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10 Jan 2006 : Column 481W—continued
Public Service Agreement
Mr. Don Foster: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how her Department defines high quality for the purposes of its public service agreement performance target 1; and if she will make a statement. [40253]
Mr. Caborn: The document 'High Quality PE and Sport for Young People—A Guide to recognising and achieving high quality PE and sport in schools and clubs' (DfES/DCMS, March 2004), provides a detailed description of the outcomes of high quality physical education and school sport. For the purposes of the joint DCMS/DfES PE and school sport public service agreement target, high quality PE and school sport produces young people with the skills, understanding, desire and commitment to continue to improve and achieve in a range of PE, sport and health-enhancing physical activities, in line with their abilities.
A further document, 'Do You Have High Quality PE and Sport in Your School—A guide to self-evaluating and improving the quality of PE and school sport' (DfES/DCMS, January 2005), helps teachers to use the pupil outcomes of high quality to carry out self-evaluation of the quality of PE and sport they provide. Copies of these documents have been placed in the Libraries of both Houses.
INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT
Debt Management
John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what steps have been taken by his Department to disseminate best practice on debt management. [40595]
Hilary Benn: We have established procedures and guidance on debtor management and these are linked into specific targets. Quarterly senior management reports include data on debtors to ensure that debtor management has a high profile within DFID.
Our Finance Training Strategy provides for debtor management training. Training is modular based and is linked into our systems and procedural training. There are also e-modules aimed at ensuring information and guidance is widely available across DFID.
Departmental Estate
Pete Wishart:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development if he will list the former (a) buildings and (b) land of (i) his Department and (ii) (A) non-departmental public bodies, (B) agencies and (C) independent statutory bodies for which his
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Department is responsible which have been sold since 7 May 1997; what the sale price of each (1) was at the time of sale and (2) is at current prices; and whether the money accrued was (x) retained by his Department and (y) claimed by the Treasury. [40147]
Mr. Thomas: DFID did not bring to book its assets until 2001–02 so any disposals before that are not recorded within the accounts. We have not sold any properties or land since that time.
There are no DFID Agencies, or non-departmental public bodies (NDPB)s who own properties or land. DFID wholly owns the CDC Group plc, which sold the lease on its London headquarters building in 2004. The proceeds of the sale were £24.5 million which was retained by the CDC. No estimate of the current value of this building is available, but in any event this would be misleading as it has undergone significant refurbishment since the sale.
Departmental Expenditure
Pete Wishart: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what the annual expenditure on training and development by (a) his Department and (b) each (i) non-departmental public body, (ii) Executive agency and (iii) other public body for which he is responsible in (A) Scotland, (B) Wales, (C) each of the English regions and (D) Northern Ireland was in each of the last three financial years; and what the planned expenditure is for 2005–06. [40001]
Hilary Benn: The Department for International Development (DFID) does not currently hold all training and development cost details centrally, and we do not have a breakdown by UK region.
As far as we are able to ascertain from our individual Divisional records, expenditure for training and general staff development throughout DFID during the last three financial years was as follows:
| Financial year | Training and other staff development (£ million) |
|---|---|
| 2002–03 | (8)2.28 |
| 2003–04 | 5.22 |
| 2004–05 | 5.7 |
| 2005–06(9) | 5.6 |
(8) The method of acquiring, recording and reporting information on costs changed during 2002–03, providing for a higher degree of accounting accuracy for subsequent years.
(9) Planned.
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EU Agricultural Trade Policies
Adam Afriyie: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development if he will take steps to encourage the EU to adopt a rigid timetable for the liberalisation of its agricultural trade policies. [38726]
Mr. Thomas: The Government are working hard to encourage the EU to liberalise its agricultural trade policies, including through promoting reform of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) as well as continuing to press for an ambitious outcome in the overall round of current World Trade Organisation (WTO) talks beyond that just concluded at the WTO ministerial meeting in Hong Kong.
HM Treasury and the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) released in December 2005, A Vision for the Common Agricultural Policy", to stimulate further debate in the EU. In the document the Government have laid out how, within the next 10 to 15 years, we will work towards promoting a European agricultural industry which does not distort international trade and the world economy. In addition, in the context of the WTO, we have successfully worked with EU member states, the European Commission and other WTO members in Hong Kong to agree an end date of 2013 for all forms of agricultural export subsidy, with a substantial part to be phased out by 2010. These are the most unfair and distorting of agricultural subsidies.
HIV/AIDS (China)
John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what recent discussions he has had with the Government of China on tackling HIV/AIDS. [40590]
Mr. Thomas: I refer the hon. Member for Buckingham to the response I gave to my hon. Friend for Hartlepool on 8 December 2005, Official Report, column 1488w.
DFID frequently discusses the HIV and AIDS situation with the Chinese authorities. During my visit to China last month, I had a specific discussion on 2 December with the vice minister of health, Mr. Huang Jiefu.
Pakistan (Earthquake)
Sarah Teather: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what aid his Department is giving to the Government of Pakistan to enable victims of the earthquake in Pakistan to be moved away from affected areas by road. [40797]
Mr. Thomas
[holding answer 9 January 2006]: DFID has provided financial assistance to the United Nations, Non-Government Organisations (NGO)s, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. This support (both financial as well as in-kind support) has enabled them to provide assistance to the affected
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population whether this is in their places of origin or in the areas to which they have been displaced. In some cases this has included activities such as medical evacuation undertaken either by road or by helicopter.
In addition, we have provided targeted support to the International Community's overall logistic (including transport) capacity which has supported the Government of Pakistan's overall efforts to bring assistance to the affected population.
Sarah Teather: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how many helicopters the British Government have made available for relief efforts in the Pakistan earthquake zone; what plans he has to change (a) the number of helicopters available and (b) the frequency of aid flights that they make; and if he will make a statement. [40798]
Mr. Thomas [holding answer 9 January 2006]: DFID worked to ensure that helicopters were available as quickly as was possible. It was important however to ensure that only those helicopters that were suitable to the task were sent. Once DFID identified two available PUMA helicopters, it tasked the Ministry of Defence to airlift them from Spain to Islamabad for use by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). These arrived on 17 October. In addition, DFID committed £1 million to the World Food Programme (WFP) and £2.5 million to the ICRC, both of which included support to helicopter provision, and £1.7 million to United Nations Humanitarian Air Service (UNHAS) specifically for helicopters. Three Chinook helicopters were also provided through the Ministry of Defence from 25 October until 28 November to transport relief items and carry out medical evacuations.
The priority now is to ensure that there is enough helicopter capacity to continue delivery of assistance to remote areas throughout the winter period which lasts until March. Therefore DFID, at the request of the WFP, contracted four helicopters for four months (80 flying hours per helicopter per month), from 24 November as part of a £5.5 million package of support to UNHAS.
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