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23 Nov 2006 : Column 188W—continued
On 17 November the Central Emergency Fund of the UN (CERF) announced contributions of $3.3 million for Somalia, and $11.8 million for Kenya. This is in addition to grants of $3 million made in October for flood relief in Ethiopia. The UK is the largest contributor to the CERF and was instrumental in its establishment. These latest contributions are an encouraging sign that it is beginning to improve UN emergency response.
We continue to monitor the situation closely and are prepared to provide further assistance if necessary.
Aid Statistics
Mr. Lilley: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development if the £8.5 billion funding announced by the Chancellor of the Exchequer on 10 April 2006 to help fund education in the developing world will be used exclusively to finance schools owned and run by national governments. [101165]
Hilary Benn: A significant proportion of our funding will contribute towards the development and implementation of 10 year education sector plans, which will mainly focus on investment in schools, including recruiting and training more teachers, getting more pupils—including girls and disadvantaged children—into and completing school, and improving the quality of education. Whether the schools supported are run by governments or include private and voluntary sector schools depends on the countries’ individual plans.
We also encourage the involvement of civil society in developing national education policies, and provide financial assistance to UK non governmental organisations through Public Partnership Agreements, and to both international and local non-governmental organisations, through support from country programmes.
DFID also supports the Education for All Fast Track Initiative (FTI) as it has the potential to provide a pivotal role in achieving universal primary education by 2015. We have committed £150 million to the FTI. DFID will also continue to provide support for education through our partnership with United Nations agencies such as UNESCO and UNICEF and through the UK share of European Community support to education.
DF1D supports a number of schemes to develop capacity in countries to ensure growth and development, including investment in secondary, tertiary and vocational education and lifelong learning and skills. These include the Development Partnerships in Higher Education programme (£15 million from 2006-13) and Scholarship programmes (£14 million per year).
Cluster Munitions
Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what discussions he has had with (a) the Ministry of Defence and (b) the Foreign and Commonwealth Office on the UK’s approach to the use of cluster munitions at the Convention on Conventional Weapons Review. [101413]
Hilary Benn: In advance of the Review Conference on the Convention of Conventional Weapons (CCW) ministers from DFID, FCO and the Ministry of Defence agreed that the UK should play a leading role in pushing for an international commitment to end the use of “dumb” cluster munitions (ie. broadly characterised as having numerous sub-munitions but without a target discrimination capability and self-destruct or self-deactivation mechanism), phasing out the use of the UK’s own dumb munitions, and pressing the military forces of all countries to adhere to their responsibilities under international humanitarian law.
We also agreed that before we can achieve an international agreement on banning dumb cluster munitions, there are a number of uncertainties, including specific definitions, that experts will need to resolve. At the CCW Review Conference we secured agreement for a group of governmental experts to look at these issues, including existing International Humanitarian Law and the reliability of cluster munitions, reporting back to the next meeting of States Parties in November 2007. The process will include the main users and producers of cluster munitions and is an essential preliminary step towards any negotiations on a new and legally binding protocol which could restrict the manufacture, stockpiling, use and transfer of those cluster munitions which are of greatest humanitarian concern.
Departmental Costs
Ben Chapman: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what his Department’s (a) salary, (b) accommodation and (c) travel and other staff costs were in each of the last 10 years. [101341]
Mr. Thomas: Figures for salary, accommodation, travel and other staff costs for the years for which information is readily available are shown in following table.
| £000 | |||
| (a) Salary | (b)Accommodation | (c)Travel and other staff costs | |
| Notes: (a) Staff costs include wages and salaries, social security costs and other pension costs for permanently employed staff in the UK and overseas, Ministers, Special Advisors and “other”, which include costs for seconded officers and those on fixed term contracts. (b) Accommodation costs include rent, rates, utilities and maintenance costs. (c) The figures for travel reflect all domestic and overseas travel for Ministers, Advisers and Officials, which include the costs of accommodation and subsistence. Other staff costs include costs for training, transfer costs, overseas allowances, boarding school allowances, team recognition fund and uniforms. | |||
Earthquake Reconstruction
Mr. Harper: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development whether the increase in development aid announced on 19 November includes the £9 million pledge for earthquake reconstruction which was made in October. [102463]
Mr. Thomas: The doubling of our development assistance for Pakistan that was announced on 19 November is separate from the support we are providing for post-earthquake relief and reconstruction. Our earthquake support totals some £124 million, to meet extraordinary circumstances following a disaster in which over 70,000 people were killed.
Middle East
Mr. Kidney: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what progress has been made in conflict-affected areas of Israel and Lebanon on rebuilding communities. [101872]
Hilary Benn: In Lebanon, some progress has been made in rebuilding communities. As of 21 November, 73 villages in the south have received financial assistance (21 per cent. of total) and this process should be complete by the end of January 2007. The Jieh power station is being rehabilitated and 100 per cent. of all transmission lines have been repaired. 575 damaged schools have been rehabilitated. Six of the 24 destroyed bridges have been fully repaired and detours have been built around all other bridge locations. DFID provided six temporary bridges to the Lebanese authorities to help improve humanitarian access. 68 per cent. (1.7 million cubic metres) of rubble has been cleared. One of the most difficult problems is danger to civilians from unexploded bombs. So far over 16 per cent. (31.5 sq km) of land affected by unexploded ordnance has been cleared, supported by a DFID contribution of £1.5 million.
Israel has not asked for assistance from the UK, nor, to our understanding, from any other country. Residents returned rapidly to their homes after the ceasefire and our understanding is that the Government are providing compensation to those families who suffered damages. The Israel Emergency Campaign of the United Jewish Communities/federation system has raised nearly $330 million to help the most vulnerable Israeli communities in the north. For example it has made allocations for emergency small business grants, for school supplies for families living with financial hardship, and for school-readiness programs to help pupils return to normalcy before the start of the school year.
Pakistan
Mr. Harper: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development which programmes will be funded by the expenditure planned for the extra development aid in Pakistan he announced on 19 November; and from which sources the additional funding will be derived. [102462]
Mr. Thomas:
We will set out our priorities for the increased aid allocation in a new Country Assistance Plan (CAP) for Pakistan. DFID officials are now preparing for the consultation process. We will seek as wide a variety of views as possible and ensure they are fed into our CAP thinking and planning. The Government of Pakistan has made progress in fighting extreme poverty and hunger but very real needs
remain. One in 10 children die before their fifth birthday; around eight million children do not go to school; approximately 50 per cent. of the adult population are illiterate, two thirds of whom are women; and at the last count, some 38 million were living below the poverty line in 2005.
At the G8 conference in 2005 the UK made a commitment to increase its aid budget to 0.7 per cent. of national income by 2013. This rise in DFID’s budget will enable us to increase our spending in those countries which need it most, including Pakistan, in order to help them to meet the Millennium Development Goals.
Sierra Leone
Harry Cohen: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what estimate he has made of (a) average life expectancy in Sierra Leone and (b) changes in life expectancy over the past five years. [103573]
Hilary Benn: According to the world development indicators, life expectancy at birth in Sierra Leone was 40 years in 2000. The latest data are for 2004 and show life expectancy at birth at 41 years.
Northern Ireland
Bonus Payments
Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how much was paid in bonuses to civil servants in his Department each year since 2001-02; and how many civil servants received bonuses in each year. [101040]
Paul Goggins: The information requested is set out in the table and comprises bonuses paid under the special bonus scheme, and the performance management arrangements for all NIO staff at senior civil service (SCS) level and below.
| Number of staff received bonus | Total amount of bonuses (£) | |
The Northern Ireland Office established a non consolidated bonus pot to reward performance in the 2003-04 reporting year for staff below SCS. In 2003-04 and 2004-05 it rewarded three levels of performance. In 2005-06 the scheme was amended and is now targeted at exceptional performance.
These bonuses are non-consolidated and non-pensionable and therefore do not have associated future costs for pay bill.
Dr. Cable:
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many staff in his Department received bonus payments in each of the last five years for which information is available; what proportion of the total
workforce they represented; what the total amount of bonuses paid has been; what the largest single payment was in each year; and if he will make a statement. [100634]
Paul Goggins: The information requested is set out in the following table and comprises bonuses paid under the Special Bonus Scheme, and the performance management arrangements for all NIO staff at Senior Civil Service (SCS) level and below:
| Number of staff received bonus | Proportion of total workforce | Total amount of bonuses (£) | Largest single payment (£) | |
The Northern Ireland Office established a non-consolidated bonus pot to reward performance in the 2003-04 reporting year for staff below SCS. In 2003-04 and 2004-05 it rewarded three levels of performance. In 2005-06 the scheme was amended and is now targeted at exceptional performance.
These bonuses are non-consolidated and non-pensionable and therefore do not have associated future costs for paybill.
Careers Guidance
Dr. Alasdair McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many graduates of the Postgraduate Diploma in Careers Guidance have found employment as career advisers in Northern Ireland. [101810]
Maria Eagle: The Postgraduate Diploma in Careers Guidance commenced at the university of Ulster in 2002. The Department for Employment and Learning (DEL) seconded 20 existing members of staff (Trainee Careers Advisers) to undertake the diploma in 2002-03. All 20 were employed in the DEL Careers Service as Careers Advisers on completion of the course. In addition the Department has recruited a further 12 graduates from the programme since its inception.
The number of graduates of the Postgraduate Diploma in Careers Guidance who found employment as Careers Advisers with other organisations in Northern Ireland is not recorded.
Dr. Alasdair McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how much has been spent by the Department for Employment and Learning on the Diploma in Careers Guidance in each year since its introduction. [101818]
Maria Eagle: The Department for Employment and Learning’s (DEL) Careers Service entered into partnership with the university of Ulster (UU) to deliver the Qualification in Careers Guidance (QCG) in September 2002.
In 2002-03 DEL sponsored 20 staff and provided an additional 10 bursaries amounting to £211,940.
In 2003-04 16 bursaries were awarded at a cost of £98,710.
In 2004-05 19 bursaries were awarded at a cost of £120,020.
In 2005-06 fees and travel expenses were paid in respect of six existing Careers Advisers completing four modules of the course to supplement existing qualifications. The total paid was £26,760.
There is no financial commitment by the Department in 2006-07.
Dr. Alasdair McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many employees in the Department for Employment and Learning completed the Postgraduate Diploma in Careers Guidance in each year since its inception. [101853]
Maria Eagle: 20 employees of the Department for Employment and Learning completed the Postgraduate Diploma in Careers Guidance (QCG) in the first year of the course (2002-03). A further six employees completed four modules of the course during 2005-06.
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