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21 Jun 2007 : Column 1978W—continued
Humanitarian Aid: Sri Lanka
Mr. Clifton-Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what recent reports he has received on the murder of aid workers in Sri Lanka; and what guidance his Department is making available for UK aid workers in Sri Lanka. [144482]
Mr. Thomas: We have received several representations from the British and Sri Lankan NGO communities about the murder of two Red Cross workers on 2 June and the deaths of 17 workers from a French NGO in August 2006. We have raised the issue of humanitarian security with the Sri Lankan Government repeatedly and pressed for the perpetrators of these appalling crimes to be brought to justice.
The UK advises British nationals, including aid workers, against all travel to the north and east of Sri Lanka. Ultimately aid workers and the agencies that employ them are responsible for their own security. Staff at the British High Commission in Colombo meet representatives of the British NGO community on a monthly basis to share information on security and other operational issues. Aid workers are also encouraged to register their presence in Sri Lanka with the British High Commission. Where appropriate, the FCO will support British nationals who are caught up in conflict, civil unrest and natural catastrophes.
Iraq: Internally Displaced Persons
Mr. Hague: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development pursuant to the answer to the hon. Member for Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk of 7 June 2007, official report, column 685W, on Iraq: internally displaced persons, what form he expects the Iraqi Government's lead role in supporting Iraqi refugees outside Iraq to take; and if he will make a statement. [143949]
Hilary Benn: The most important thing that needs to happen in Iraq is an end to the spiralling violence responsible for the deteriorating humanitarian situation and increasing levels of displacement. The Government of Iraq have put dealing with security at the top of their agenda and we will continue to support them. Furthermore, it has primary responsibility to ensure the protection of its citizens.
At the April UNHCR Conference in Geneva, the Government of Iraq made a commitment to take the lead in providing support and security for their citizens, including those who have fled the country. In the first phase, they pledged $25 million to finance the establishment of migration offices in Jordan and Syria. These offices will support vulnerable Iraqis and help alleviate the burden of the influx of refugees on host countries. We will continue to press them to step up their response to the situation and develop their policy on how best to provide assistance.
Mozambique: Health Services
John Barrett: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what support his Department has provided to health systems in each of the last five years in (a) Mozambique and (b) China; and what the (i) objectives, (ii) time scales and (iii) funding were of such programmes. [144348]
Mr. Thomas: DFID has actively supported the health systems in Mozambique for a number of years. DFID Mozambique provided support to the Technical Planning Unit within the Ministry of Health to facilitate development of a national health plan for the period 2000-05. DFID also funded the HIV/AIDS and Maternal Health Programme (2001-07) which aims to increase access to and use of good quality reproductive and sexual health services. DFID funding of the Essential Medicines programme (2000-06) aimed to improve the availability and rational use of essential medicines by strengthening procurement and distribution systems.
DFID is currently supporting the development of a Sustainable Distribution System for Insecticide Treated Nets (ITNs) for Malaria Prevention. The programme, which has a total allocated budget of £8.6 million, started in 2005 and is due to run until 2010. It builds upon the lessons learnt as a result of a pilot Malaria Prevention and Treatment project. DFID recently agreed a new five-year programme of support to the Ministry of Health for £3.7 million per annum. In 2006, DFID also signed a five-year £215 million programme of direct support to the budget of the Government of Mozambique, which helps provide additional funding for health systems. The total amount of bilateral DFID expenditure in the health sector in Mozambique is shown in the following table. This includes a notional proportion of DFID’s general budget support.
| DFID bilateral expenditure on health in Mozambique, 2002-03 to 2006-07 | |
| Expenditure (£ million) | |
| (1) Provisional. | |
DFID has been working in the health sector in China since 1999. The focus has been on helping the Chinese Government to control HIV and AIDS, increasing the detection and cure rate for people suffering from tuberculosis, and reforming the health system so that poor people receive basic health services. The total amount of bilateral DFID expenditure in the health sector in China is shown in the following table.
| DFID bilateral expenditure on health in China, 2002-03 to 2006-07 | |
| Expenditure (£ million) | |
| (1) Provisional. | |
John Barrett: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development if he will take steps to facilitate the provision of health care free at the point of access in (a) Mozambique and (b) China. [144349]
Mr. Thomas: It is for national Governments to decide their own policies in relation to user fees in health. However, because of our own UK experience and that of developing countries, DFID is committed to helping countries that want to remove charges at the point of delivery. The recent White Paper commits DFID to help partner Governments abolish user fees for basic health services and help them tackle other barriers to access, including discrimination against women.
DFID is working with the Government of China to facilitate the provision of free (or substantially subsidised by the Government) primary health care. China is formulating a major health policy to address inequity in the health system, of which free primary health care for all is likely to be an important feature. Meanwhile various health insurance programmes for urban and rural residents will be improved to provide better financial risk protection and reduce out-of-pocket payments on in-patient services.
DFID has supported China on rural and urban health and health policy capacity building since 1999. Our large and well designed pilots have provided evidence to Chinese policy makers on rural and urban health reform, which is now being used to inform the development of the new policies.
In Mozambique, services are already formally free for malaria, TB, HIV treatment, maternal health services and immunisation for children. The Government of Mozambique have already made a public commitment to look at the case for removing fees, at least for primary health care. DFID is now working closely with the Government of Mozambique to consider the practical implications of removing the remaining user fees. This includes: studying the expected implications for demand; considering how systems will need to be reinforced to support the change; and preventing illegal charging. If the Government of Mozambique make a decision to abolish more fees, DFID will support this, including through our continued financial support to the sector.
Overseas Aid: Corruption
Mr. Lilley: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development on what occasions and from whom the UK has sought the return of monies misappropriated from UK aid programmes. [140735]
Hilary Benn: DFID is committed to ensuring that its resources are used only for the purposes intended. The Department’s Anti-Fraud and Corruption Policy aims to ensure that resources lost through misappropriation are minimised, and that appropriate action is taken to recover such funds. A specialist Fraud Response Unit within DFID’s internal audit function coordinates DFID’s response to allegations of fraud and corruption, and provides support to management to strengthen systems and processes to prevent or detect future losses.
Where a loss relates to activities which are being managed on DFID’s behalf by an NGO, an international organisation or a similar partner with whom DFID has an ongoing relationship, the partner concerned will usually be required to absorb the loss and to complete delivery of the agreed development goals without additional DFID funding. Before agreeing to this course of action, DFID will first require adequate assurance that the weaknesses in the partner’s systems which allowed the losses to occur have been addressed. In other cases, the Department’s practice is normally to seek the repayment of the monies which have been misappropriated.
Where DFID cannot obtain the necessary assurance that a partner’s arrangements for preventing fraud and corruption have been strengthened, and hence that UK taxpayers’ monies will be properly safeguarded, future funding may be withheld or the relationship with the partner may be terminated.
The following table lists the cases, for the financial years 2004-05 to 2006-07 inclusive, where the UK has sought the return of monies misappropriated from UK aid programmes. This includes instances where there has been full or partial repayment to DFID of misappropriated funds, those where the partner organisation managing the activities on DFID’s behalf has absorbed the losses itself, and those where no recovery could be achieved.
During the same period, 2004-05 to 2006-07, DFID also had a smaller number of instances where misappropriation of UK funds could be proven but where effective recovery action was not practicable due to the particular circumstances of each case—for example, where the culprits could not be identified or subsequently absconded, or where the value of the loss was lower than the cost of any recovery action. For completeness, these cases are set out in the following table.
| Location | Circumstances of loss | |
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