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Statutory Instruments
Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development on what occasions a statutory instrument sponsored by his Department has been reported by the Joint Committee on Statutory Instruments as defective since October 2005. [85190]
Hilary Benn: None.
Reports from the Joint Committee on Statutory Instruments contain full details of the statutory instruments which they have reported.
Sudan
Andrew George: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what assessment he has made of whether international donors have met pledges to provide aid in Darfur. [88613]
Hilary Benn: The current UN appeal seeks $801 million (mostly for humanitarian assistance) for Darfur to cover the period up to 31 December 2006. So far, $345 million has been pledged by donors, and the bulk of these pledges have been met. A significant element of the £49 million provided by DFID to the Common Humanitarian Fund, covering the whole of Sudan, will be channelled to Darfur.
The signing of the Darfur Peace Agreement in May has enabled work to begin on identifying the region's longer-term recovery and development needs. An assessment team is currently in Darfur, and will present a report to donors at a conference due to be held in The Hague later in the year. Donors will be able to pledge further financial support at this meeting.
Tropical Storm Bilis
Mark Simmonds: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what assessment he has made of the impact on developing countries in the region of tropical storm Bilis. [88415]
Mr. Thomas: DFID has been monitoring the situation closely, and has been prepared to respond if necessary. There has not been any request for international assistance and needs are being met by the affected countries’ governments and local response arrangements.
Tsunamis
Andrew George: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what steps his Department has taken to assist countries affected by the tsunami in the Indian Ocean in December 2005 in preparations to minimise the damage of future tsunamis. [88791]
Mr. Thomas: Following the tsunami in December 2004, DFID set aside £7.5 million of its humanitarian assistance to support disaster risk reduction (DRR) activities in the affected region.
DFID is currently considering:
support to DRR capacity building in Indonesia and Sri Lanka;
support to the UN-International Strategy for Disaster Reduction and UNESCO/Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission co-ordinated Indian Ocean Tsunami Early Warning System (IO-TEWS) programme and
support to efforts by the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change to strengthen capacity in climate change adaptation planning in Asia.
UK Aid Expenditure
Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what the UK aid expenditure was on (a) acute diarrhoeal illness, (b) acute lower respiratory infections, (c) child health, (d) HIV/AIDS, (e) malaria, (f) poor nutrition, (g) reproductive and maternal health, (h) tuberculosis and (i) vaccine preventable diseases in (i) 2004-05 and (ii) 2005-06; and what such spending is estimated to be for (A) 2006-07 and (B) 2007-08. [88372]
Mr. Thomas: It is not possible, to disaggregate UK aid expenditure by disease category or sub-sectors areas such as child health or reproductive and maternal health. DFID uses a range of different aid instruments to assist developing countries implement their national health plans. UK support ranges from direct budget support to funding delivered through multilateral agencies such as the World Health Organisation (WHO) and UNICEF.
The focus of DFID’s work in health is to help countries strengthen their health systems to prevent and mitigate the impact of ill health including communicable diseases. Functioning systems are crucial for effectively tackling diarrhoeal diseases, pneumonia and vaccine preventable disease epidemics as well as HIV, TB and malaria and to deliver child and reproductive health services. With country partners DFID monitors improvements in health outcomes (e.g. reduced child mortality rates) or outputs (more children immunised against measles and fewer cases and deaths) rather than inputs targeting individual diseases. The exception is AIDS, where DFID does monitor spend against a government commitment to spend at least £1.5 billion over the three years 2005-06 to 2007-08.
DFID’s
overall bilateral spend on the health sector was £363 million in
2004-05 through our country, regional and research programmes. We also
provide general Poverty Reduction Budget Support to several developing
countries to help build basic services. Some of this funding goes on
health services, but is not captured within our sector specific
spending figures
which therefore somewhat underestimate our overall bilateral
contribution to improving health in developing countries. In addition
to our bilateral assistance we provided a further £110 million
in 2004-05 for health through multilateral assistance including to the
WHO and other UN
agencies.
We are also supporting a number of innovative financing mechanisms to increase resources to tackle communicable diseases. For example, the International Finance Facility for Immunisation will raise an additional £4 billion from a number of donors for vaccines for the Global Alliance on Vaccines and Immunisations and help support the development of new vaccines for communicable diseases that can be prevented.
The specific spend on communicable diseases, other than AIDS, in 2004-05 was £80 million (out of the £363 million). Recording AIDS-specific expenditure requires careful analysis because there are a range of sectors which have an impact on the epidemic, including health, education, social development and good governance. There are also a range of instruments used to channel AIDS-related development spending. DFID has been working with the Joint United Nations Programme of HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) and others to review and improve these expenditure calculations. While refinements to the methodology are still in progress DFID has reported a provisional bilateral expenditure of £350 million on AIDS for the period 2004-05.
Expenditure data for 2005-06 by sector will not be released until the autumn and expenditure forecasts for 2006-07 and 2007-08 will be subject to the direction of DFID country programming in response to the 2006 White Paper and the revised Health Strategy under preparation.
World Food Programme (Kenya)
Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development if he will take urgent steps to tackle the situation facing the World Food Programme in Kenya; and if he will make a statement. [88265]
Hilary Benn: We share the World Food Programme's assessment that despite improved rains, food security remains poor among some communities in particular in northern and eastern Kenya—the same areas affected by drought in 2005. In many parts of northern Kenya rains were again below normal and drought conditions persist, resulting in continuing humanitarian needs in these areas. Rates of acute malnutrition remain very high—well above the emergency threshold.
The UK is the second largest bilateral donor in the response (after the US). The UK's total contribution in response to the drought in Kenya since December 2005 is £22.2 million spent on food aid, water supplies and emergency health. Of this, £12.5 million has been channelled through the World Food Programme (WFP). I am considering further contributions and at the same time urging other donors to make contributions.
DFID is also working with the Government of Kenya and others to tackle the underlying causes of the persistent food crises affecting Kenya. The Government of Kenya with our support is developing a hunger safety net programme that aims to tackle chronic hunger in the long term.
Culture, Media and Sport
Arts Council (Jazz Funding)
Mr. Don Foster: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport pursuant to the oral Answer to the hon. Member for Waveney (Mr. Blizzard) of 24 April 2006, Official Report, column 351, on Arts Council (Jazz Funding), what assessment her Department has made of the impact of the rescheduling of jazz music on Smooth FM on the listenership of that genre; and if she will make a statement. [89097]
Mr. Lammy: Such an assessment does not fall within the remit of my Department.
Community Development Fund
Mr. Don Foster: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what plans she has to extend the Community Development Fund beyond its initial three year period. [88893]
Mr. Caborn: £60 million was available for the Community Club Development Programme in the three-year period 2003-06. An additional £40 million is available for the period 2006-08.
Mr. Don Foster: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how much has been allocated in grants from the Community Development Fund; and which sports have received an allocation. [88894]
Mr. Caborn: £60.1 million has been committed to date to the support of 1,018 sports facilities projects through the Community Club Development Programme (CCDP).
Sports benefiting from CCDP in the period 2003-06 include: cricket, football, tennis, rugby football league, rugby football union, netball, rowing, swimming, badminton, cycling, canoeing, gymnastics, judo, basketball, hockey, and table tennis. A further three sports will be eligible to receive CCDP from 2006/07: boxing, golf and squash.
Departmental Staff (Sickness Absence)
David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport pursuant to the answer of 5 June 2006, Official Report, column 131W, on Departmental Staff, how many staff in her Department have had two or more periods of sick leave of less than five days in two or more of the last three years. [84029]
Mr. Lammy: My department had 89 members of staff who had two or more periods of sick leave of less than five working days in two or more of the last three years.
Digital Switchover
Mr. Swire: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what guidance she has issued on digital switchover for landlords and local authorities; and if she will include information on integrated reception systems in future guidance to landlords. [87822]
Mr. Woodward: We wrote to all local authorities, registered social landlords and a number of representative bodies, including those representing private sector landlords and house builders in June 2004 alerting them to Digital Switchover. We wrote again to local authorities in January 2006. An electronic version of both letters is available on www.digitaltelevision.gov.uk, a copy of each has been placed in the Library.
In 2005 we published "Digital Switchover; A Good Practice Briefing Special" in association with the Chartered Institute of Housing replacing an earlier booklet published by DCMS in December 2001. The Good Practice Briefing describes the implications of digital switchover for private and social sector landlords giving clear, objective advice on the various options available including integrated reception systems. It has been circulated widely to housing sector professionals by DCMS and the Chartered Institute of Housing, by other housing representative bodies and by Digital UK. An electronic version is available on www.digitaltelevision.gov.uk. I am arranging for copies to be placed in the Libraries of both Houses.
Disabled Staff
Danny Alexander: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how much was paid to her Department from the Access to Work Scheme for adjustments for disabled staff in the last year for which figures are available; from what budget she plans to meet the costs of reasonable adjustments for disabled staff following withdrawal of Access to Work funding for central Government departments; and if she will make a statement. [89008]
Mr. Lammy: The Department for Culture, Media and Sport was paid £7,603.90 from the Access to Work scheme in the 05-06 financial year. Following withdrawal of Access to Work funding for central Government departments, the cost of reasonable adjustments for disabled staff will be met centrally by the Department.
Fishing Licences
Sarah Teather: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many fishing licences were granted in (a) London and (b) each London borough in each year since 1997. [87253]
Mr. Bradshaw: I have been asked to reply.
Rod fishing licences are issued by the Environment Agency.
Historically, the agency has not analysed sales of these licences by Government Office Region or by borough. However, there were 41,584 rod licence holders resident in London in 2005. Some of these will have purchased more than one licence.
London Olympics
Lyn Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what training is being provided to enable local people to gain access to construction jobs created by the Olympic developments; what steps she has taken to encourage contractors to provide (a) jobs and (b) apprenticeships for local people; and if she will make a statement. [88210]
Mr. Caborn: ConstructionSkills, the Sector Skills Council for the construction industry, has established a special team—Constructing London 2012—to deliver locally available construction skills to build the Olympic and Paralympic infrastructure. It will work with partners to recruit and train local people, ensuring that building the infrastructure provides sustainable skills and job opportunities for people resident in east London through a range of newly targeted initiatives. A detailed Plan is currently being developed.
The Construction National Skills Academy, due to be launched during the last quarter of 2006 will have a significant impact on developing construction skills for the Olympic infrastructure, and other London-based construction projects. One of its first on-site centres is likely to be in the Thames Gateway/Olympics area.
The London 2012 Employment and Skills Taskforce (LEST) was commissioned by the Mayor and Government to produce an action plan aimed at helping Londoners benefit from the jobs and skills opportunities created by the London Games. This will be finalised in the autumn but Jobcentre Plus has already placed 15 people into jobs at the Olympic site and are discussing a further 200 vacancies with the two contractors so far engaged. These should arise over the next 12 to 18 months.
The
Olympic Delivery Authority's draft Procurement Policy sets out the
overall framework and values guiding the ODA and its Delivery Partner's
approach to procurement The draft Policy states the ODA's commitment to
requiring its contractors and subcontractors to operate with a
commitment to a competent workforce, and its desire to work with the
appropriate sector skills councils to provide a legacy of a trained and
motivated workforce for the future.
Mr. Swire: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what steps are being taken to redirect sewerage services at the site of the Olympic Park and the Lea Valley area during the Olympic and Paralympic Games. [88510]
Mr. Caborn: DEFRA are currently leading work to consider options for intercepting intermittent sewage discharges into the Thames, including developing a package of measures to protect the Olympic Park when the Olympic and Paralympic Games take place in 2012.
Online Gambling
Mr. Don Foster: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport (1) what action the Government can take against online gambling companies permitted by the whitelist to advertise in the UK who breach the licensing objectives of the Gambling Act 2005; and if she will make a statement; [89130]
(2) what criteria will be used to establish the whitelist of countries overseas from which online gambling establishments based in their jurisdiction may advertise in the UK; and if she will make a statement. [89131]
Mr. Caborn: Section 331 of the Gambling Act prohibits any gambling operator based outside the European Economic Area or Gibraltar from advertising in the UK unless a specific exemption has been made for that jurisdiction under sub-section 331(4). My Department will begin consulting on the criteria for making an exemption shortly.
Should it become apparent that gambling regulation by a jurisdiction which has been specified under sub-section 331(4) of the Act is failing to meet the standards set by the Gambling Act, the Secretary of the State has the power to remove this exemption.
Swimming Pools
Lynne Featherstone: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many chlorinated public swimming pools there were in each (a) London borough and (b) constituency in each of the last five years; and if she will make a statement. [87330]
Mr. Caborn: We do not hold specific information on numbers of chlorinated public swimming pools. However, the numbers of public swimming pools by London borough in each of the last five years is shown in the following table. The ISRM advise that all pools must provide some form of residual disinfection in the pool water to protect bathers against the risk of cross-infection. The UK is not alone in using chlorine for this purpose. It is probably the most effective disinfectant in water and this is the reason it is used throughout the world, not only in swimming pools, but also in drinking water supplies. However, many swimming pools do use supplementary forms of treatment to enhance the disinfection process, such as ozone and UV.
| Of which “x” built in | ||||||
| London borough | Total number of pools | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 |
Sarah Teather: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many swimming pools there were in each London borough in each year from 1998 to 2004. [87414]
Mr. Caborn: We do not hold the requested information on the number of pools in each London borough from 1998-2003.
However, we do have a figure for the numbers of pools in each London borough for 2004 through the Active Places database. This information is shown in the table. The information includes swimming pools provided by public and private operators.
| Number of pools by London borough in 2004 | |
| Total | |
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