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Java Earthquake/Tsunami
Mark Durkan: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what aid his Department has provided in response to the earthquake that struck Java in May. [87285]
Mr. Thomas: DFID has so far given £5 million to relief agencies working to address the urgent humanitarian needs of people affected by the earthquake that struck Java in May. That support includes £1 million for the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies to pay for the provision of emergency relief supplies. The rest of the money is being spent through various UN and non-governmental organisations to provide medical supplies and services, shelter and water and sanitation.
DFID recently committed a further £5 million for the longer-term reconstruction of the area of Java affected by the earthquake. DFID is now working with the Indonesian Government and other agencies to develop a plan to rebuild as quickly and as safely as possible, and to ensure that new buildings are suitably earthquake-resistant so as to avoid a future disaster of this scale.
Java
Sarah Teather: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what assistance his Department has given the Java island following the tsunami; and if he will make a statement. [87665]
Mr.
Thomas: DFID has not provided any assistance in the wake
of the tsunami in Central and West Java because the Government of
Indonesia has stated thatit does not require international
assistance. The Indonesian Minister of People’s Welfare has
provided 750 million Indonesian Rupiah (80 million US Dollars)
to the local government in Ciasmis, West Java and250 million
Indonesian Rupiah (27 million US Dollars) to the local government in
Cilacap, Central Java for their emergency
response.
DFID staff in Jakarta and London continue to monitor the situation and are ready to provide assistance if it is needed.
Lebanon
Mr. Hague: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how much UK aid was granted to Lebanon in each of the last five years; and how these funds were allocated. [88124]
Hilary Benn: The UK channels most of its aid to Lebanon through the EC and the UN. The multilateral figures are based on UK core contributions to theEC and the UN. The UK has also provided some bilateral support to Lebanon, largely through the ‘Small Grants scheme’ administered by the Foreignand Commonwealth Office.
| Multilateral (£ million) | Bilateral, (£ million) | ||||||
| EC | UN | Total multilateral | Grants and other aid in kind | Humanitarian assistance | Total bilateral | Grand total | |
Over the last five years, DFID has also made significant contributions to Palestinian refugees in Lebanon including through the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) (£4.2 million this year). UNRWA’s activities supporting mainly the basic needs of Palestinian refugees providing camp facilities, health, education and food aid and job creation activities.
The World Bank also maintains a significant loan portfolio in Lebanon, but this in not concessional and therefore does not qualify as aid.
Middle East (Project Funding)
Lynne Featherstone: To ask the Secretary of Statefor International Development what projects his Department is funding in (a) Sudan, (b) Lebanon, (c) Israel and (d) Syria; and if he will make a statement. [87328]
Hilary Benn: We are supporting the following projects and activities in Sudan:
UN-managed Common Humanitarian Fund, plus support for UN sector co-ordination
Humanitarian programmes of Non Governmental Organisations
International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC)
World Bank-managed Multi Donor Trust Funds (National and South), plus consultancy support
Basic Services Fund for Southern Sudan
United Nations Development Programme (UNDP): Local Government Recovery project
Safety, Security and Access to Justice programme (Southern Sudan)
Christian Aid: National Strategy
Capacity Building for Government of Southern Sudan
UNICEF: Support for Strengthening Water Sector Capacity in Southern Sudan
Malaria Consortium National Response
Ockenden International: Partnership for Peace
Capacity building for Debt Management
Rift Valley Institute
GOAL: Female Literacy and Empowerment
Scholarships programme
UNDP: Strategic Partnership Arrangement
Support for UN/ World Bank Darfur needs assessment
BBC World Service Trust: Darfur Lifeline Radio
Tufts Institute: Research on livelihoods in Darfur
PACT: Southern Sudanese Pre-Interim Transition to Peace
UNDP : Support for Demobilisation, Disarmament and Reintegration ( DDR)
Security Sector Adviser
International Military Advisers Team
Peace Building Fund
Support for East Sudan Talks
Support for Africa Union information campaign
Support for the Africa Union Mission in Sudan (AMIS)
Responding to
the humanitarian crisis in Sudan, and working to underpin the
Comprehensive and the
Darfur Peace Agreements are among DFID's top priorities. This is
reflected in the projects that DFID is
supporting.
DFID does not fund any projects in Israel. The Global Conflict Prevention Pool (GCPP), run jointly by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Ministry of Defence and DFID, is funding the following projects in or involving Israel:
Peace Now Settlement Watch
Ir Amin—Advocacy project on the status of Jerusalem
Economic Co-operation Foundation—Gaza Disengagement
Council for Peace and Security—Advocacy work on Israeli separation
HaMoKed/B’Tselem—Freedom of movement for Palestinians
Palestinian media activities in support of the Roadmap (joint GCPP/USAID)
Ah Hoc Liaison Committee
EXACT—Management of Shared Water Resources to Reduce Pollution Risks
DFID has no bilateral programme with Lebanon or Syria but GCPP currently funds one project in Lebanon.
Police and Justice Sector Reform—Training courses for the Lebanese Internal Security Forces.
Millennium Development Goals
Mr. Streeter: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how his Department measures progress against the Millennium Development Goals in relation to countries where data on performance in key sectors is missing or incomplete. [86032]
Hilary Benn [holding answer 18 July 2006]: DFID uses international data from the World Bank andthe United Nations to assess progress towards the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in the countries in which it has a programme. It is not possible to assess progress towards the MDGs in countries where data on performance in key sectors is missing or incomplete. In such countries, DFID will identify other ways to measure progress. For example, DFID might use targets contained in partner government national strategies as the basis on which progress is assessed. In some countries, sample surveys conducted through DFID projects or by other agencies provide useful data on which assessments of progress can be made.
DFID is working with many partner countries and with international institutions to improve the quality of the data that are available to measure progress, so that the number of cases of incomplete or missing data are reduced. This includes working with the PARIS 21 (Partnerships in Statistics for Development for the21st Century) consortium of donors, partner countries and multilateral agencies to raise awareness of the problems linked to inadequate statistics.
Millennium Ecosystem Assessment
Andrew
George: To ask the Secretary of State for
International Development how much funding his Department has provided
for the Millennium
Ecosystem Assessment; and if his Department will fund a future
Millennium Ecosystem Assessment.
[87477]
Mr. Thomas: DFID provided funding to the International Institute for Environment and Development of approximately £68,000 for lead co-ordination of a forests working group of the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment and contributions on climate change. DFID recognises the importance of the Assessment and it informed development of our own environmental policy. As far as we know there are no plans to undertake another Assessment so soon after the previous one. We would consider possible support to such an initiative should this decision be made.
Palestine
Mr. Dai Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what projects in the Palestinian Territories funded by (a) the United Kingdom and (b) the European Union were damaged or destroyed by Israeli military action in the month prior to 19 July. [88156]
Hilary Benn: Because of military activity, aid agencies currently face difficulty assessing the extent of damage to facilities in the Gaza Strip. However, initial reports from northern Gaza indicate that four schools and one clinic provided for Palestinian refugees through the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) have sustained heavy damages. Fifty seven empty food containers leased by UNRWA have also been damaged at a cost of £31,000. The European Community and EU member states collectively provide more than half of UNRWA’s core funding and two of the damaged schools were specifically financed from European Community funds.
The main entrance bridge to Beit Hanun was partially destroyed by an Israeli air strike on 9 July. The bridge was built in 2004 with £205,000 in funding from the European Community.
Paraguay
Jeremy Corbyn: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what discussions he has had with the Government of Paraguay on (a) debt bondage affecting indigenous peoples in the Chaco and (b) the trafficking of human beings and the system known as criadazgo affecting child domestic workers; and whether the Department is supporting projects in Paraguay to tackle these problems. [86342]
Mr. Thomas: The Department for International Development is not funding projects nor had discussions with the Government of Paraguay on the problems of debt bondage affecting indigenous people in the Chaco or on the trafficking of human beings.
Pharmaceuticals (Developing Nations)
David
Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for
International Development what assessment he has made of the impact of
the classification of returned
medicines under the Hazardous Waste Regulationson the provision
of pharmaceutical treatments to developing countries; and if he will
make a statement.
[86324]
Hilary Benn: When returned medicines have been sent abroad to developing countries in the past, they have caused a number of problems in receiving countries. This has been because of quality and labelling issues, the medicines were not always the ones wanted, and the cost of sorting and then disposing of the useless products.
The classification of mixed, returned medicines as waste will provide a barrier to the export of unwanted, poor quality and mislabelled drugs and medicines to developing countries. It also encourages the rigorous inspection and sorting of these wastes, so that properly labelled, quality-assured medicines can be separated out and sent to those developing countries that need them.
PR Agencies
John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how much his Department has spent on using public affairs and public relations agencies in each of the last two years; and on what projects in each case. [84820]
Mr. Thomas: In the last two years, the following three projects using public affairs or public relations agencies were commissioned centrally by DFID at a total cost of £223,509.19.
June to September 2004
Agency: COI
Total Cost: £16,890.63
Project: To provide DFID with a corporate communications strategy and three-year plan. COI developed communication objectives, strategies and plans that would help achieve DFID’s organisational objectives.
November 2005 to March 2006
Agency: Weber Shandwick
Total Cost: £203,918.56
Project: To support the Asia 2015 conference with media relations in both the UK and throughout key markets in Asia, specifically India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nepal.
April 2006
Agency: Capricorn Videos
Total Cost: £2,700
Project: To record the DFID Public Information and Consultation Week in April 2006 in order to produce a two-hour film for local television.
Public Appointments
Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how many public appointments are within his patronage; what (a) salary and (b) other emoluments are attached to each; and what the comparable figures were in (i) 1976, (ii) 1986 and (iii) 1996. [83174]
Hilary Benn: DFID currently has 17 public appointments that are the responsibility of Secretary of State for International Development. This comprises two members of the Crown Agents Holding and Realisation Board and 15 members of the Commonwealth Scholarship Commission. The Chair of the Commonwealth Scholarship Commission (CSC) currently receives £5,000 per annum. An honoraria of £200 is paid to those CSC Board members who participate in selection boards for awarding scholarships. Additionally, CSC Board members receive remuneration for travel expenses. The members of the Crown Agents Holding and Realisation Board attract no emoluments.
In the past, the only members of a public body within the patronage of DFID, who received more than expenses, were those appointed to the Board of the Commonwealth Development Corporation (CDC). The CDC transformed from a statutory corporation into a public limited company in December 1999. The last salary information we have for the CDC is for 1999 when the Chair received £30,000, the Deputy £10,000 and Board members (five in total) received £7,500 per annum.
Details of the public appointments to public bodies sponsored by the Department for International Development can be found in Public Bodies, copies of which are in the Library. Public Bodies has been published annually since 1980 and the most recent edition provides figures for 2005. Each edition of Public Bodies contains details on the number of public appointments and remuneration details for that particular year. Comparable information for 1976 in respect of those bodies sponsored by DFID could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
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