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Departmental Staffing

Mr. Llwyd: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how many jobs in his Department have been relocated to Wales since 2001. [57692]

Hilary Benn: None.

Disaster Relief

Mrs. Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what steps have been taken by his Department to ensure a rapid and efficient delivery of acute phase relief in disaster relief operations. [57016]

Mr. Thomas: DFID is a leading donor in the provision of disaster relief. We have a dedicated humanitarian response team, including an immediate operational capacity ready to deploy 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, with specialists, equipment and supplies as required. Our procedures and funding mechanisms are streamlined and rapid. This delivery capacity has been
 
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tried and tested successfully in many such disasters over the years, including the Asian tsunami in 2004–05 and the Pakistan earthquake in 2005.

For example, in Pakistan DFID gave considerable support for helicopters to help ensure relief items reached remote areas quickly, including three Chinook helicopters through the Ministry of Defence from 26 October until 28 November 2005, £1 million to the World Food Programme (WFP) for helicopters, logistics support, vehicles, and coordination and £1.7 million to the United Nations Humanitarian Air Service (UNHAS) for helicopters. We also contracted four helicopters as part of a £5.5 million package of support to the UN.

In addition to helicopters, DFID channelled a further £10.8 million through United Nations agencies in Pakistan and provided experts and other support to the UN to help fill critical gaps in their capacity, including vehicles and equipment.

DFID also helped the transportation of relief supplies for the UK Disasters Emergency Committee by providing 78 relief flights.

We have also taken a lead in improving the international response. On 9 March, my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for International Development joined Kofi Annan in New York to announce the launch of the new Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF): $193 million to enable the UN to respond more rapidly in the critical early phases of humanitarian disasters. DFID has been a leading proponent of this new measure and is the largest single contributor at $70 million (£40 million) a year.

Farmers (Africa)

Mrs. Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what programmes his Department funds to promote the commercial competitiveness of small-scale African farmers. [57011]

Hilary Benn: Promoting commercial competitiveness of small-scale farmers is critical to boosting growth and poverty reduction in Africa. Action is needed in three key areas: improving policies and public spending in support of small-scale farming; developing the business environment and infrastructure, particularly in rural areas, so that markets function more effectively for small farmers; and improving the productivity of agriculture and access to markets. DFID supports programmes in all these areas.

For example, in Uganda, Kenya, Rwanda, Ghana and Nigeria, we are helping governments to improve agricultural policy and public spending. This will help ensure that government and donor funds are more effectively used for agricultural development.

DFID supports a range of programmes to develop the business environment which help improve commercial competitiveness of small-scale farmers. We are providing $30 million to the Investment Climate Facility as an important part of this. DFID has helped improve rural infrastructure in several countries including Ghana, Nigeria and Sierra Leone, bringing farmers closer to markets.
 
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DFID also supports the Business Linkages Challenge Fund, which for example, provided a grant of £290,000 to the Great Lakes Cotton Company and Clark Cotton in Malawi (which drew in a private sector contribution of £1,319,000) enabling them to set up new and sustained business relationships with more than 180,000 smallholder farmers.

DFID has been at the forefront of pushing for a fairer world trading system and for an ambitious, development-focused outcome of the Doha Development Round of WorldTrade Organisation (WTO) negotiations. Ending cotton subsidies would increase world prices by between 10 and 30 per cent. bringing benefit to many small-scale farmers in West and Central Africa. DFID has provided trade negotiation support to the group of Least Developed Countries (LDC) and its Chair (Zambia). DFID is also working with major UK, European and Southern African food retailers, small producer organisations and standard setting bodies to find ways of improving African producers' access to high value export markets.

DFID support to agricultural research and development in Africa through international and sub-regional research organisations is another important contribution to boosting agricultural productivity and increasing the gains to small-scale farmers from their investments. Some £140 million is being provided for this over the next five years.

Fast Track Initiative

Mrs. Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the Fast Track Initiative in mobilising funding for African nations. [57003]

Hilary Benn: Current African countries supported under the Fast Track Initiative (FTI) framework include Burkina Faso, Guinea, Madagascar, Niger, Djibouti, Mauritania, Ethiopia, the Gambia, Kenya, Mozambique, Ghana, and Lesotho.

The FTI has clearly helped additional resources to flow into FTI countries. On average, these countries have seen an increase of 43 per cent. in external financing for basic education within the first year of joining FTI. More importantly, the FTI is having a positive impact on external financing for low income countries as a whole.

G8 partners are committed to continue to support the FTI, particularly Africa. We have increased our support to the FTI to £50 million over the next three years and the United States Government have announced US$62 million for education in FTI countries in Africa. We have urged other G8 countries to increase their support for education within the FTI framework, either directly through the Catalytic Fund or by increasing their support for education in FTI countries.

Gun Trade

Anne Snelgrove: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what assessment his Department has made of the impact of the trade in small guns on developing countries. [56554]

 
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Mr. Thomas: The Government recognise the devastating effect that the uncontrolled proliferation of Small Arms and Light Weapons (SALW) has on developing countries. Preventing the illicit trade in SALW is crucial to dealing with the problem. Furthermore, most illegally-held arms begin their lives as legal exports. In combating the illicit trade it is therefore vital to regulate the licit trade.

Over the last two years, DFID, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) and the Ministry of Defence (MOD), under the SALW strategy of the Global Conflict Prevention Pool (GCPP), have supported the following work:

Research into the effects of armed violence and arms availability on poverty.

Building political consensus for the development of tighter controls on government-authorised transfers of SALW.

The research found the impact of armed violence and arms availability on development to be complex and multi-faceted. It is clear that the global arms trade tends to divert resources away from economic growth and development and that irresponsible arms transfers increase human insecurity and the risk of violent conflict.

Armed violence has had negative impacts in terms of displacement, damage to education, health, and agriculture, and the impoverishment of large sections of communities and populations. For example:

In almost all the internal conflicts examined, gross domestic product (GDP) declined under the impact of armed violence;

High levels of armed violence in cities exacerbate economic inequality and social exclusion;

Armed violence creates cycles of insecurity that are hard to break, and which have long-term poverty implications;

In situations where armed violence persists, an alternative economy develops. Such patterns, including trafficking in drugs, conflict minerals and arms are difficult to reverse.

High levels of armed violence damage good governance and democracy by strengthening the hand of criminal elements and corrupt politicians.

The UK has been working to build support for stronger controls on the transfers of SALW. We have built support from the ground up, through regional workshops and bilateral consultations. Supported by a growing number of states and civil society organisations, we are pushing for agreement on commonly accepted standards to guide transfers of SALW. We are doing so within the framework of the UN Programme of Action (PoA) on the Illicit Trade in Small Arms, which is due to be reviewed this summer. We also support calls for a negotiated, legally-binding Arms Trade Treaty, covering all conventional weapons.

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