004, Official Report, column 1055W, was inaccurate in the following respect. The answer stated that the capital consultancy spend of the Treasury was £0.78 million in 2002–03 and £1.40 million in 2003–04. The correct figures are £0.84 million in 2002–03 and £0.44 million in 2003–04. I apologise to the hon. Members for the error.
Death Rates
Mr. Lansley: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the death rate from suicide and undetermined injury has been in each year since 1986 for (a) men, (b) women and (c) in total. [216167]
Mr. Timms: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician. I have asked him to reply.
Letter from Len Cook to Mr Andrew Lansley, dated 22 February 2005:
As National Statistician I have been asked to reply to your recent question concerning what the death rate from suicide and undetermined injury has been in each year since 1986 for (a) men, (b) women and (c) in total. (216167)
The most recent available figures on suicide and undetermined injury are for the calendar year 2003. The figures in the attached table show the age-standardised mortality rate for suicide and undetermined injury by sex among those aged 15 and over for the calendar years 1986 to 2003.
(2)Directly age-standardised to the European standard population.
(3)The cause of death for intentional self harm was defined using the International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision (1CD-9) codes E950-E959for the years 1986 to 2000, and, for the years 2001 to 2003, the International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision (ICD-10) codes X60-X84.
(4)The cause of death for injury and poisoning of undetermined intent was defined using the International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision (1CD-9) codes E980-E989 excluding E9 88.8 for the years 1986 to 2000, and, for the years 2001 to 2003, the International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision (ICD-10) codes YJO-Y34 excluding Y33.9-where the Coroner's verdict was pending.
(5)Figures are for deaths registered in each calendar year from 1986 to 1992 and for deaths occurring in each calendar year from 1993 onwards.
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