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20 Oct 2006 : Column 1512W—continued
Pollution Incident
Harry Cohen: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what the (a) causes, (b) extent and (c) consequences were of the recent incident of Thames Water polluting a stretch of Dagenham Brook in Waltham Forest; what remedial activity was undertaken; and if he will make a statement. [94924]
Ian Pearson: Thames Water Utilities Ltd has pleaded guilty to polluting a controlled watercourse—Dagenham Brook—on 8 August 2005 with poisonous, noxious or polluting matter under section 85 of the Water Resources Act 1991.
Thames Water had failed to maintain storm tanks which allowed sewage to pour into the river through holes in the joints between precast concrete sections which made up the tank walls. These joints contained a sealing compound, which had failed in a number of places.
The sewage contaminated nearly two miles of the Dagenham Brook, which then discharges in the River Lee at New Spitalfields Market, in Leyton.
The impact on the river was significant; the river was a cloudy grey colour and there was a strong sewage smell along the affected stretch of the river. Dissolved oxygen levels in the river at Leabridge Road were recorded as 2.4 per cent. The minimum level of dissolved oxygen necessary to sustain fish life is typically around 25 to 30 per cent.
A fleet of tankers worked for three days to remove the sewage from the river at two locations, Orient Way and New Spitalfields Market, in Leyton, which although failing to reduce the impact on Dagenham Brook did alleviate the problem in the River Lee.
Once the storm tanks were identified as the source of the pollution Thames Water began to drain them down to prevent further pollution.
Roadkill
Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what the Government's (a) policy, (b) practice and (c) procedures are on the collection of corpses of wildlife killed by road traffic. [94127]
Mr. Bradshaw: The Highways Agency is responsible for the clearance of the trunk road and motorway network in England following accidents or other incidents, including collisions involving animals and vehicles.
The guidance for responding to incidents comes from the Highways Agency's Trunk Road Maintenance Manual (Volume 2: Routine and Winter Maintenance Code, paragraph 1.2.3 and 1.12.3), which requires the provision of facilities to
“...clear the highway following an accident/spillage, or any other incident, which requires attendance under emergency conditions...”
“Debris encountered by inspectors and other maintenance personnel in traffic lanes and on hard shoulders, and which constitutes an immediate hazard, shall be removed immediately, if reasonably practical.”
Local highway authorities are responsible for all other roads, which includes the collection of animal corpses. There is no instruction to them as to actual methods, but they tend to follow guidance set out in the Design Manual for Roads and Bridges Volume 10, and the Highways Agency's Manual of Contract Documents for Highways Works.
Warm Front Programme
Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many pensioners have had central heating installed (a) for free and (b) with a £300 discount in each constituency since inception of the scheme. [93831]
Ian Pearson: A table showing the number of pensioner households, by constituency, that have benefited from the installation of free(1) central heating since the start of Warm Front in June 2000 has been placed in the Library of the House.
(1) Warm Front provides free central heating up to the value of £2,700, or £4,000 in the case of oil central heating. If the cost of the work is higher than this, the Warm Front applicant may be required to pay an excess.
Water Bills
Julia Goldsworthy: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what plans he has to assist those in the South West who are on low incomes with payment of their water bills. [94263]
Ian Pearson: A pilot study is currently under way in the South West which seeks to target water affordability assistance to low income households. It is looking at the combined impacts of several measures on water affordability, including benefit entitlement checks, meter installation and water efficiency measures. The results of the study are expected in summer 2007.
DEFRA is also working with water companies and Ofwat to look at the distributional impact of tariffs on low income households. We expect the results of this work towards the end of 2006.
Householders in metered properties may be eligible for assistance under the Vulnerable Groups Regulations 1999 if:
they receive certain income related benefits, and either
have, or have a dependant who lives with, a medical condition requiring additional use of water, or
have three or more children.
If eligible, a household’s water bill will be capped at the average for that region.
Water Companies
Lyn Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what percentage of annual turnover is the maximum fine that Ofwat may impose on a water utility company. [93977]
Ian Pearson: Section 48 of the Water Act 2003 provides enforcement authorities (the Secretary of State, the National Assembly for Wales and Ofwat) with powers to impose civil financial penalties on water and sewerage companies for certain breaches and contraventions.
Under this Act Ofwat is able to fine companies up to 10 per cent. of their annual turnover. Any financial penalty is paid into the Treasury’s consolidated fund.
Foreign and Commonwealth Office
Afghanistan
Mr. Harper: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what assessment has been made of the level of interdependence between the (a) illicit and (b) legitimate economy in Afghanistan. [92902]
Dr. Howells: A number of studies have investigated the linkages between the illicit and the legal economies in Afghanistan. The World Bank Country Economic Report "Afghanistan: State Building, Sustaining Growth and Reducing Poverty" and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Selected Issues Paper 2006: "Macroeconomic Impact of the Drug Economy and Counter-Narcotics Efforts" suggest that the opium economy is a major source of investment in durable goods, housing, construction and trade. Income generated in the illicit sector fuels higher consumption (spending) in the economy, creating more demand for locally produced goods and imports. However, they also emphasise that the negative effects of the opium economy—insecurity, diminished respect for the rule of law and weak state institutions—undermine the investment climate and reduce the prospects for equitable and sustained growth. Furthermore, a large part of the income generated by exporting opium is invested abroad by traffickers, which is effectively ‘capital flight’ out of the country. The IMF and the World Bank conclude that, in economic terms, the drug trade causes more damage than benefit to the Afghan economy. It is worth noting since 2002 the growth of the licit sector at double digit rates has meant that opium as a share of total economic activity has declined from nearly 40 per cent. to just over 25 per cent.
Mr. Clifton-Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what infrastructure projects and improvements to public services have been implemented since the British involvement in Afghanistan began in 2001. [93854]
Hilary Benn: I have been asked to reply.
Since 2001, DFID has spent over £390 million on reconstruction and development in Afghanistan. Over this period there has been real progress. Regarding infrastructure, major road rehabilitation is connecting major urban centres and Afghanistan with its neighbours. Reliable electricity supply is being restored. The telecommunications sector is growing fast, connecting businesses and people in Afghanistan. Public services are also improving. There are now 60 per cent. more functioning health clinics, 35,000 lives have been saved from routine immunisations, 6 million children have returned to school, over a third of them girls, and 13,000 girls' and boys' primary and secondary schools have been built. Over 60,000 police have been trained over this period.
DFID contributes a large proportion of its support through the Government budget. In 2006-07 75 per cent. of our £102 million budget will be channelled in this way. This helps the Government implement their own infrastructure and public service plans. DFID also specifically supports the National Rural Access Programme (£18 million) which is helping to build essential infrastructure such as irrigation schemes, roads and bridges. Under this programme nearly 8,000 km of roads have been built or repaired, as well as schools, health clinics and water schemes. The programme has also generated over 13 million days of labour. Additionally, DFID support for the National Solidarity Programme (£17 million) is helping local communities through elected Community Development Councils (CDCs) to identify
what development is most needed in their areas and then receive grants to undertake their work. The programme has funded over 17,000 projects in the areas of agriculture, education, health, irrigation, power supply, transport and water supply.
Mr. Clifton-Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what her assessment is of the effectiveness of international training and recruitment programmes for Afghan (a) police and (b) soldiers. [93952]
Dr. Howells: Germany has been leading efforts to train and reform the Afghan National Police with assistance from the US. Since August 2002, there have been some considerable achievements. Over 50,000 police of all ranks and branches have been trained at the re-established Police Academy and at five regional training centres. A pay and rank review is under way, aiming to reduce the current top-heavy structure and raise police salaries in order to attract the best candidates. An international conference on border management and police was co-hosted by Afghanistan and Germany in Qatar in February. It endorsed the finding that replenishment of the Law and Order Trust Fund, used to partly fund police salaries, was critical to the success of police pay and rank reform. We support this finding and the valuable work that the international community, in particular Germany and the US, are putting into police training and reform.
The Afghan National Army has been built almost from scratch since 2001 and we are still in early stages of training and mentoring. Nevertheless, there has been good progress on the training of soldiers: over 28,000 Afghan troops have now been recruited and trained at the Kabul Military Training Centre. The Afghan Minister for Defence recently announced that the five Regional Commands are now operational and there are now 34,000 soldiers, NCOs and officers in the Afghan National Army (ANA). Already the ANA is regularly contributing to resolving conflicts in the UK sectors and we will continue to work closely with it to build its capacity.
Nick Harvey: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what (a) financial assistance and (b) advice is given by the Government to the Ministry of Women's Affairs in Afghanistan. [94446]
Dr. Howells: The Government give no direct financial or advisory support to the Ministry of Women's Affairs in Afghanistan. The UK is working with other international donors to support the Afghan Government to define their development strategy for the next five years (the Afghan National Development Strategy). Gender equality is a key theme and the UK is actively working to ensure gender equality issues are fully integrated into the strategy's benchmarks and outputs. Separately, the UK provides £2.25 million in funding for seven projects aimed at improving gender equality throughout Afghanistan. These include the BBC World Service's Pashtun Service Woman's Hour Programme, Womankind's Women Empowerment Programme and ActionAid's Afghan Women Programme.
Nick Harvey: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what steps officials in her Department have taken to promote the representation of women on community development councils in Afghanistan. [94447]
Hilary Benn: I have been asked to reply.
A review of the Afghan Government National Solidarity Programme (NSP) assessed in detail women’s inclusion in the Community Development Councils (CDCs) that had been established under the programme. The review found that to date there had been insufficient women’s participation in the processes of community decision-making and project implementation, and limited allocation of project funds for women. Slow progress in the area of women's participation was attributed mainly to cultural opposition. In some cases only small and unsustainable projects for women were accepted by the communities. However, gradual change is occurring as the NSP gains community acceptance.
In response to the review, DFID has endorsed the recommendation for more effort to be placed on improving women’s participation, but this has to be done gradually to ensure communities do not respond negatively. DFID has also endorsed the recommendation that, where necessary, female-only CDCs can be created. Those female-only CDCs that have already been established have become a forum for discussion on other relevant issues (health, domestic violence, literacy, etc.) that women could not discuss openly before in some mixed gender CDCs.
One case highlighted in a forthcoming DFID publication of a success story in Afghanistan is that of Aqilah Jan, who is a chair of the CDC in Ghor Province. She believes in the three years since the CDCs started, there have been many changes for women. Many girls are encouraged to go to school and five women are in the CDC and four in the Provincial Council.
Mr. Malins: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how she expects the level of opium production in Afghanistan to change in the next 12 months. [94970]
Dr. Howells: The planting season will begin in the south and east of Afghanistan in the next few weeks. Farmers' decisions on whether or not to plant opium poppy are complex. Economic factors are the main incentive but other factors such as insecurity and weak governance also play a role. While there was a significant increase in the total poppy production this year, in areas of Afghanistan where access to governance, security and development has improved, reductions achieved in 2005 were sustained and in some cases improved upon.
The Government of Afghanistan are undertaking an extensive pre-planting information campaign to dissuade fanners from growing poppy. It is, however, too early to predict the levels of production for next year.
Bangladesh
Harry Cohen: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what assessment she has made of the operation of immunity from prosecution for certain sectors of society, including parts of the armed forces, in Bangladesh; and if she will make a statement. [94888]
Dr. Howells: We understand that subsequent to “Operation Clean Heart”, a joint operation carried out by the Bangladeshi Army together with other security forces in 2002, constitutional immunity was enacted retrospectively, in relation to a significant number of deaths in custody. We support the right of the Bangladeshi Government to take legitimate measures to maintain law and order, but impunity in the law enforcement and security forces remains an issue of serious concern. The Rapid Action Battalion, a joint civilian/military unit that has wide Bangladeshi Government and public support, continues to be involved in “cross-fire” incidents which have often resulted in the death of suspects being apprehended.
We expect all law enforcement agencies to abide by the rule of law at all times. The Government are working with the Government of Bangladesh to help address the general issue of over-aggressive behaviour by the Bangladeshi police. The Department for International Development will contribute £5 million over three years to a UN Development Programme project which aims to review and modernise the police training curricula. In February, the UK funded a programme of Ethical Investigation Training sessions around the country on policing in line with international human rights norms.
We have made it clear in our contacts with the Government and Opposition in Bangladesh that there is no room for political violence in a democracy, and that we will be monitoring the role of the police and that of the military carefully during the election period.
Cyprus
Mr. Dismore: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent contact the British high commission in Cyprus has had with Turkish Cypriots living in the south of Cyprus; and if she will make a statement. [95204]
Mr. Hoon: While our high commission in Nicosia monitors the situation of Turkish Cypriots living in southern Cyprus, the regularity of contact has decreased since the opening of the Green Line. Freedom of movement across the island has now greatly increased, with over 10 million crossings since its opening in 2003, granting greater access to these communities by Turkish Cypriots in northern Cyprus. None the less, our high commission in Nicosia maintains contact with Cypriot civil society south of the Green Line, including Turkish Cypriots.
Mr. Dismore: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs when the British high commission in Cyprus last visited enclaved Greek Cypriots living in the (a) north of Cyprus and (b) Karpas Peninsula; and if she will make a statement. [95205]
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