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25 May 2005 : Column 148W—continued
UK Judges (European Courts)
Mr. Hayes: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs if she will list UK judges eligible to sit in European courts; and if she will list (a) EU-funded courses in which they have participated and (b) EU grants which their chambers have received. [495]
Harriet Harman: The UK members of the European courts are as follows:
European Court of Human Rights
The Government do not hold the information requested in points (a) and (b).
INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT
Yemen
8. Keith Vaz : To ask the Secretary of State for International Development if he will make a statement on bilateral aid to Yemen. [709]
Mr. Thomas: From 1997 until 2003, DFID's bilateral aid programme was approximately £2 million per annum. The programme allocation has risen steadily over the last three years in recognition of Yemen's major poverty challenge: £4 million in financial year 2003–04, £5.7 million in 2004–05 and £12.6 million in 2005–06.
Our current priorities include improving basic education services, support for the Government of Yemen's Social Development Fund, and helping the Government to develop a new poverty reduction strategy.
Sri Lanka
9. Simon Hughes : To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what support his Department plans (a) for Sri Lanka generally and (b) for the Tamil north and east parts of Sri Lanka in 2005–06. [710]
Mr. Thomas:
DFID is supporting programmes to help develop and implement a National Education Plan, and to support the livelihoods of people displaced by the civil war. We also provide support through UNICEF, OXFAM and Save the Children programmes.
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Following the tsunami we provided some £7 million of immediate emergency relief. We are also providing debt relief over the next 10 years worth at least £40 million.
DFID contributed to the assessment of post-tsunami reconstruction needs, including in the north and east. The Government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) are currently negotiating to establish a joint mechanism to channel donor funds to the areas controlled by the LTTE. We will consider further support for tsunami recovery, including in the north and east, in the light of Government's plans, and once the joint mechanism has been formalised.
G8 (International Development)
10. Charles Hendry: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what criteria the Government will use to measure the extent to which the conclusions reached at the G8 meeting in July meet the Government's goals for international development. [711]
Hilary Benn: DFID is working closely with other Departments to develop the UK's G8 presidency strategy.
On Africa, the UK is urging the G8 to show global leadership by agreeing a comprehensive plan of action, including increased resources for Africa through more and better aid and debt relief help to improve governance and build effective states and opportunities for economic growth, including more trade. On climate change, the UK is seeking to promote an international consensus on the need for further action to control emissions. At the summit, the UK wants to set out a clear understanding of the scale of the challenge and work in partnership with the major emerging economies to reach a new consensus on how we deal with this challenge in the future.
HIV/AIDS
11. Mark Lazarowicz : To ask the Secretary of State for International Development if he will make a statement on his Department's approach to combating HIV/AIDS in the developing world. [712]
Mr. Thomas: The UK's strategy for tackling HIV and AIDS in the developing world, published in July 2004, sets out our comprehensive response which tackles prevention, treatment and care. We are prioritising the needs of women, young people and vulnerable groups and focusing on human rights and stigma and discrimination.
The Government have committed at least £1.5 billion to 2008 to intensify AIDS-related work in the developing world, ensuring that we invest at least £150 million to support the needs of orphans and other children, particularly in Africa, made vulnerable by HIV and AIDS.
We are calling on G8 partners to step up comprehensive action, including research and development of vaccines and microbicides. We are also calling on partners to make the money work by implementing the 3 Ones principles.
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Global Poverty
12. Mike Gapes: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development if he will make a statement on the Government's policy on the elimination of global poverty. [713]
Hilary Benn: The Government are working with the international community to eliminate global poverty, through the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals.
We will use our Presidencies of the G8 and the European Union, to accelerate progress during 2005, especially in Africa, across three related areas. This will include; increased and more effective aid, particularly through promoting the International Finance Facility; fairer trade, including securing a better deal for developing countries; and on debt, by encouraging others to support a new multilateral debt relief initiative.
Balkans
13. Mr. Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what initiatives his Department is undertaking in Balkan countries to build civil society. [714]
Mr. Thomas: Strengthening civil society is an important element of DFID's Western Balkans Regional Assistance Plan, particularly in development and implementation of Poverty Reduction Strategies, providing funding through the inter-department Global Conflict Pool; and providing £1.180 million support to NGO projects, through the Civil Society Challenge Fund.
Zimbabwe
14. Kate Hoey: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what his assessment is of the food shortage in Zimbabwe. [715]
Hilary Benn: There has been no objective assessment of the recent harvest in Zimbabwe. Credible observers estimate a cereal shortage of approximately one million metric tonnes. Government food stocks and import plans are unknown. Although widespread starvation is unlikely, up to six million people could experience serious food shortages by the end of the year. We are supporting an £18 million Protracted Relief Programme to assist up to 1.5 million of the most vulnerable people in Zimbabwe. DFID, UN agencies and other donors are monitoring the situation closely and await clarity from the Government of Zimbabwe regarding their need for further assistance.
Ghana
John Austin: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development if he will make a statement on the incidence of AIDS in Ghana. [706]
Hilary Benn:
In common with many developing countries, Ghana uses HIV/AIDS prevalence among 15 to 24-year-old women attending antenatal care as a proxy to measure HIV/AIDS incidence—that is, the rate of new HIV/AIDS infections.
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Ghana's HIV/AIDS survey for 2004 reported that HIV/AIDS prevalence among 15 to 24-years-olds was 2.5 per cent., lower than any year since 2001. National prevalence was 3.1 per cent. in 2004, down from 3.6 per cent. in 2003. While encouraging, the improvements registered in 2004 are closely associated with an 83 per cent. increase in the number of antenatal testing sites in rural areas, where levels of infection tend to be lower.
TREASURY
Emigration
John Hemming: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate he has made of the number of people who emigrated from the UK in each year from 1990 to 2004. [904]
John Healey: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician, who has been asked to reply.
Letter from Len Cook to Mr. John Hemming, dated 25 May 2005:
As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question regarding the number of people emigrating from the United Kingdom in each year since 1990. (904)
Estimates of emigration from the UK are shown in the attached table. The figures are based on the most comprehensive estimate of migration produced by the Office for National Statistics, "Total International Migration" (TIM), which is based on a number of sources. TIM estimates using the current methodology are only available from 1991 onwards and the latest estimates, for 2003, were published in the annual reference volume International Migration, Series MN no. 30, on the National Statistics website at the link below on 28th April 2005: http://www.statistics.gov.uk/STATBASE/Product.asp?vlnk=507
(6) Data for 1991–2002 are based mainly on data from the International Passenger Survey. Includes adjustments for (1) those whose intended length of stay changes so that their migrant status changes; (2) asylum seekers and their dependants not identified by the IPS; and (3) flows between the UK and the Republic of Ireland.
Note:
A small weighting adjustment has been applied to IPS data for 1991 to 1998. This reflects the estimated effect of applying the weighting improvements made to IPS data from 1999 onwards.
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