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Somalia

Mark Simmonds: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what assessment has been made of the number of displaced Somalis crossing the border into Kenya to escape fighting; and whether his Department is providing humanitarian assistance. [11815]

Hilary Benn: DFID has not made any independent assessment of the number of displaced Somalis crossing the border into Kenya, however the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) estimates that there are 232,333 refugees in Kenya that require humanitarian support, of whom just over 151,000 are Somalis.

We contributed £400,000 last year to support UNHCR's ongoing efforts to promote the voluntary repatriation of 23,000 Somali refugees in exile in Kenya, Ethiopia, Djibouti, Yemen and elsewhere. We are also currently considering providing further funding to the UNHCR through the 2005 UN Consolidated Appeals Process for Somalia.

In the last two months, an estimated 15,000 Somalis people have crossed the border into Mandera district, Kenya following fighting between two rival clans. There have been some initial relief distributions from the UN and local NGOs. The Kenyan authorities, with local elders are meeting in the next few weeks to try and address the causes of the conflict. The UN Office for the
 
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Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs is coordinating a response to the situation. DFID's office in Kenya is closely monitoring the situation.

Sri Lanka

Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development if he will make a statement on the use of British aid in Sri Lanka following the tsunami. [12934]

Mr. Thomas: Immediately following the tsunami DFID provided some £7 million of direct assistance to Sri Lanka. In addition DFID financed a number of relief activities across the region, at a cost of over £26 million. While it is difficult to attribute precisely Sri Lanka's share of this funding, we would estimate that approximately one third, or £8.7 million, went to the island. The following table provides full details.

To support longer term recovery Britain has agreed to meet 10 per cent. of the Government of Sri Lanka's interest payments to the World Bank, for the next 10 years. This will be worth over £41 million and the Government have agreed that the funds released will be spent on tsunami relief and recovery and on poverty reducing programmes for the poorest communities.

Sri Lanka has received generous support from international organisations and from the public, sufficient to fully finance the recovery and reconstruction needs. However, following my visit to Sri Lanka last month I have agreed that we should offer further assistance to strengthen Government's capacity to implement these recovery programmes effectively and equitably. Discussions are under way in Sri Lanka to identify the best way to tackle this issue and programme DFID support.
Sri Lanka: Post-tsunami assistance provided by British Government

	UK (£)	US ($)
Donations in kind
1. 5,000 tarpaulins and 246 tents for temporary shelter 27 December 2004 (including airlift)	250,000	482,500
	250,000	482,500
DFID funded flights for Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC)
1. 2 January Save the Children (STN to CMB)	93,165	179,808
2. 3 January World Vision (BDS to CMB)	161,975	312,612
3. 12 January World Vision (DXB to CMB)	88,889	171,556
4. 19 January World Vision (BRU to CMB)	22,949	44,292
5. 21 January Merlin (LHR to CMB)	3,906	7,539
6. 22 January OXFAM (EMA to CMB)	90,619	174,895
7. 24 January Save the Children (EMA to CMB)	142,955	275,903
	604,458	1,166,604
DFID staff secondments
1. Air Operations (seconded to World Food Programme for 3 months from 4 January 2005)	28,000	54,040
2. Humanitarian Information Centre (NIC) Advisor (seconded to OCHA for 3 months—4 February 2005)	28,000	54,040
3. Two watsan engineers (seconded to UNICEF for 3 months—17 February 2005)	55,000	106,150
4. Shelter Advisor (Seconded to UNHCR)	8,000	15,440
	119,000	229,670
Funding through NGOs/ UN Agencies
1. Save the Children Fund (non-food items, food, shelter, watsan)	400,000	772,000
2. Basic needs (trauma and mental health)	57,993	111,926
3 World Vision (Non-food items distribution, Shelter supply distribution)	250,000	482,500
4. International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) (general tsunami appeal)	500,000	965,000
5. World Food Programme (WFP) (food)	500,000	965,000
6. Help Age (Distribution of non-food items and restoration of residential facilities for older people)	137,308	265,004
7. Christian Aid, OFEER (1,000 transitional shelter units)	260,008	501,815
8. Norwegian Refugee Council (1,000 transitional shelter units)	478,568	923,636
9. Zoa (Water and sanitation, 2,000 transitional shelter units)	1,124,610	2,170,497
10. Mercy Corps (livelihoods)	300,000	579,000
12. Red R-IHE (shelter)	151,852	293,074
13. OCHA (Co-ordination and information management)	250,000	482,500
14. ADRA (livelihoods)	490,000	945,700
15. International Health Partners (Airfreighting drugs)	32,261	62,264
16. Islamic Relief (Transitional shelter and cash for work)	590,022	1,138,742
17. ADRA (water infrastructure in transitional shelters)	440,000	849,200
	5,962,622	11,507,860
Sub total for Sri Lanka	6,936,080	13,386,634
Regional funding, a proportion of which is for Sri Lanka
1. OCHA (Regional funding includes SL, but proportion not quantifiable)	10,000,000	19,300,000
2. UNHCR (SL and Indonesia)	400,000	772,000
3. UNICEF (India, Indonesia, Maldives and SL)	4,000,000	7,720,000
4. UNICEF (Allocation for SL approximately 1/3 of this total)	2,000,000	3,860,000
5. IFRC (Allocation for SL approximately 1/3 of this total)	2,000,000	3,860,000
6. UNSECOORD (Allocation for SL approximately 1/3 of this total)	400,000	772,000
7. WHO (Allocation for SL approximately 1/3 of this total)	3,000,000	5,790,000
8. FAO (Allocation for SL approximately 1/3 of this total)	600,000	1,158,000
9. World Food Programme/UNJLC (logistics)	1,000,000	1,930,000
10. UK military assistance in kind (estimated cost)	2,750,000	5,307,500
11. Treasury estimate for tax relief on public contributions to the DEC appeal made through the Gift Aid scheme.	50,000,000	96,500,000
Sub total for regional funding including Sri Lanka	76,150,000	146,969,500
Longer term assistance
1. Debt relief over next 10 years (10 per cent. of Government of Sri Lanka's interest payments to IFIs, approximately $8 million p.a), to be used for post-tsunami work and other poverty reduction work	41,036,269	79,200,000
2. Further support for longer term reconstruction is under consideration	tbc	tbc

Note:
Exchange rate of £1:$1.93 is from the Financial Times of 3 January 2005





 
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Statutory Instrument Sponsorship

Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development if he will list the statutory instruments sponsored by his Department since 1997. [10562]

Hilary Benn: Lists of all statutory instruments (Sis) from 1 January 1998 to 30 June 2005, prepared by the Office of Public Sector Information (OPSI) have today been placed in the Library. These lists, prepared in alphabetical order by department, detail for each year from 1998 the number and title of each statutory instrument sponsored by the department. There are separate lists for General and Local Sis. Sis which have been originated by departments but which were also Orders in Council are only listed under the Privy Council Office (PCO).
 
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United Nations Population Fund

Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what assessment his Department has made of the effect of the activities of the United Nations Population Fund on rates of abortion and sterilisation in China. [10889]

Mr. Thomas: I refer the Member for Southend West to the reply I gave to him dated 18 July 2005, Official Report, column 1362W.

Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development if he will list countries represented on the Executive Board of the United Nations Population Fund. [10556]

Mr. Thomas: The countries represented on the Executive Board of the United Nations Population Fund are:

Membership of the Executive Board

(term expires on the last day of the year indicated)

2005

African states:

Botswana (2006)

Cameroon (2006)

Cape Verde (2005)

Republic of the Congo (2006)

Eritrea (2006)

Gambia (2006)

Tunisia (2005)

Uganda (2007)

Asian and Pacific states:

China (2006)

Democratic People's Republic of

Korea (2007)

India (2005)

Indonesia (2006)

Islamic Republic of Iran (2006)

Kazakhstan (2007)

Nepal (2005)

Latin America and Caribbean states:

Cuba (2006)

El Salvador (2005)

Guatemala (2007)

Guyana (2007)

Uruguay (2005)

Eastern European states:

Belarus (2007)

Poland (2006)

Russian Federation (2005)

Ukraine (2007)

Western European and other states:

Australia (2005)

Denmark (2006)

Germany (2006)

Italy (2005)

Japan (2005)

Netherlands (2006)

Norway (2005)

Portugal (2007)

Sweden (2006)

 
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Switzerland (2007)

Turkey (2007)

United States (2007)

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