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15 Jun 2007 : Column 1400W—continued
The British Embassy in Rangoon has recently provided a grant of £32,000 from the Grassroots Development Programme (GDP) fund to support seven environmental projects in Burma. The main objectives of the projects are to enhance village livelihoods through an improved management of agriculture, natural resource and agro forestry.
Departments: Official Residences
Mrs. May: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development if he will list the official ministerial residences allocated to Ministers in his Department; and what the total annual cost is of running each. [141965]
Hilary Benn: No Ministers in the Department for International Development are allocated a ministerial residence.
Developing Countries: AIDS
Mr. Evennett: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what representations he has received on the target of access to AIDS treatment for all in the developing world by 2010. [142214]
Mr. Thomas:
My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for International Development received letters on universal access by 2010 from a number of campaign groups. Members of Parliament, and members of the public in the run up to the G8 summit in Heiligendamm. The G8 reaffirmed their commitment to the goal of universal access to comprehensive HIV/AIDS prevention programmes, treatment, care
and support by 2010, and pledged to contribute $60 billion towards fighting HIV/AIDS, malaria and TB over the coming years.
G8 Commitments: Poverty Relief
Mr. David Anderson: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development if he will make a statement on progress on the 2005 G8 commitments on poverty relief. [142265]
Hilary Benn: DFID submits a regular report to Parliament detailing progress against agreed commitment milestones arising from the 2005 G8 commitments on poverty relief.
Overseas Aid
Mr. Lilley: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what factors account for the growth in his Department’s bilateral spending on grants and other aid in kind, excluding funding for partnership programme agreements and other Civil Society Organisations since 2001-02; and which institutions were the major recipients. [141283]
Mr. Thomas [holding answer 11 June 2007]: The heading “grants and other aid in kind” is used for statistical purposes to classify DFID bilateral assistance which is not covered by the main aid-type categories such as financial aid (including budget support), technical co-operation and humanitarian assistance. In addition to funding for partnership programme agreements and other civil society organisations this category will include, amongst other things, a growing proportion of DFID bilateral support which is disbursed through international institutions and multilateral organisations. This funding is additional to core contributions to these organisations which are reported separately. For example in Sudan, DFID has committed £47 million over three years to two multi-donor trust funds administered through the World Bank. But, in general, projects and programmes coded under this heading are too diverse to provide a meaningful summary or an isolated cause for the overall increase. However, DFID is in the process of reassessing the way it categorises this element of its aid programme to provide a more useful breakdown for users in future reports.
Justice
Human Rights
Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Minister of State, Ministry of Justice what plans she has to attend meetings with foreign counterparts to discuss the promotion of human rights. [141807]
Vera Baird: From time to time, the Secretary of State for Justice and Baroness Ashton meet with their foreign counterparts to discuss topics of common interest, including human rights. Ministers in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office also regularly discuss human rights issues with their counterparts. Neither the Secretary of State nor Baroness Ashton has any such meetings specifically planned at this time.
Legal Aid
Mr. Dunne: To ask the Minister of State, Ministry of Justice how many firms of solicitors who previously undertook legal aid work did not sign the new contract for legal aid work. [142714]
Vera Baird: The Legal Services Commission’s (LSC) new unified contract applies for civil legal aid providers from 1 April 2007. 2,408 of 2,531 unified contracts were signed and returned to the LSC by solicitors. This represents 95 per cent. of civil legal aid solicitors.
Legal Aid: Interpreters
Mr. Steen: To ask Minister of State, Ministry of Justice what expenditure in 2006-07 was for interpreters in the legal aid system; and what expenditure is forecast for 2007-08. [142767]
Vera Baird: The information is not available. Legal aid expenditure on interpreters forms part of the overall disbursement claimed by legal service providers and cannot be separately identified.
Members: Correspondence
Sir Gerald Kaufman: To ask the Minister of State, Ministry of Justice when she plans to reply to the letter to her dated 30 April from the right hon. Member for Manchester Gorton with regard to Mr. M. A. Raja. [142713]
Vera Baird: My right hon. Friend the Lord Chancellor replied to my right hon. Friend on 4 June and the letter was sent on 7 June. I apologise for the delay.
Northern Ireland
Departments: Freedom of Information
Mr. Wills: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what estimate he has made of the cost to his Department of monitoring the time spent processing requests for information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 for the purposes of the proposed fees regulations. [121731]
Mr. Hain: I refer my hon. Friend to the answer given on 22 February 2007, Official Report, column 866W, by the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at that time for the Department for Constitutional Affairs (now the Ministry of Justice).
District Policing Partnerships
Mr. Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what the total cost was of district policing partnerships in Northern Ireland for the year ending 31 December 2006. [141633]
Paul Goggins: The cost of District Policing Partnerships (DPPs) is not available for the year ending 31 December 2006, as information is compiled according to the financial year, 1 April to 31 March.
The cost of DPPs for the financial year ending 31 March 2007 was £3.78 million. Funding provided by NIPB was £2.8 million and funding from local councils was £0.98 million.
Immigrants
Mrs. Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what estimate he has made of the (a) number of (i) Polish, (ii) Lithuanian, (iii) Romanian, (iv) Chinese, (v) Portuguese and (vi) other foreign nationals living in Northern Ireland and (b) number of foreign nationals who arrived in Northern Ireland in each of the last five years. [142637]
Mr. Hain: This is now the responsibility of the Northern Ireland Administration.
Medicine: Education
Mr. Dodds: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what the ratio of specialty training to fixed term specialty training appointments is in each specialty in England. [134980]
Ms Rosie Winterton: I have been asked to reply.
The information requested is shown in the following table.
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