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23 Oct 2006 : Column 1545W—continued
Angola
Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what assessment he has made of the effect on Angola of ending World Food Programme operations there. [95342]
Hilary Benn: Since 2002, when the conflict ended, the World Food Programme (WFP) has provided humanitarian support to Angola. This has covered a range of activities, including feeding operations, re-building infrastructure to enable access to remote regions with populations in need, and providing passenger air transport service for the humanitarian community. Last year, DFID provided over £1 million to WFP to support these activities in Angola.
The food security situation in Angola has improved significantly since 2002. WFP’s operations are scheduled to end by early 2007, with WFP retaining a residual presence for capacity building and monitoring for the remainder of the year.
DFID’s assessment is that Angola’s short-term humanitarian needs are much less significant than the levels of chronic poverty that make hunger a long-term problem in the country. Mortality rates in Angola are driven more by inadequate water, sanitation and health care than by food supply shortages. This is the situation for many countries in the region.
DFID is already providing substantial support in these areas through a £3.5 million grant to UNICEF’s operation in Angola.
Over the next three years, DFID will provide at least £7.5 million to support WFP’s preparedness for, and ability to respond, to humanitarian crises. This is over and above any contribution we will make to individual WFP appeals. This will complement the work we are already doing in the Southern African region to improve food security information systems, so that we can respond quickly and appropriately to hunger needs.
DFID will continue to carefully monitor the food security situation in Angola.
Departmental Expenditure
David T.C. Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how much his Department spent on organising and hosting conferences in the last 12 months. [93097]
Mr. Thomas: Conferences are organised and paid for (through a combination of sole and joint funding arrangements) by divisions throughout the Department. The information relating to each conference could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
Direct Budget Support
Helen Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what assessment he has made of the number of staff required to carry out the political analysis necessary to deliver Direct Budget Support programmes. [92776]
Mr. Thomas: Political analysis is one of a range of tasks involved in the delivery of Direct Budget Support, and is generally carried out by DFID governance advisers, working with other professional colleagues (such as livelihoods and social development advisers), the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, experts from other donors and developing country partners.
DFID's regional divisions make their own assessments of the balance of different professional disciplines required to deliver their programmes, within overall staffing ceilings set corporately. We use a strategic workforce planning process to ensure that DFID recruits and retains the right mix of staff to meet operational needs.
To meet the growing demand for governance work DFID has increased the number of governance advisers. There are currently over 120 in post, the majority of them on operational programmes. 19 are currently in African countries in receipt of budget support.
Iraq
Harry Cohen: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what support his Department gives to orphans in Iraq; and if he will make a statement. [95323]
Hilary Benn: Although there are no reliable statistics for the number of orphans in the country, USAID report that there are 5,000 orphans in Baghdad alone.
DFID support to orphans has been through our Civil Society Service Fund (CSF), worth £5 million over two years, which focuses on strengthening the capacity of Iraqi civil society organisations to better address the needs of poor and vulnerable groups, especially women and young people. We have, for example, funded a project which provides support to widow-headed households and orphans in central Iraq.
In addition, DFID has made a £30 million contribution to the United Nations trust fund, part of which supports the activities carried out by UNICEF
to help children and vulnerable groups including orphans. Examples of UNICEFs work in Iraq include:
Supporting the Iraqi Ministry of Health to carry out measles/mumps/rubella and polio campaigns, this has reached 95 per cent. of targeted children and ensures that Iraq’s polio-free status is maintained.
In collaboration with the World Food Programme (WFP), UNICEF continues to implement the Targeted Nutrition Programme, with operates in 36 districts (population 7.2 million) with high levels of malnutrition and poverty.
UNICEF supports the promotion of rights and participation of children, with efforts to build and strengthen a protective environment for children through community-based strategic approaches.
UNICEF funds effective mine risk education programmes.
Further information on DFID’s Iraq programme can be found at:
http://www.dfid.gov.uk/countries/asia/iraq.asp
Post Conflict Reconstruction Unit
Mark Simmonds: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what the role is of the Post Conflict Reconstruction Unit; how much funding the unit has received in each of the last three financial years; what funding is planned for the unit in each of the next three financial years; in which countries it has been operational since its inception; and if he will make a statement. [94473]
Mr. Thomas: I refer the hon. Member to the reply the International Development Secretary gave on the role of the Post Conflict Reconstruction Unit (PCRU) on 20 July 2006, Official Report, column 577W.
The PCRU spent £1.6 million in financial year (FY) 04/05, £3.7 million in FY 05/06, and has an allocation of £10.5 million for FY 06/07 and £10.5 million in FY 07/08. Funding for FY 08/09 and FY 09/10 will be determined next year following the outcome of Comprehensive Spending Review.
The unit has been operational in the following countries since its inception:
In Afghanistan, it facilitated an assessment and plan for all of the UK's involvement in Helmand Province including activities to help achieve security, promote economic development, to help reduce the production and trafficking of illicit drugs and to assist in the creation of a provincial government that is able to plan for, and deliver, basic services. It has then provided seven staff and consultants over the last eight months, prior to the establishment of longer-term staffing arrangements by DFID and FCO, to help design and implement specific programmes including establishing a Provincial Development Council to determine priorities for the province and enhancing coordination between the Afghan army and police. They have also helped deliver quick impact programmes such as better irrigation, more reliable power supply in a hospital, protection for police facilities and extending reception of the BBC World Service Pashto Service. PCRU has also provided the majority of the staff of the Strategic Delivery Unit in the British embassy in Kabul, which monitors the impact of all UK activities
in Afghanistan and helps to ensure consistency in delivering UK's security, counter-narcotics and development objectives;
In Iraq, it is providing the team leader and key support staff for the UK-led Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) in Basra which coordinates and helps deliver UK, US and Danish assistance to the Iraqi government in the south, focusing on the Basra Province. The PRT has enabled the Basra Provincial Council identify its priorities and is helping the council turn these into specific projects in areas such as water supply and economic development, secure funding from central government and put in place the systems needed to ensure effective implementation. It has worked closely with the British military to ensure the complementarity of their quick impact projects with the priorities of the Council;
In Sudan, it is helping finance and manage a project to enable the Africa Union Mission in Sudan (AMIS) to promote the benefits of the Darfur Peace Agreement (DPA) to encourage non-signatories to join;
In Lebanon during the war, PCRU supported cross-government assessments of the emerging crisis and identification of options for the UK's involvement in Lebanon's recovery. Subsequently, it has helped the British embassy develop projects to contribute to peace building and reconstruction through seconding a member of staff, and contributed to developing proposals for British Government support to enhancing the Lebanese government's ability to bring stability to the south;
It has also provided advice on specific British security and justice sector programmes (including policing) in Yemen, Sri Lanka, the Balkans and the Occupied Territories.
Somaliland
Mark Simmonds: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how much multilateral aid the UK has given to Somaliland in each of the last five years; through which organisations it has been distributed; and if he will make a statement. [94041]
Hilary Benn: Much of the funding that DFID channels through multilaterals is not specific to Somaliland. However, we estimate that about 30-40 per cent. of the overall multilateral assistance to Somalia benefits Somaliland. The imputed UK multilateral share to Somalia is as follows:
| £ million | |||||
| EC | Other | UN | World Bank | Grand total | |
| Note: Figures for 2005 have yet to be published. | |||||
DFID’s bilateral programme to Somalia also channels some aid through multilaterals. The following is a breakdown over the last five financial years:
| £ million | ||||||
| Financial year | Other | UN | World Bank | Multilateral total | Bilateral total | Percentage of bilateral programme channelled to multilaterals |
The following are some examples of DFID’s current support to UN agencies working in Somaliland:
UNESCO Primary Textbooks Programme and a national education programme with UNICEF
UNDP’s Rule of Law and Security (RoLS) Programme
ILO’s Employment, Enterprise and Livelihoods Programme (EEL) contributing to economic growth and diversification in Somaliland
UN-Habitat’s activities to strengthen and expand urban planning and capacity building of local councils as part of the EC/UNDP-funded Somalia Urban Development Programme (SUDP)
Northern Ireland
A and E Departments
David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what percentage of people attending accident and emergency departments in Northern Ireland have presented with (a) alcohol-related conditions and (b) injuries in which alcohol was a contributory cause in each of the last three years. [95394]
Paul Goggins: Information collected centrally on the number of people attending Accident and Emergency Departments records only the total number of first and follow up attendances at each A and E Department. No detail of the condition with which patients presented is held centrally.
Information is available on the number of emergency admissions(1) to hospitals in Northern Ireland, where the primary or secondary diagnosis was an alcohol-related condition or a combination of an alcohol-related condition and an injury. The information is presented in the table, for 2003-04, 2004-05 and 2005-06 (the latest year for which data is available).
(a) The percentage of emergency admissions(1) to hospitals in Northern Ireland, where the primary or secondary diagnosis was an alcohol-related condition.
(1 )Discharges and Deaths are used as an approximation to admissions. It is possible that any individual could be admitted to hospital more than once in any year and will thus be counted more than once as an admission.
| Emergency admissions for alcohol related conditions | |
| Percentage | |
(b) The percentage of emergency admissions(1) to hospitals in Northern Ireland, where the primary or secondary diagnosis was a combination of an alcohol-related condition and an injury.
| Emergency admissions for alcohol related conditions and injuries | |
| Percentage | |
| Source: Hospital Inpatient System | |
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