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Overseas Health Workers
John Barrett: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what discussions he has had with his Cabinet colleagues regarding employment of overseas health workers in the UK. [55329]
Mr. Thomas: The employment of overseas health workers in the UK is a complex problem which has been discussed in some depth across government and in particular with the Department of Health and with the Scottish Executive and Welsh Assembly.
As a result of these discussions, we have put in place measures to address the pull" factor of migration to the UK of health workers and to promote ethical international recruitment. The UK has adopted systematic policies including:
Guidance and a revised code of practice embodying ethical principles for the international recruitment of healthcare workers.
An agreed list of developing countries that should not be targeted for recruitment, which has prevented the NHS and other major health employers from actively recruiting from 150 of the poorest and middle income countries.
A memorandum of understanding has been signed with South Africa, for qualified healthcare professionals to undertake time limited placements.
Part of the problem is the chronic under-investment in health workers and health systems in developing countries. This results in low job satisfaction for health
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workers, which, combined with very low salaries, leads to migration of health workers to the UK and other developed countries. The UK Government support efforts to increase the supply of health workers, through, for example support to the health sector plan and budget or general budget support. This can support payment of salaries and allowances, and increased production of health workers. The UK support is also geared to improving conditions for health workers through improving health systems/health sector policies and increasing innovative approaches to service provision. This is an area which is covered in DFID's policy paper Moving Out of Poverty—Making Migration Work Better for Poor People", which has just been approved by Ministers.
Since 2000, the UK Government have spent over £650 million on health sector support in Africa, primarily to strengthen health systems including training and retraining health workers. In Malawi for example, we have invested £100 million over six years towards the Sector Wide Approach for health to strengthen health services and increase access to basic health services. The Malawi programme has three main elements:
improving incentives for recruitment and retention of Malawian staff through salary increases for 11 professional and technical groups—5,400 health workers now receiving 52 per cent. salary top-up and over 700 new staff recruited.
expanding domestic training capacity by over 50 per cent., including doubling the number of nurses and tripling doctors being trained;
using international volunteer physicians and nurse tutors as a stop-gap measure while more Malawians are being trained.
Palestine
Mr. Clappison: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what assessment he has made of the extent of misappropriation of aid received by the Palestinian Authority. [56062]
Hilary Benn: Since 2004, UK and European Community (EC) financial support to the Palestinian Authority's (PA) budget has been provided through a Reform Trust Fund, managed by the World Bank. Funding is conditional on the achievement of benchmarks for accountability and reform, progress against which is carefully monitored.
There has been recent media coverage of corruption investigations by the Palestinian Attorney General. These investigations have focused on possible abuses by officials in dealings with private companies and date from before the Reform Trust Fund was created. There is no evidence to suggest that budget support to the PA provided by the UK or other donors through the Reform Trust Fund has been diverted to private bank accounts or otherwise misappropriated.
Prior to 2004, the UK did not provide budgetary support to the PA. The EC did provide such aid to the PA and its programme was reviewed by the European Anti-Fraud Office. This review found no evidence to suggest that EC aid had been misused.
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Population Control
John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what recent representations he has received on population control. [55442]
Mr. Thomas: The UK all-party group on population, development and reproductive health has invited DFID to contribute to its Hearing in the spring on Population Growth—Impact on the Millennium Development Goals". DFID will be submitting evidence and I look forward to reading the report of the Hearing in due course.
DFID also regularly receives representations about the funding of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) in connection with allegations that it supports population control. We are satisfied that the UNFPA does not support population control, but works to promote reproductive choice within its population programmes.
Rwanda
Ed Balls: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how much income the tea and coffee market generated for Rwanda in 2004–05; and what percentage of the country's exports it accounted for. [54804]
Hilary Benn: Rwanda's tea export receipts for the years 2004 and 2005 were US$22 million and US$26 million respectively. The corresponding figures for coffee were US$29 million and US$39 million.
Total export receipts for the two years were $90 million (Government of Rwanda/International Monetary Fund (IMF) figure) and $123 million (provisional figure) respectively, so tea and coffee together accounted for 54 per cent. of total export receipts over the period.
(Figures from compilations by the Rwanda National Innovation and Competitiveness Programme, On The Frontier Group.)
Ed Balls: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what proportion of UK aid to Rwanda has been directed to improving healthcare facilities in the last five years. [54806]
Hilary Benn: Although difficult to calculate, it is estimated that about 8–10 per cent of all external aid to Rwanda in recent years has been allocated to health.
The Government of Rwanda (GoR) attaches great importance to health in its Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP). The GoR Ministry of Health (MoH) has a strong national health strategic plan (2005–2009) which includes improvement of health care facilities. The health strategic plan is funded through the GoR budget, which is partly funded by general budget support (GBS) provided by donors. Health is also funded through donor support provided off-budget.
The Government of Rwanda (GoR) budget allocation to health has increased substantially over the last five years. In 2003 total government expenditure allocated to the health sector was 4.4 per cent. This increased to 8 per cent. in 2005 and 8.4 per cent. in 2006.
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(32) Data for 2004 is programmed estimates.
Notes:
1. Data source for first two rows is Ministry of Finance, (Registry of External Aid to Rwanda, Volume 1, April 2004)
2. A Public Expenditure Review (PER) is currently underway in health, which will provide more up to date data.
3. Preliminary findings of a 2005 Ministry of Health donor mapping study shows a two fold increase in external aid to the health sector between 2004–05 (with an increase from approx 40–80 million US$).
Sierra Leone
Mr. Clifton-Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what steps are being taken by (a) the UK and (b) the international community to increase capacity in the mining and fishing industries in Sierra Leone. [55450]
Hilary Benn: DFID has funded an adviser to the President of Sierra Leone since July 2002 to work on the development of a diamond strategy for the sector for Sierra Leone, as part of its overall policy on minerals which the Government of Sierra Leone ratified in 2003. Since that time, we have been working with the Government of Sierra Leone and other donors, including the World Bank, European Commission and the United States Agency for International which includes establishing an appropriate legal and regulatory framework; creating the right business environment; strengthening the capacity of relevant government departments; and supporting non-governmental organisations. These steps will improve the transparency of management of diamonds in Sierra Leone. We also continue to actively support the implementation of the Kimberley process.
A DFID programme of assistance is supporting the objectives set out in the mineral policy. It has two main aims: to maximise the economic and social benefits of the diamond sector to both the Government and the people of Sierra Leone; and to ensure that the benefits accrued from the sector are divided more equitably among those involved. The programme includes: provision of technical advice to the Office of the President; support to review and redraft the Mines and Minerals legislation; technical assistance to the Gold and Diamond Department (GDD) of the National Revenue Authority (NRA); support for the design and implementation of a cadastre system; technical assistance for the Ministry of Mineral Resources (MMR); support to build the capacity of the United Mineworkers Union (UMU); and support for the development of a business and statistical information service. Alongside the UK, the EC is also supporting capacity building in the Ministry of Mineral Resources through the provision of an adviser who is working on the reopening of Sierra Leone's Rutile Mine. The World Bank aim to begin implementing a sector-wide Mineral Project before the end of 2006.
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The problems of illegal fishing are considerable, with losses to sub-Saharan Africa estimated to be $1 billion per annum. DFID, in partnership with the UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), governments of the West Africa region and local fishing communities, supports a programme to increase local capacity to address poverty in fishing communities through better management of resources. Sierra Leone has participated in this programme and has access to the support that it provides.
More recently, the UK along with a number of other governments has created a programme designed to address illegal, unregulated and unreported fishing activities, which both DFID and the Department for the Environment and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) support. In addition to the support being provided by the UK, the European Commission has recently approved a programme of support in Sierra Leone aimed at providing stock assessments to enhance the country's fisheries management capacity.
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