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5 Feb 2007 : Column 623W—continued
International Development
Iraq: International Assistance
Mark Simmonds: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development (1) in how many locations in Iraq the World Food Programme has dispersed food in each of the last three years; [117868]
(2) what estimate he has made of the number of people in Iraq who have received food aid as a result of the UK's contribution to the World Food Programme in each year since 2003. [117873]
Hilary Benn: In 2003-04, we contributed £28 million to the World Food Programme (WFP) to help guarantee the distribution of monthly food entitlements to the Iraqi population. During 2003, WFP support of Iraqi led public distribution system procured and distributed 2.1 million metric tons of food, 750,000 of which was through donor contributions; 41,000 from the UK. This reached nearly 27 million people in all 18 governorates of Iraq.
In addition, we have contributed £70 million to the International Reconstruction Fund Facility for Iraq, of which £30 million was used by the UN Trust Fund to provide funding to UN agencies, including the WFP's core programmes.
Iraq: Overseas Aid
Mark Simmonds: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what estimate he has made of the number of children in Iraq who have received immunisations in each year since 2003 as a result of British aid money given to the United Nations Children's Fund. [117870]
Hilary Benn: In 2003-2004 we contributed £3.2 million to support UNICEF's emergency immunisation programmes in Iraq. By June 2003, immunisation services were available in all districts, and post war, more than 750,000 children under five years were vaccinated in catch-up campaigns. Funds enabled health teams to trace 34,000 immunisation drop-out children in Basra, Dhi Qar and Muthanna governorates. This helped UNICEF to prevent an outbreak of measles across Southern Iraq towards the end of 2003.
In addition, we have contributed £70 million to the International Reconstruction Fund Facility for Iraq, of which £30 million was used by the UN Trust Fund to provide funding to UN agencies, including UNICEF's core programmes. Since 2003, UNICEF programmes (undertaken by the Iraq Ministry of Health with the assistance of US AID and WHO) have supported eight immunisation rounds, with each covering on average 4.7 million children under five years of age. Measles control activities have also been effectively implemented, with a 91 per cent. reduction in reported cases in 2005 and the first seven months of 2006 compared with 2004. Iraq is polio free for the sixth consecutive year.
Immunisation coverage in Iraq rose from 60 per cent. in 2003 to 83 per cent. in 2005, largely owing to UNICEF (and World Health Organisation) programmes. Figures are not available for the numbers of children vaccinated on an annual basis.
Mark Simmonds: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how much his Department has channelled through the (a) Red Cross, (b) World Food Programme, (c) United Nations Children's Fund and (d) World Health Organisation to be spent in Iraq in each year since 2003. [117871]
Hilary Benn: We have channelled the following contributions to the Red Cross, World Food Programme, United Nations Children's Fund and the World Health Organisation for Iraq:
| £ | |||||
| 2002-03 | 2003-04 | 2004-05 | 2005-06 | 2006-07 | |
In 2004, we also contributed £30 million to the United Nations International Trust Fund for Iraq.
Iraq: Refugees
Hugh Bayley: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how many Iraqi refugees there are in (a) Egypt, (b) Lebanon and (c) each state bordering Iraq; how much the Government have allocated for assisting these refugees in 2006-07; if the Government will increase the money allocated for this purpose; and if he will make a statement. [117885]
Hilary Benn: We are very concerned at the increasing numbers of people displaced owing to sectarian violence in Iraq.
UNHCR estimates the total number of Iraqi refugees living in neighbouring countries to have risen to 1.8 million, including 25,000 to 40,000 in Lebanon, 700,000 in Jordan, up to 1,000,000 in Syria, 100,000 in Egypt, 16,000 in Turkey and 54,000 in Iran. UNHCR reporting does not give estimates for Kuwait or Saudi Arabia.
We recently announced a £4 million contribution to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to provide emergency assistance—including water, medical supplies and rehabilitation of health infrastructure for vulnerable people, including internally displaced people (IDPs) inside Iraq. We are also considering UNHCR's appeal, which includes help to refugees in neighbouring countries. This brings our total humanitarian contribution for Iraq to over £120 million since 2003. Additionally, DFID provided £70 million to the International Reconstruction Fund Facility for Iraq (IRFFI), which provides support to internally displaced persons through UN agencies.
Above all the first priority of the Iraqi Government must be to end the violence that is causing this situation, with the support of the international community and the region.
Prime Minister
Lord Levy
Mr. Vara: To ask the Prime Minister on what dates he met Lord Levy, his personal representative to the Middle East, in the last six months; and what was discussed at each meeting. [118559]
The Prime Minister: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave the hon. Member for Peterborough (Mr. Jackson) on 14 July 2006, Official Report, column 2093W.
Mohammed Dahlan
Dr. Starkey: To ask the Prime Minister on how many occasions since 2004 (a) he and (b) officials in his Department met Mohammed Dahlan; and where and when each meeting took place. [117942]
The Prime Minister: During my visit to the middle east in December 2006 Mohammed Dahlan took part in a meeting I held with President Abbas and other senior Palestinian officials. Officials from my Office also met Mr. Dahlan in London in April 2004, and in Ramallah in January 2005.
I also refer my hon. Friend to the press conference I held with President Abbas on 18 December 2006 (http://www.pm.gov.uk/output/Pagel0648.asp). A transcript of this is available on the No. 10 website and a copy has been placed in the Library of the House.
Leader of the House
Future Business
23. Jo Swinson: To ask the Leader of the House if he will ask the Select Committee on the Modernisation of the House to consider the merits of publishing the provisional business of the House more than two weeks in advance. [118068]
Nigel Griffiths: My right hon. Friend the Leader of the House, who chairs the Modernisation Committee, has no plans to ask the Committee to look at this matter. The period of notice for the announcement of future business was extended from one week to two weeks in 1995. It would be difficult to give longer notice than this.
Parliamentary Questions
24. Mr. Bone: To ask the Leader of the House if he will bring forward proposals for part of each oral question session to be made available for questions without notice. [118069]
Nigel Griffiths: This is an idea of which my right hon. Friend is aware and on which he is happy to consider representations, as on other matters. I know that the Procedure Committee has also given some attention to this issue and the hon. Member might wish to write to the right hon. Member for East Yorkshire (Mr. Knight) who chairs that Committee. There are no current plans to bring forward proposals.
Lords Reform
26. Bob Spink: To ask the Leader of the House what recent progress he has made towards a consensus on proposals for House of Lords reform. [118071]
Mr. Straw: I have been working with colleagues in all parts of both Houses over recent months as part of an intensive effort to reach a consensus on how a future House of Lords may look. I intend to bring forward a White Paper very soon, setting out the Government's proposals on composition and transition, which will take account of the recent Joint Committee on Conventions report and Parliament's response, and the on-going cross-party discussions. A free vote in both Houses on the composition of the House will then follow.
Boundary Commission
27. Mr. Mackay: To ask the Leader of the House when he expects the orders to implement the Boundary Commission proposals to be laid before the House. [118072]
Mr. Straw: I expect them to be laid on 26 February 2007.
House of Commons Commission
Bicycle Parking
25. Mary Creagh: To ask the hon. Member for North Devon, representing the House of Commons Commission, what progress is being made in providing further bicycle parking for visitors and staff on the House of Commons part of the parliamentary estate. [118070]
Nick Harvey: Discussions have taken place during the last 12 months between Metropolitan police representatives, outside security advisers and Westminster city council regarding the possibility of providing bicycle parking on the House of Commons part of the estate for visitors. It has been decided that the provision of parking on the estate for non-passholders is not currently compatible with maintaining a secure perimeter. Further discussions have taken place regarding the provision of additional bicycle parking outside in the vicinity of the estate encouraged by the All-Party Parliamentary Cycling Group. It is hoped that additional bicycle racks will be provided during the current financial year.
There are sufficient facilities to meet present demand from passholders to park their bicycles on the estate and the availability of bicycle parking spaces is kept under constant review. Last summer an exercise was undertaken to rid the cycle racks of abandoned and unused cycles.
Education and Skills
Biometric Technologies
Greg Mulholland: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills when he plans to published updated guidance to schools on the use of biometric technologies. [117440]
Jim Knight [holding answer 22 January 2007]: The Department is working with the British Educational Communications and Technology Agency which is revising its current guidance on data protection to include specific guidance on biometric technology. Becta aims to make the guidance available on its website by the end of March 2007 after consultation with the Information Commissioner’s Office.
Child Protection
Annette Brooke: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what research he has commissioned on the use of child protection registers. [117707]
Mr. Dhanda [holding answer 30 January 2007]: No research has been commissioned by the Department for Education and Skills specifically on the use of child protection registers, although some parts of the Safeguarding Children research initiative are likely to touch on the use of child protection registers and Child Protection Plans.
Departmental Staff
Dr. Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what his Department's annual budget is for employing workers on a consultancy basis; and how much of this budget has been used in each of the last five years for which records are available. [103020]
Alan Johnson: The Department for Education and Skills does not hold centrally set annual budgets for employing workers on a consultancy basis. Consultancy costs are met from the wider budgets for the services or programmes to which they contribute. However, the Department spent the following sums from administration costs on consultancy in the last five years:
| Amount (£ million) | |
The costs of consultancy charged to programmes budgets before November 2004 were not recorded centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost. The total cost of consultancy charged to programmes from November 2004 to March 2005 was £4.4 million and for the whole of 2005-06 was £18 million. A further £9.5 million in November 2004 to March 2005 and £8 million in 2005-06 was spent on other external expert advisers on education and children's matters to assist with policy implementation and delivery.
Education Funding: Chorley
Mr. Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how much central Government allocated for education in Chorley’s local authority area in the most recent year for which figures are available. [110544]
Jim Knight: The Chorley constituency falls within the local authority area of Lancashire and the information supplied is the level of funding which applies to all of Lancashire. In 2006-07 Lancashire local authority received a Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG) allocation of £606.9 million and revenue grants of £114.9 million—a total of £721.8 million to fund the education of nursery, primary and secondary school aged pupils.
The Learning and Skills Council (LSC) took responsibility for funding of school sixth forms in April 2002. In 2006-07, the total funding allocation for school sixth forms in Lancashire local authority was £25.2 million.
The LSC is responsible for funding post-16 education and training more widely, so in addition to the funding for school sixth forms the LSC also funds colleges and other providers to deliver further education and training to young people and adults in the Lancashire local authority area. This can include funding the local authority itself when it is offering FE provision in line with Government priorities. My Department does not hold information on individual providers’ funding allocations, however funding allocations for 2005/06 can be found at the following link:
http://readingroom.lsc.gov.uk/lsc/2005/funding/streams/fe-2005-06-allocations-at-26-july.xls
A copy of this document has been placed in the House Library.
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