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Transport Projects

Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will list transport projects announced by the Government and subsequently cancelled since 1997. [52657]

Ms Buck: I ref the hon. Member to the statements made by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Transport on 20 July 2004, 16 December 2004 and 3 November 2005, and by my hon. Friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport on 29 November 2005.

In addition, one other major local transport scheme has been announced and subsequently cancelled by the Government since 1997. The scheme was 'Pegasus' a school transport initiative based in Surrey.

Transport Services (Greater Manchester)

Andrew Gwynne: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many of Greater Manchester's bus operators have been reported to the Transport Commissioner in each year since 2001; and how many bus operators lost their operation licence as a result of investigations in each year. [57814]

Ms Buck: Statistics on licenses issued or revoked and action taken for non-compliance of bus operators are published in the Traffic Commissioners' Annual Report available from the House of Commons Library or www.dft.gov.uk.
 
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Statistics are published by traffic area rather than geographical location; to break them down specifically to Greater Manchester could be done only at disproportionate cost.

Andrew Gwynne: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what discussions his Department has had with (a) Greater Manchester Passenger Transport Executive and (b) Network Rail on improving the passenger facilities at Manchester Victoria Railway Station. [57821]

Derek Twigg: Plans for the improvement of passenger facilities at Manchester Victoria Station are a matter for Network Rail, in its role in co-ordinating railway industry planning, and for Northern Rail as the station facilities operator.

Andrew Gwynne: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what discussions his Department has had with Greater Manchester Passenger Transport Executive and Network Rail on improving the passenger rail services in the county. [57822]

Derek Twigg: The Department has regular contact with officials from Greater Manchester Passenger Transport Executive on matters relating to improving rail services in the county. Discussions have included work on the North West Rail Regional Planning Assessment, the Network Rail Route Utilisation Strategy, and the Greater Manchester Passenger Transport Executive Integrated Transport Strategy.

Urban Congestion Target

Tom Brake: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport pursuant to his ministerial statement of 7 February 2006, Official Report, columns 45–46WS, on the urban congestion target, what the nature is of the problems discovered with the data relating to public service agreement 4. [57424]

Dr. Ladyman: In December, an error was discovered in one of the raw data sources supplied to the Department and which underpin the urban congestion PSA target. One of the data fields was in the incorrect format. The data were subsequently corrected and re-supplied to the Department but had to be reprocessed, thereby delaying delivery to the 10 large urban areas. Quality controls have now been strengthened at all stages of the data delivery and processing.
 
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INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT

African Drought

Tony Baldry: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how much humanitarian assistance the Government has given to drought affected areas in Africa in each of the last five years. [57455]

 
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Hilary Benn: The following table sets out DFID's humanitarian assistance to drought affected countries in Africa in the five years from 2000–01 to 2004–05. The table also shows our total humanitarian expenditure in Africa in the same period, including our response to humanitarian crises due to conflict and other causes.
DFID humanitarian expenditure in drought affected African countries (£GBP)

Destination	2000–01	2001–02	2002–03	2003–04	2004–05
Burundi	1,504,278	540,118	1,119,285	3,189,222	5,395,349
Ethiopia	13,773,873	8,222,389	26,824,089	18,511,529	6,719,432
Eritrea	2,188,012	1,472,258	2,600,000	2,219,590	1,064,975
Kenya	12,463,272	3,413,358	1,473,521	228,551	5,517,057
Malawi	229,115	142,421	7,036,164	581,493	4,573,003
Mozambique	9,204,944	907,822	778,916	470,600	27,920
Somali Democratic Rep	1,234,680	1,637,637	2,919,590	3,171,561	3,543,346
South Africa, Republic of	12,884	282,423	94,997	6,658	13,143
Sudan	4,491,075	5,164,105	16,337,941	21,872,096	77,965,269
Swaziland	—	—	—	388,988	8,599
Tanzania	1,786,583	51,057	260,015	1,500,005	2,816,524
Zambia	388,184	217,711	6,407,759	1,279,151	398,296
Zimbabwe	225,455	7,242,305	23,259,500	23,959,598	13,753,181
Total	47,502,356	29,293,604	89,111,777	77,379,043	121,796,094
Total humanitarian expenditure in Africa	65,010,000	44,218,000	155,096,000	124,188,000	172,659,000

Arms Trade Treaty

Andrew George: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what steps his Department is taking to encourage (a) Governments and (b) other organisations to support the establishment of the proposed Arms Trade Treaty. [57494]

Hilary Benn: Ensuring better regulation of the arms trade is an essential pre-requisite for conflict prevention and development. As a result, DFID has worked very closely with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) to promote the Government's commitment to an Arms Trade Treaty (ATT). When the first committee of the UN General Assembly meets this year, the UK will aim to secure a UN resolution which will establish a formal UN-based ATT process. Significant progress has already been made, notably the endorsement of an ATT by the EU Council and the call for negotiations on an ATT from Commonwealth Heads of Government.

DFID has contributed to a range of FCO-led initiatives, including the May 2005 meeting of experts at Lancaster House in London. This year, DFID is developing a joint strategy with Whitehall partners on how to encourage other countries and regional bodies to actively promote the ATT. This will focus on building wider support for a first committee resolution, and will include awareness raising events and the establishment of a friends of ATT" group of supportive Governments. In addition we will use ministerial visits and discussions with partner countries, regional and international organisations to generate support for a resolution. For example, this month we participated in a cross-Whitehall lobbying visit to China.

In parallel, given the devastating impact of small arms and light weapons (SALW) on the developing world, DFID is working closely with the FCO and the Ministry of Defence (MOD) on strengthening language on transfer controls within the existing UN Programme of Action on SALW. When the UN Programme of Action is reviewed in July we will seek agreement to develop a set of politically binding criteria for SALW transfers. In the run up to the review conference DFID will work closely with the FCO to win support for a common text on universal principles for SALW transfers. There has been good progress in developing regional agreement on standards for small arms transfers in Central America and the Horn of Africa/Great Lakes region. Under the Global Conflict Prevention Pool, we have funded non-governmental organisations such as the International Action Network on Small Arms (IANSA) and Saferworld, which work with African Governments and civil society to ensure that African voices are heard in discussions on transfer controls.

Commission for Africa

Andrew George: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development whether reviews undertaken of his Department's African country assistance strategy paper will incorporate the recommendation by the Commission for Africa on the use of assessments of how to reduce the risk of violent conflict and improve human security in formulating a strategy for each country. [57493]

Hilary Benn: The Commission for Africa Report set out a wide range of recommendations for African countries and its donor partners. Each recommendation has its own timetable. This is reflected in the detailed report on what the UK has been doing to take forward the Commission's recommendations and make sure that the G8's commitments are implemented, which has been deposited in the Libraries of the House.

DFID has been active in carrying out conflict assessments, in recent years, in a number of African countries, including Nigeria, Mozambique, Angola, Kenya, Uganda and Somalia. More recently, DFID has undertaken a range of work to strengthen the analytical basis for its conflict programmes and policy throughout
 
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the continent. These activities include commissioning work on long and shorter term conflict trends to inform the Pan-African and Regional strategies of the interdepartmental Africa Conflict Prevention Pool (ACPP). Furthermore DFID's Security and Development paper, completed in the latter half of 2005, and a subsequent internal report also recommended the increased use of conflict assessments throughout UK development programmes.

The next iteration of the DFID Delivery Plan for Africa will also emphasise the importance of conflict assessments.

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