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4 Jun 2007 : Column 46W—continued

Policy Review

Mrs. May: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster what the budget is of each of the Policy Review Working Groups. [139562]

Hilary Armstrong: I refer the hon. Member to the reply I gave to the hon. Member for Fareham (Mr. Hoban) on 14 May 2007, Official Report, column 543W.

Unidentified Flying Objects

Norman Baker: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster whether the Defence and Overseas Secretariat received a copy of the Government's Unidentified Aerial Phenomena report. [139719]

Hilary Armstrong: The Defence and Overseas Secretariat has no record of receiving such a report.

V

Greg Clark: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster how she will assess the effectiveness of Government funding for the v charity. [139721]

Edward Miliband: The independent charity v has made good progress since it was created in May 2006. So far, it has created over 110,000 volunteering opportunities for young people through projects in partnerships with the third, public and private sectors.

The Government assess the effectiveness of the funding provided to v against the recommendations of the Russell Commission report and through regular meetings between v and the Office of the Third Sector which monitor the progress of the charity's work.

Scotland

Departments: Consultants

Mrs. May: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, if he will list the outside (a) agencies and (b) consultancies which are undertaking work commissioned by his Department; and what the (i) purpose and (ii) cost is of each commission. [138449]

David Cairns: There are no agencies or consultancies currently undertaking work commissioned by this Office.


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Departments: Data Protection

Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, how many times his Department was found to have been in breach of the Data Protection Act 1998 in each of the last five years; and if he will make a statement. [139220]

David Cairns: In the last five years the Scotland Office has not been found to be in breach of the Data Protection Act 1998.

Departments: Property

Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, how much was raised from the sale of departmental property in each of the last five years. [139303]

David Cairns: The Scotland Office does not own any properties.

Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, what properties the Department (a) owned and (b) rented in each of the last five years. [139349]

David Cairns: The Scotland Office does not own any properties. The Office rents two properties located at 1 Melville Crescent, Edinburgh and Dover House, Whitehall, London.

Departments: Public Relations

Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, how much was spent by his Department on public relations in each of the last five years. [139421]

David Cairns: The Scotland Office has incurred no expenditure on public relations in the last five years.

Public Accounts Commission

Departments: Legal Costs

Grant Shapps: To ask the Chairman of the Public Accounts Commission how much was spent by the Commission on legal fees in each of the last five years. [139393]

Mr. Alan Williams: Nothing.

International Development

Asia: Overseas Aid

Mr. Andrew Mitchell: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what his Department's total direct expenditure in (a) China, (b) Vietnam and (c) Burma was in each of the last five years; and what it is projected to be in each of the next three years. [139650]

Mr. Thomas: The total DFID direct bilateral expenditure in each of the last five financial years is set
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out in Table 1 as follows, alongside projections for 2007-08. Projections beyond 2007-08 will not be available until the Comprehensive Spending Review is concluded later this year.

Table 1: DFID direct bilateral expenditure
£000
China Vietnam Burma

2002-03

41,546

18,508

7,020

Outturn

2003-04

32,255

23,264

3,720

Outturn

2004-05

35,876

40,425

6,008

Outturn

2005-06

34,744

57,502

6,483

Outturn

2006-07

38,200

50,000

8,000

Estimated outturn

2007-08

33,400

50,000

8,000

Projection


Burundi: Schools

Mark Pritchard: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what discussions he has had with the Government of Burundi on the reintroduction of confessional schools in Burundi. [139028]

Hilary Benn: We recognise the important work done by faith-based organisations all over the world in delivering aid and development. Many play a strong part in education, through partnerships with national governments. In Burundi, we are working together with other donors to develop and support the Government of Burundi's national education sector strategy. Faith-based schools are included in the strategy, which will support all children to access quality primary education. Individual faith-based organisations have been involved in its design. We are working with our partners to encourage them to join together in a formal coordination body to strengthen their contribution.

Departments: Advertising

Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development (1) which (a) advertising agencies and (b) other organisations supplied consultancy services for advertising campaigns for (i) his Department and (ii) its agencies in each of the last five years; and what the cost of these services was; [139438]

(2) how much was spent on advertising by his Department in each of the last five years. [139534]

Mr. Thomas: DFID has not used advertising agencies in the last five years. DFID has used the Central Office of Information (COI) to source services for promotional campaigns.

Spend on promotional campaigns since January 2002 is listed as follows. In all cases this includes design and production of materials, and other promotional services. To disaggregate advertising direct spend would incur disproportionate cost.

All costs are inclusive of VAT:

(i) Developments Magazine and Rough Guide Campaign (2005)


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(ii) Trade Matters Campaign (late 2005-early 2006)

(iii) Developments Magazine Campaign (2006)

(iv) Third White Paper on International Development (2006)

(v) G8 Gleneagles—One year on (2006)

DFID places recruitment and procurement advertisements in print media using Barkers Advertising and Marketing Agency. There is no direct cost to DFID for their services.

DFID has no Executive agencies.

Departments: Data Protection

Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how many times his Department was found to have been in breach of the Data Protection Act 1998 in each of the last five years; and if he will make a statement. [139215]

Mr. Thomas: The definition of ‘found to have been in breach’ can be broad. Depending on their nature, breaches by Government Departments of the Data Protection Act 1998 can be dealt with by the Information Commissioner, by the courts or by Departments at an informal local level. The information requested is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Departments: Epilepsy

Mr. Hurd: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how many people with epilepsy are employed by his Department; and if he will make a statement. [139108]

Mr. Thomas: Figures for the number of staff with epilepsy employed by DFID are not available, as we do not collect detailed information on the nature of disabilities declared by staff. DFID currently has 57 UK-based staff who have declared disabilities. DFID actively encourages staff to declare any disability in line with Cabinet Office guidelines and categories.

Departments: Legal Costs

Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how much was spent by his Department on legal fees in each of the last five years. [139400]


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Mr. Thomas: DFID obtains its legal advice from three main sources—the Treasury Solicitor's Department, FCO Legal Advisers and Crown Agents Legal Advisers, which we and the Cabinet Office regard as in-house legal advisers—and very rarely uses external legal advisers in the UK. The costs set out in the table relate to legal advice provided on a UK property issue and represent our best data without incurring disproportionate cost.

Cost of legal advice (£)

2005-06

7,678

2006-07

13,458


Our overseas offices may obtain advice from local legal advisers on a range of foreign domestic issues, from foreign accommodation leases to local employment law. Information on these costs could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.

Departments: Public Relations

Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how much was spent by his Department on public relations in each of the last five years. [139427]

Mr. Thomas: The Department for International Development (DFID) has only issued one public relations contract in the last five years. This covered the period of November 2005 to March 2006, and was with Weber Shandwick to support the Asia 2015 conference and associated media relations in the UK and Asia, specifically India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nepal. The total cost including VAT was £203,918.

Departments: Recruitment

Mr. Francois: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how much his Department paid to recruitment consultants in each year since 1997. [140038]

Mr. Thomas: DFID does not make use of recruitment, search and selection agencies when recruiting staff to the home civil service.

In accordance with The Civil Service Commissioners code external appointments are made on merit on the basis of fair and open competition.

Our job advertisements are placed in the national press or specialised magazines in addition to appearing on DFID’s own website. Since 2003 all of our vacancies have also been placed on the civil service recruitment Gateway website.

Developing Countries: Environment Protection

Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what programmes promoting development through eco-tourism and environmental protection his Department has. [139556]

Mr. Thomas: DFID’s poverty reduction mandate means its primary environmental aim is to support sustainable use of natural resources, and equitable access to environmental assets for poverty reduction.
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DFID's policy paper on the environment describes our approach, and can be found at


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