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10 Oct 2005 : Column 58W—continued

Democratic Republic of the Congo

Andrew George: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how much (a) financial, (b) material, (c) personnel and (d) other aid the UK Government (i) pledged, (ii) committed and (iii) delivered to the Democratic Republic of the Congo after the volcanic eruptions in 2002. [15344]

Hilary Benn: Following the eruption of the Mount Nyiragongo in January 2002, the UK disbursed £1 million immediately to agencies dealing with the disaster, and indicated its preparedness to offer more. Our bilateral financial support in response to the disaster eventually totalled £1.3 million, split as follows:


 
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At the time of the eruptions DFID also sent two humanitarian advisers to the area to assess the situation and co-ordinate our response.

Since then, we have followed the meetings co-ordinating scientific monitoring of the volcano and development of early warning systems (which have been in place since 2004), and those assessing the humanitarian and environmental risks, including contingency planning. We currently have a humanitarian adviser visiting Goma and its vicinity, part of whose visit will be to get an update on humanitarian contingency planning and how we might help further.

Departmental Websites

Sarah Teather: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development if he will list the websites that come under his Department's responsibility; what the cost was of each in the last year for which figures are available; and how many visitors there were to each site in that year. [15901]

Mr. Thomas: DFID's websites and costs for the financial year 2004–05 are as follows:

Central sites

Developments magazine

Global Dimension

El Salvador

Andrew George: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how much (a) financial, (b) material, (c) personnel and (d) other aid the UK Government (i) pledged, (ii) committed and (iii) delivered to El Salvador after the earthquake in 2001. [15554]

Mr. Thomas: DFID provided a total of £1,327,900 financial aid to El Salvador in response to the first earthquake in January 2001. This was followed by £302,632 financial aid in response to humanitarian need in the wake of the second earthquake in February 2001. The amount dispersed was the same as that pledged and committed. DFID did not provide any material or personnel support. Since 2001 the UK Government have delivered about £1,056,440 in other bilateral aid to El Salvador.
 
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Equality and Diversity

David T.C. Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how much the Department has spent promoting equality and diversity in each of the last five years for which figures are available. [14662]

Mr. Thomas: DFID is fully committed to the civil service equality and diversity agenda and has policies and processes in place to ensure that there is no unfair discrimination on any grounds.

DFID's diversity strategy provides the broad framework under which our diversity and equality work is promoted and delivered across the organisation. In order to meet the specific challenges of this agenda, we have undertaken a comprehensive range of activities as detailed in the following tables. Monetary values have been assigned to each of these key activities for each of the last five financial years. Staffing costs have been derived using estimates of the time that have been allocated by DFID staff to equality and diversity issues.
Spend on diversity activities 2000–052000–01

ActivityCost (£)
Staffing Costs(22)39,922
Ethnic Minority Bursary Scheme (Positive Action)10,110
National Mentoring Consortium (Positive Action)650
Total50,682

2001–02

ActivityCost (£)
Staffing Costs(22)87,014
Diversity Training Course (In House)115,040
Ethnic Minority Bursary Scheme (Positive Action)19,952
National Mentoring Consortium (Positive Action)650
Total222,656

2002–03

ActivityCost (£)
Staffing Costs(22)98,784
Diversity Training Course (In House)368,593
Mentoring Scheme (In House)17,129
Ethnic Minority Bursary Scheme (Positive Action)22,316
Recruitment Monitoring (Equality Proofing)8,757
Diversity Audit (Equality Proofing—Policy and
procedures)
35,346
National Mentoring Consortium (Positive Action)650
Diversity Advertising (Specialist Press)10,530
Total562,105

2003–04

ActivityCost (£)
Staffing Costs(22)109,086
Diversity Adviser25,317
Diversity Training Course (In House)408,734
Mentoring Scheme (In House)29,118
Ethnic Minority Bursary Scheme (Positive Action)21,644
Sponsorship of Pathways/Summer Placement Scheme/ Disability Bursary (Positive Action)8,754
Recruitment Monitoring (Equality Proofing)8,757
Diversity Advertising (Specialist Press)38,255
Memberships (Employers Forum for Age—EFA, Opportunity Now)4,526
Equal Employment Opportunities1,175
National Mentoring Consortium (Positive Action)650
Diversity Champions Group (Corporate Donation)1,000
Civil Service Race Equality Network (Membership)2,000
Opportunity Rights Commission (Membership)1,116
Windsor Fellowship (Personal Development Scheme)36,000
Total696,132

 
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2004–05

ActivityCost (£)
Staffing Costs(22)71,170
Diversity Adviser50,634
Diversity Training Course (In House)174,091
Diversity Barriers to Career Progression Study (Seminars/Consultancy)44,929
Mentoring Scheme (In House)932
Ethnic Minority Bursary Scheme (Positive Action)2,081
Recruitment Monitoring (Equality Proofing)8,757
Memberships (Employers' Forum for Age, Employers' Forum for Disability, Opportunity Now, Stonewall)9,490
National Mentoring Consortium (Positive Action)650
Diversity Directory (Publication)85
Diversity Champions Group (Corporate Donation)1,000
Civil Service Race Equality Network (Membership)2,000
Opportunity Rights Commission (Membership)1,293
Windsor Fellowship (Personal Development Scheme)18,146
Diversity Strategy paper and launch4,789
Total390,047








 
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2005–06 (to 30 September)

ActivityCost (£)
Staffing Costs(22)24,440
Diversity Adviser25,317
Launching internal Staff Networks (Women's, BME, Disability)1,300
Ethnic Minority Bursary Scheme (Positive Action)1,000
Memberships (Employers' Forum for Age, Employers' Forum for Disability, Opportunity Now, Stonewall)9,490
National Mentoring Consortium (Positive Action)650
Crossing Thresholds Programme3,365
Total65,562


(22)Staffing costs have been calculated using estimates of the time that has been allocated to the equality and diversity agendas by DFID staff, using average staff cost data by grade.



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