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Mr. Streeter: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what steps he is taking to assist the people of Tanzania in response to food, water and power shortages there. [53367]
Hilary Benn: There is considerable suffering in Tanzania owing to the present food insecurity. The Government of Tanzania has made effective use of its Strategic Grain Reserve to deliver grain to vulnerable households, although the continuing drought means this is now under pressure. A Rapid Vulnerability Assessment (RVA), conducted by the Government in response to the food and water situation was circulated on 13 February. The RVA found that 3.8 million Tanzanians need food assistance to the tune of 100,000 metric tonnes up to the next expected harvest in May. Of those, around 565,000 are considered destitute and need immediate food aid. DFID stands ready to help the Government respond to this situation. We are consulting with other agencies, notably the World Food Programme, to determine the robustness of the RVA and inform decisions on assistance. DFID's response will be based on a proposal received from the Government of Tanzania, outlining what additional resources it needs from donors, and how it would like them delivered. Other donors are also likely to respond to the Government's proposal.
In addition, should the EC's Humanitarian Organisation (ECHO) decide to provide assistance to the Government in response to the crisis. DFID would contribute as a member state.
In the longer term, we will be seeking solutions to help reduce vulnerability, through a mix of social protection, such as cash transfer schemes or food for work, and economic opportunities for poorer households to withstand shocks.
Power generation in Tanzania is likely to be based on hydro and thermal sources, both of which are subject to external influences. DFID provides technical support to a Government power sector reform programme through our support to the Parastatal Sector Reform Commission. DFID also funds technical assistance to the Energy and Water Utilities Regulatory Authority to encourage private sector investment in power generation and distribution. In the interim, our support to the Government's budget indirectly supports the national electricity utility TANESCO.
27 Feb 2006 : Column 57W
David Simpson: To ask the Solicitor-General what his definition is of criminality. [53154]
The Solicitor-General: The term criminality" refers to conduct that is in breach of the criminal law.
Mr. Djanogly: To ask the Solicitor-General what plans there are to reform the Crown Prosecution Service. [54072]
The Solicitor-General: Since 1999, the CPS has been undertaking a significant reform programme, in order to create a world-class prosecuting service that meets the needs of the public and the needs of victims and communities. The reform programme is strengthening the role of the prosecutor and putting victims and witnesses at the heart of the criminal justice process and involves the charging initiative, the prosecutors pledge, changes in work practices and the development of higher advocates.
The CPS is working with the police and courts, the Office of Criminal Justice Reform, the Home Office and the Department for Constitutional Affairs to reform the criminal justice system, whilst maintaining that independence of decision-making that is the hallmark of British prosecutors. As part of this co-operative approach, the CPS is working with Home Office and other criminal justice agencies colleagues to identify the implications of police restructuring on the CPS and the criminal justice system.
Mrs. Villiers: To ask the Solicitor-General how much was spent by the Law Officers' Department on (a) gas and (b) electricity in 200405. [51772]
The Solicitor-General: In the financial year 200405 the Law Officers' Departments 1 spent the amounts on gas and electricity shown in the following table.
2 CPS will also have paid for some gas and electricity costs by way of service charges to landlords, but these figures are not separately available.
Mrs. Villiers: To ask the Solicitor-General how much was spent by the Law Offices on refreshments in each year since 1997. [41251]
The Solicitor-General: The Crown Prosecution Service does not hold details centrally of how much it spends on refreshments and would incur disproportionate cost to obtain the information. The Revenue and Customs Prosecutions Office was not in being in 200405 being set up on 18 April 2005.
The Serious Fraud Office, Treasury Solicitor's Department (including the Legal Secretariat to the Law Officers) and HM Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate incurred the expenditure on refreshments in the following table.
The figures cover working breakfasts and lunches and refreshments at meetings in addition to official entertainment. All expenditure on official entertainment is made in accordance with published departmental guidance on financial procedures and propriety, based on principles set out in Government Accounting".
Mrs. Villiers: To ask the Solicitor-General how many (a) laptops and (b) mobile phones the Law Officers' Department bought in each year since 1997; and what the cost of each category of equipment was in each year. [41260]
The Solicitor-General: The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) and HMCPS Inspectorate do not purchase laptops or mobile phones. These are rented respectively from LogicaCMG and Damovo under Public Finance Initiative contracts. CPS entered into the LogicaCMG contract at the end of 2001, which by the end of each financial year in question provided the laptops shown in the following table:
Financial year | Standard laptop | Lightweight laptop |
---|---|---|
200102 | 88 | 0 |
200203 | 466 | 10 |
200304 | 726 | 172 |
200405 | 677 | 283 |
At 2006 rates, the monthly service charge per laptop under the LogicaCMG contract is:
27 Feb 2006 : Column 59W
Monthly service charge per laptop (£) | |
---|---|
Standard laptop | 63.13 |
Lightweight laptop | 87.11 |
CPS does not hold central records on the use of laptops prior to the LogicaCMG contract.
CPS does not hold information on mobile phones prior to 199899 but the number of phones in circulation during a financial year is given in the following table. The mobile phone contract does not identify cost of phones but covers both rental and call charges.
Financial year | Number of phones in circulation throughout the year |
---|---|
199899 | 131 |
19992000 | 223 |
200001 | 280 |
200102 | 346 |
200203 | 428 |
200304 | 494 |
200405 | 589 |
The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) has purchased the laptops and mobile phones shown in the following table. SFO does not hold records of purchases in individual years prior to 19992000; nor of the cost of the separate purchase of laptops or mobile phones and to extract this information would incur disproportionate cost.
Financial year | Number of laptop additions(17) | Number of mobile phone additions |
---|---|---|
Pre 1999 | 22 | 15 |
19992000 | 8 | 5 |
200001 | 3 | 17 |
200102 | 76 | 7 |
200203 | 90 | 1 |
200304 | 175 | 5 |
200405 | 31 | 8 |
200506 | 57 | 23 |
The Treasury Solicitor's Department has purchased new each year the laptops and mobile phones shown in the following table. Costs are provided for new laptops since 199899. Information on the costs of new mobile phones each year and laptops before 199899 is not available and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
The Legal Secretariat to the Law Officers has purchased the laptops shown in the following table. Records are not available prior to 19992000.
Financial year | Number of laptops | Cost (£) |
---|---|---|
19992000 | 2 | 3,770 |
200001 | 0 | |
200102 | 2 | 4,023 |
200203 | 4 | 6,918 |
200304 | 0 | |
200405 | 0 | |
Mobile phones are provided as part of a contract with Vodafone which covers rental and charges.
Mrs. Villiers: To ask the Solicitor-General how much his Department has spent on IT systems in each year since 1997; what the purpose of each system is; what the outturn against planned expenditure of each system was; and what the outturn time for implementation against planned time was. [41319]
The Solicitor-General: The expenditure of the Law Officers' Departments 1 on IT systems since 1997, where figures are available is shown in the following table 1.
1 Include the Revenue and Customs Prosecutions Office but this office was not set up until 18 April 2005.
The IT systems on which the above expenditure was incurred, their respective share of costs in the years in question and purpose are shown in the following tables and notes. It has not been possible to identify out-turn against planned expenditure nor the outturn time for implementation against planned time for each system without incurring disproportionate cost.
27 Feb 2006 : Column 61W
The purpose of each IT system is:
The COMPASS Programme: a 10 year Public Finance Initiative (PFI) partnership between the CPS and LogicaCMG to modernise IT services within the CPS. The COMPASS Programme has delivered nationally:
There has been expenditure on IT set up costs to enable the Glidewell recommendations and Charging Programme (including CPS Direct) to be implemented and allow Crown Prosecution Service personnel access to systems in remote sites such as police premises, courts and prosecutors' homes in order to provide an out of hours service.
The Connect Programme: to provide local area networks in each of the 42 CPS Areas; and to provide all staff with an IT device on their desk and the associated training.
Payroll and Human Resources Systems: to record changes and pay all CPS staff. The Human Resources database is used to record the numbers and locations of all staff and provides career history details for each member of staff.
Counsel fee data processing: in October 2001 the CPS introduced a new fee scheme and started to capture data in-house using an application called 'Parity'. Parity is now managed under the contract with LogicaCMG.
Corporate Information System (CIS): one of the Service's strategic information systems, containing management information on performance indicators, finance, manpower/court sessions, payroll, higher court advocate usage and activity based costs.
FARMS: stands for the Finance and Accounting Record Management System. It updated the older Ross system (described as follows) and allows for the recording of all resource accounting transactions for the CPS throughout England and Wales (over 300 users) in accordance with HM Treasury requirements to produce accrual based accounts.
Miscellaneous: covers a combination of smaller systems that could be disaggregated only at disproportionate cost.
The costs shown for the Serious Fraud Office in table 1 all relate to a central IT system that supports the organisation and underpins the delivery of departmental business. Within the overall system there are sub- systems for financial and document management and DOCMAN is an evidence management system that directly supports casework.
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