Previous Section Index Home Page

5 July 2007 : Column 1163W—continued


Intellectual Property: India

Gordon Banks: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills what progress has been made on the UK/India intellectual property rights programme since its signing in 2004. [147639]

Ian Pearson: The Joint Statement of Intent was signed in June 2006. Under the JETCO (Joint Economic Trade Committee) agreement between India and the UK, we are currently developing a bilateral action plan with the Indian IPR authorities in order to put in place a technical assistance programme for Indian government officials dealing with IP.

International Development

Afghanistan: Drugs

Mr. Iain Wright: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what steps his Department is taking to discourage farmers in Afghanistan from growing opium for use in illegal drugs. [147303]

Mr. Douglas Alexander: The UK Government support the Afghan National Drug Control Strategy (NDCS) whose goal is to secure a sustainable decrease in cultivation, production, trafficking and consumption of illicit drugs, with a view to complete and sustainable elimination. The NDCS sets out four national priorities: disrupting the drugs trade by targeting traffickers and their backers; reducing the demand for illicit drugs and treatment of problem drug users; developing state institutions at the central and provincial level vital to the delivery of the overall
5 July 2007 : Column 1164W
counter-narcotics strategy; and strengthening and diversifying legal rural livelihoods that free farmers and other rural workers from dependence on poppy cultivation.

DFID has lead responsibility within HMG for delivering the fourth NDCS priority, providing £77 million from 2005-07 to support the development of legal rural livelihoods. The majority of these resources have been channelled through the Government of Afghanistan’s own National Priority Programmes. This helps to ensure that other measures designed to discourage poppy growing are effective.

There is no one single crop which will replace poppy, and therefore DFID has provided £3 million to support research into a range of alternatives including high value crops such as mint and saffron. Traditional alternatives include crops such as wheat and

onions.

But alternatives to poppy come not only in the form of different crops. They can often be non-farm activities such as clothes-making and shopkeeping. The Government of Afghanistan’s Microfinance Investment Support Facility of Afghanistan (MISFA) have provided over £133 million worth of small loans to 364,786 Afghan families to help them invest in their own licit businesses. MISFA operates in 23 provinces, including Helmand. DFID has provided £15 million to MISFA since March 2004. Nearly 75 per cent. of those receiving loans are women.

DFID also provided £18 million in 2005-06 to the Government of Afghanistan’s National Rural Access Programme (NRAP), which has so far built or repaired over 9,000 km of roads—essential for rural farmers to access markets. So far the programme has generated over 13 million days of labour for Afghans. NRAP operates in all 34 provinces.

DFID has also provided £42.6 million in total for the National Solidarity Programme (NSP) and is providing £10.6 million to roll out NSP in Helmand province (2006-09). NSP is helping elected Community Development Councils (CDCs), representing over 17,000 communities across Afghanistan, identify development priorities in their areas and then receive grants to undertake the work. This broader social development can help instil essential trust in the Government of Afghanistan among poppy farmers. NSP has funded over 28,000 projects in agriculture, education, health, irrigation, power supply, transport, and water supply. NSP currently operates in all 34 provinces.

DFID is making a contribution of £22.7 million over three years (as part of an overall UK Government contribution of £30 million) to the Government of Afghanistan’s Counter Narcotics Trust Fund. The fund is designed to bring funding for counter narcotics into the national budget, and give Afghans greater responsibility for managing the drugs problem.

Departments: Common Purpose

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how much his Department paid to Common Purpose in each of the last five years; for what purpose; and what the outcome of the expenditure was. [147605]


5 July 2007 : Column 1165W

Mr. Thomas: DFID has provided the following funding to Common Purpose in each of the last 5 years.

£

2002

35,792

2003

117,644

2004

27,897

2005

0

2006

0


This funding was provided through our Civil Society Challenge Fund in support of a three-year project in South Africa which ended in 2004.

This project provided training programmes designed to build the capacity of leaders from all sectors to undertake civic leadership and management roles more effectively.

An independent evaluation conducted in February 2005 found that the project met all its objectives.

Developing Countries

Ian Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what criteria are used to determine whether a country is a heavily indebted poor country. [146684]

Mr. Thomas: To be eligible for debt relief under the heavily indebted poor countries (HIPC) initiative, as defined by the international system, a country must:

Each heavily indebted poor country has to decide whether or not to seek debt cancellation under the HIPC initiative. Those that complete the HIPC process are granted complete cancellation of their debts to the IMF, IDA and African Development Fund under HIPC and the Multilateral Debt Relief Initiative.

Education

Mr. Willetts: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what contact his Department has had with Applied Scholastics since 1997. [147456]

Mr. Thomas: DFID staff have not had any direct contact with Applied Scholastics in the course of our support to education in developing countries since 1997.
5 July 2007 : Column 1166W

Gambia: Education

Mr. Willetts: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how much money from the public purse has been provided to the Gambian Government for education programmes (a) by the Government directly and (b) through other institutions in each year since 1997. [146939]

Mr. Thomas: DFID did not provide any aid directly to the Gambian Government for education over the period 1997-98 to 2006-07. Most aid for the education sector in Gambia is delivered in the form of technical co-operation.

UK funding to multilateral institutions cannot be directly attributed to any country or sector.

Mr. Willetts: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what assessment his Department has made of the Gambian education system's adoption of the Applied Scholastics programme. [147365]

Mr. Thomas: We have not undertaken such an assessment in the absence of a Gambian Government request for DFID to consider. We understand that the current Department of Education is much less enthusiastic about developing this approach throughout the Gambia than its predecessors.

Namibia: EU Aid

Daniel Kawczynski: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what representations he has made to the European Commission over EU aid to Namibia. [146999]

Mr. Thomas: DFID has made no representations to the European Commission regarding EU aid to Namibia.

Nepal

Helen Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development when the most recent visit took place by a Minister in his Department to Nepal; and what the outcomes were of the visit. [147134]

Mr. Malik: My hon. Friend the Member for Harrow, West (Mr. Thomas) Under-Secretary of State for International Development visited Nepal from 2 to 4 April 2007, a day after the formation of the eight-party interim government in Nepal. During the visit he met politicians from all parties, including the Maoists, representatives from excluded groups and visited DFID-funded programmes. He also had discussions with the UN Mission in Nepal.

The visit focused on the need for credible, free and fair elections, the importance of a well targeted peace dividend and improved government basic service delivery in the post conflict environment and the need for an inclusive political process. My hon. Friend also announced significant increases in UK development support including £13 million for the government-managed Peace Trust Fund and £23.5 million in multilateral debt relief for the period up to 2015.


5 July 2007 : Column 1167W

Helen Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how much aid was provided to Nepal in each of the last five years, broken down by sector; and if he will make a statement. [147135]

Mr. Malik: The total DFID bilateral expenditure to Nepal in each of the last five financial years, broken down by sector, is given in table 1 as follows:

Table 1: total DFID bilateral aid to Nepal by broad sector
£000
Broad sector 2002-03 2003-04 2004-05 2005-06 2006-07( 1)

Economic

5,828

8,406

7,228

5,283

8,939

Education

358

490

2,637

6,154

4,173

Health

5,751

5,023

5,734

8,374

9,002

Governance

3,305

2,704

3,256

2,650

2,416

Social

2,045

4,044

4,467

4,263

5,444

Humanitarian

2,362

4,495

4,218

1,133

2,161

Livelihoods

5,961

6,397

7,533

6,280

5,972

Environment

411

113

0

0

0

Unallocated(2)

1,140

376

12

52

4,725

Total

27,162

32,047

35,085

34,188

42,833

(1) Provisional data.
(2) Unallocated to sector and comprises expenditure on administration costs in-country and other projects not easily classified to an aid sector.

UK funding to multilateral institutions cannot be directly attributed to any country or broken down by sector. However, table 2 contains estimates of the UK’s imputed shares of multilateral aid to Nepal, based on the UK’s total funding to multilateral institutions and the percentage share of aid from the multilateral pool that went to Nepal. These estimates are only available on a calendar year basis.

Table 2: imputed UK share of multilateral aid to Nepal, 2001-05
£000
Imputed multilateral aid

2001

7,461

2002

2,935

2003

14,639

2004

4,303

2005

3,592

Notes:
1. Data for 2006 are not yet available.
2. The list of multilateral organisations used in the production of these data is not exhaustive; the multilateral analysed are those that provide the Development Assistance Committee with detailed information about their distribution of funds to Nepal and to whom the UK provided funds over the period.

Nepal: International Assistance

Helen Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what national programmes his Department funds in health and education which reach Jiling, Nuwakot in Nepal. [147271]


Next Section Index Home Page