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Madagascar

Ben Chapman: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development (1) what responsibilities for development in Madagascar he has taken over from the Small Grants Scheme since its discontinuation; [56700]

(2) what forms of bilateral development assistance were provided to Madagascar prior to the announcement of the decision to close the British embassy there; [56860]

(3) what provisions were made for the continuation of bilateral development assistance to Madagascar when the decision was taken to transfer responsibility for the administration of the Small Grants Scheme to the Foreign Office. [56761]

Hilary Benn: I refer my hon. Friend to the response I gave on 30 January 2006; Official Report, column 13W.

DFID does not have a bilateral development programme with Madagascar, nor did it have one prior to the transfer of the Small Grants Scheme to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. Our support is channelled through multilateral agencies, primarily the World Bank, European Commission and UN agencies.

Mano River Region

Mrs. Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how much aid the United Kingdom provides to the Mano River Region countries; and what assessment he has made of the extent to which these countries are complying with the conditions of their debt relief packages. [56266]

Hilary Benn: In 2004–05, the UK provided a total of £36 million in bilateral assistance to countries in the Mano River Region. This comprised £27 million to Sierra Leone, £8.4 million to Liberia, and £200,000 to Guinea. The UK also provides assistance through multilateral agencies (European Commission, World Bank and UN agencies) to these countries. For 2003 (the most recent year for which data is available) the UK's share of this contribution through these agencies totalled £15.8 million (£6.3 million to Sierra Leone, £1.7 million to Liberia, and £7.8 million to Guinea).

Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea are Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) and are eligible for debt relief through the HIPC Initiative. Sierra Leone and Guinea are currently receiving interim debt relief and are progressing towards HIPC Completion Point, when they would receive irrevocable debt stock cancellation. Liberia is in arrears in its payments to the World Bank and has yet to receive interim debt relief because progress under the HIPC Initiative has been
 
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hampered to date by conflict and governance concerns. We anticipate that Liberia will start to make more rapid progress through HIPC under its new government.

Because Sierra Leone has established a track-record of macroeconomic stability under its International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme and is implementing a full poverty reduction strategy it is expected to reach Completion Point by the end of 2006. Guinea is also making good progress on its IMF Staff Monitored Programme and could reach Completion Point in late 2006 or early 2007.

Media Training

Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how much has been spent by his Department on media training in each year since 1997–98. [55220]

Mr. Thomas: DFID began media training for senior staff in 2005–06. Final figures for this year are not yet available.

Pakistan

Mrs. Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what progress has been made in establishing the Regional Health Emergency Response and Disaster Management Centre in Islamabad. [56986]

Mr. Thomas: Since the 8 October 2005 earthquake, the Pakistani authorities have made disaster management and disaster risk reduction a high national priority. The Pakistan Government recently announced the establishment of a National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) and National Disaster Management Commission (NDMC). The NDMA will have sub authorities at provincial and district level, to respond to regional emergencies.

Immediately following the earthquake, a Disaster Management Cell was established at the Federal Ministry of Health in collaboration with the Federal Relief Commission and the World Health Organisation (WHO). DFID provided £1,130,000 to the WHO to support this. The cell co-ordinated and managed surveillance of diseases and any responses required. It successfully detected disease outbreaks and averted life-threatening epidemics, learning important lessons from the Tsunami.

Building on this, the Ministry of Health now has capacity for rapid response to disease outbreaks and epidemics throughout the country.

Queen's Birthday

Anne Main: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what plans his Department has to celebrate Her Majesty's 80th birthday; what advice he has issued to his Department's executive agencies on celebrations for the birthday; and if he will make a statement. [54193]

Mr. Thomas: The Department for International Development (DFID) will be marking Her Majesty's 80th birthday by placing a notice for staff attention on its intranet. It will be encouraging staff in its country
 
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offices overseas to take part in celebrations organised by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. The Union flag will be flown from the Department's headquarter office in Scotland on 21st April. DFID's headquarters offices in London do not have provision for flag flying.

School Twinning

Mrs. Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development if he will make a statement on his Department's work in twinning UK schools with schools in developing countries. [57010]

Mr. Thomas: DFID funds a school linking programme, DFID Global School Partnerships", with an overall budget of £3.2 million over three years. This is administered on DFID's behalf by a British Council led consortium.

The programme promotes partnerships between schools in the UK and schools in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean. It provides advice and guidance, professional development opportunities and grants to schools that are using partnerships as a means to develop and embed a global dimension within their curriculum.

The DFID Development Awareness Fund also supports school linking projects.

Sierra Leone

Mrs. Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of his Department's projects to reform the Sierra Leonean (a) armed forces, (b) police and (c) security services. [57006]

Hilary Benn: Since 1999 the UK, through the cross-Whitehall (the Ministry of Defence (MOD), the Department for International Development (DFID) and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) Africa Conflict Prevention Pool (ACPP), managed by DFID, has provided in the region of £8 million of support to the Republic of Sierra Leone Armed Forces (RSLAF), the Ministry of Defence (MOD), and the Office of National Security (ONS) through the Sierra Leone Security Sector Reform Project (SILSEP).

The SILSEP has been complemented by a parallel programme of support to the Sierra Leone Police (SLP) through the Commonwealth Community Safety and Security Project (CCSSP). This project has carried out extensive police reform since August 2000. This has resulted in the re-establishment of a more effective and accountable civilian police service which has improved safety and security, and respect for the rights of people, especially the poor.

Confirmation of the effectiveness of the UK's intervention in Sierra Leone was the decision by the UN Security Council to withdraw the UN Peacekeeping Force (UNAMSIL) at the end of 2005. This decision was made on the basis that the SLP and the RSLAF were able to assume responsibility for protecting the country from threats to internal and external security. This is an endorsement of the progress made in reforming both institutions. No security problems have been reported since UNAMSIL's withdrawal.
 
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The SILSEP and the CCSSP are subject to DFID's standard internal performance management processes, which include annual and end of project reviews. The most recent assessment of the SILSEP programme undertaken in October 2005, concluded that the project continues to be successful and recommended that enhanced ownership should continue to be transferred to the institutions themselves, but that greater participation of civil society institutions on security related matters should be encouraged.

Mrs. Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what proportion of the people of Sierra Leone is classed as living in poverty. [57012]

Hilary Benn: The Sierra Leone Integrated Household Survey of 2003–04 (the latest available figures) found that 70 per cent. of the population lived below the national poverty line (Leones 2,111 a day, which is the equivalent of £0.52 a day); and 26 per cent. of the population were found to be living in extreme poverty, defined in terms of a minimum calorific intake of 2,700 calories per day.

Mrs. Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what proportion of Sierra Leonean children receive (a) primary and (b) secondary education. [57013]

Hilary Benn: There is currently little reliable data on enrolment rates for primary and secondary education in Sierra Leone. The following gives some indication of the situation:

According to Ministry of Education data, 1,156,841 children are in primary school. This represents 135 per cent. of the primary age group (six to 12 years). It exceeds the group population because it includes many older pupils who have returned to school, having missed the opportunity during the civil war. It is estimated that 375,000 children of primary school age are not attending school.

According to the Sierra Leone Information Service data, 133,475 children were in secondary school at the end of 2003.

The following data on gross enrolment rates (percentages) is available for 2003 from the Integrated Household Survey carried out by Statistics Sierra Leone (SSL):

	Location
	Urban	Rural
Primary school(24)
Male	134	103
Female	144	115
Junior secondary school(25)
Male	60	14
Female	82	26
Senior secondary school(26)
Male	47	9
Female	66	13

⁽²⁴⁾ 6–12 years.
⁽²⁵⁾ 13–15 years.
⁽²⁶⁾ 16–19 years.



 
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