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8 Oct 2007 : Column 11W—continued

South East Asia: Overseas Aid

Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what assistance he made available to those countries in south-east Asia affected by the floods there. [156375]

Mr. Malik: DFID responded to the floods in south Asia and Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea. We did not receive requests for assistance from south-east Asian states.


8 Oct 2007 : Column 12W

In Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea, DFID contributed £650,000:

In south Asia DFID contributed over £5 million to help the worst affected countries:

Sudan: International Assistance

Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how much of the US$ 100 million promised to the Eastern Sudan Reconstruction and Development Fund has been delivered; and what (a) reports he has received on and (b) assessment he has made of the work of the Fund's governing board. [153928]

Mr. Thomas: The Government of National Unity has allocated the required US$ 100 million to the Eastern Sudan Reconstruction and Development Fund but this funding has yet to be disbursed. The structure of the Fund's governing board, which is detailed in Article 23 of the Eastern Sudan Peace Agreement, has been agreed. However the executive director has not yet been appointed and as such the board is not operational. No reports have been received.

Sudan: Overseas Aid

Hywel Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development if he will estimate the number of civilians affected by the situation in Darfur and unable to access humanitarian aid due to the level of insecurity in the region; and if he will make a statement. [154696]

Mr. Thomas: DFID does not make its own estimates but relies on those provided by the UN. The UN uses the number of people in need of emergency aid as its criterion for defining those who are affected by conflict. This figure currently stands at 4.2 million, including 2.2 million internally displaced persons (IDPs). There are some 500,000 people across Darfur who are cut off from all humanitarian assistance and protection services. For many of the others, access to aid is only sporadic and frequently interrupted by insecurity and attacks on humanitarian staff.


8 Oct 2007 : Column 13W

DFID condemns the continuing violence targeting civilians and humanitarian workers in Darfur and has called on all sides to cease the violence immediately; revise the ceasefire, engage constructively in the renewed political process and support the rapid deployment of the AU/UN peacekeeping force for Darfur.

UN High Commissioners for Refugees: Information Officers

Mr. Paul Goodman: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how many press officers are employed by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees. [154724]

Mr. Malik: DFID is not responsible for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and therefore does not hold information regarding the number of press officers employed by them.

Northern Ireland

Clergy: Sexual Offences

David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland pursuant to the answer of 12 July 2007, Official Report, column 1592W, on clergy: sexual offences, whether the information submitted to the Police Service of Northern Ireland by solicitors acting on behalf of the Roman Catholic Church was in the form of full details or summaries of allegations. [152817]

Paul Goggins: Solicitors acting on behalf of the Roman Catholic Church provided PSNI with details regarding the victims and their allegations. This information permitted PSNI to make contact with those victims and establish the full facts of each case. For legal reasons no further comment can be made at this stage.

Departments: Ministerial Policy Advisers

Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what the name is of each special adviser in his Department. [153068]

Mr. Woodward: There are currently no special advisers employed in my Department.

Departments: Recruitment

Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many people have been appointed to his Department outside Civil Service grades in the last 30 days. [153067]

Paul Goggins: From 1 July 2007 to date the Northern Ireland Office has not appointed any staff to its Department outside of civil service grades.


8 Oct 2007 : Column 14W

Departments: Taxis

Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how much was spent by his Department on taxis in the last 12 months. [153066]

Mr. Woodward: The Northern Ireland Office, excluding its Agencies and Executive NDPBs, spent £28,031 directly on taxis in 2006-07 (this is the last 12 months for which audited expenditure figures are available). However, where members of staff meet the cost of taxi fares out of their own pocket and reclaim the amount from the Department, such sums are grouped with other incidental expenses e.g. car parking. It would not be possible to extract the taxi element from these figures except at disproportionate cost.

Departments: Travel

Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how much was spent by his Department on (a) first class and (b) business class flights in the last 12 months. [153064]

Mr. Woodward: £781,170 was spent on business class travel, and a further £60,908 was spent on foreign flights in 2006-07 (this is the last 12 months for which audited figures are available). It is not possible to disaggregate the amount spent on flights to foreign destination by class except at disproportionate cost.

In January of this year the Department introduced arrangements for the greater use of economy class flights.

Departments: Tribunals

Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how much was spent by his Department on industrial tribunals in the last 12 months. [153060]

Mr. Woodward: The Northern Ireland Office, excluding its agencies and executive NDPBs, spent £85,000 on industrial tribunals in 2006-07 (this is the last 12 months for which audited expenditure figures are available).

Departments: Visits Abroad

Mrs. May: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many overseas visits were made by (a) officials and (b) Ministers within his responsibility, and at what cost, in each year since 1997. [151659]

Mr. Woodward: The information is not held in the format requested and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

However, since April 2004 my Department has recorded the total cost of overseas travel by air and train by Ministers and officials. This information is set out in the following table. The majority of the journeys in question were made between the UK and the Republic of Ireland. Information on the cost of car travel between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland is not held centrally.


8 Oct 2007 : Column 15W

8 Oct 2007 : Column 16W
Flights Cost (£) Rail Cost (£) Total (£)

April 2004 to December 2004

186

146,770.93

112

5,079.64

151,850.57

January 2005 to December 2005

313

268,801.48

60

3,003.19

271,804.67

January 2006 to December 2006

196

181,005.94

173

9,650.74

190,656.68

January 2007 to June 2007

111

129,568.49

92

3,553.50

133,121.99


In addition, since 1999 the Government have published on an annual basis, a list of all overseas visits by Cabinet Ministers costing in excess of £500, as well as the total cost of all ministerial travel overseas. Copies of the lists are available in the Libraries of the House. All travel is undertaken in accordance with the Civil Service Management Code and the Ministerial Code.

Sexual Offences: Northern Ireland

David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland pursuant to the answers of 25 June 2007, Official Report, columns 20-2W, on sexual offences and 10 July 2007, Official Report, columns 1398-9W, on Northern Ireland: convictions, what assessment he has made of the reasons for the conviction rate for rape being lower than for all offences; what meetings he has had with (a) the Police Service of Northern Ireland, (b) the Public Prosecution Service and (c) women's support or rape crisis groups to discuss ways of increasing the conviction rate; and what plans he has to increase the conviction rate for rape. [152818]

Paul Goggins: We remain committed to reviewing the effectiveness of case handling and improving support services to victims and survivors of sexual violence to help them cope with the traumatic impact of the offence and assist them in giving their best evidence in court.

PSNI, with assistance from the Public Prosecution Service, has recently reviewed the management of a range of rape cases in order to find ways of improving the investigation of such cases. Preliminary findings are being analysed.

A regional strategy for sexual violence, which was the subject of extensive consultation and workshops involving statutory and voluntary sector agencies, victims' groups and the general public, is due to be published by the end of the year by the NIO and DHSSPS. It will specifically examine factors which contribute to the attrition rate in relation to sexual offences and identify ways to address under reporting of offences, further improve inter-agency case management and develop services which meet the needs of victims of sexual violence.

One of the strategy's key measures already announced ahead of formal publication is the development, by a multi-agency steering group involving victims' group Nexus, of Northern Ireland's first sexual assault referral centre. The SARC will build on the valuable services currently available in police child abuse and rape inquiry suites to deliver a more coordinated response to the needs of victims by providing immediate medical aftercare and individual counselling and other support services while also facilitating the preservation of forensic evidence to assist in the successful prosecution of offenders.

Vetting: Applications

Mark Durkan: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many Criminal Records Check applications were received in each of the last three calendar years, broken down by category; how many have been received in 2007; what the trend is in average processing times during this period; how many staff are involved in undertaking this work; and what the budget is for the work in 2007-08. [155355]

Paul Goggins: The PSNI has advised that they are currently unable to provide accurate figures for vetting requests received prior to February 2007, due to technical difficulties. The PSNI is working to rectify this, and I have asked the Chief Constable to keep me updated on progress.

A total of 80,119 applications were received between February and August 2007. The fall annual total is expected to be approximately 150,000. The following table gives a breakdown by category.

Presently the PSNI vetting section has 10 staff. In 2007-08 the work is expected to cost £184,000 excluding overheads.

The Police Service of Northern Ireland aims to turnaround 90 per cent. of vetting applications within 15 working days. This target has been met in previous years, but due to the technical difficulty noted above, is not being met at present. Additional resources have been dedicated to improving this performance, and progress towards the target is being monitored.


8 Oct 2007 : Column 17W

8 Oct 2007 : Column 18W
Vetting applications received by PSNI in period February to August 2007
Source February March April May June July August

Compensation Agency—Pink

4

2

1

6

9

0

0

Compensation Agency—White

973

451

894

385

0

587

550

Compensation Agency—Faxes

18

22

43

29

0

24

0

Education

6,383

3,125

2,090

1,479

1,396

2,332

3,034

Child Care—Statutory Bodies

2,447

1,680

1,147

930

1,219

1,498

Child Care Unit—Voluntary

3,294

2,747

3,272

3,153

2,039

2,514

4,379

Student Placements

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

Police Ombudsman

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

Public Service Vehicles

1,215

1,274

1,012

1,011

1,127

624

940

Disclosure Scotland

215

252

217

247

236

424

0

Other Police Forces

191

190

93

204

0

0

0

Pre-Employment Consultancy Service

590

798

801

789

1,031

770

295

Training Schools

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

Probation Service—Child Access

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

Firearms

5

2

0

4

0

1

1

Force Alarms

45

46

48

43

49

80

70

PNC Checks

55

40

53

33

30

26

0

Probation Checks

0

0

0

0

0

13

0

City Airport

99

91

85

95

184

81

27

International Airport

286

298

149

279

317

208

0

Door Supervisors

82

51

44

39

43

9

0

Social Care Council

576

366

256

72

51

121

512

Street Traders

2

10

6

12

6

0

0

Community Affairs—Voluntary Sector

10

20

3

11

12

12

5

Garda/Interpol

0

0

0

0

152

225

0

Housing Executive

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

Bombardier

12

18

11

27

10

56

34

NI Electricity

0

40

7

43

16

15

10

Ranstad

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

Civil Service

811

380

485

711

418

140

372

Civil Service Contracts

0

206

181

345

284

152

0

NI Assembly

58

102

53

115

52

48

22

NI Court Service

38

0

0

0

0

0

0

PNC—recruiting

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

PNC—NI Security Branch

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

Water Service

0

0

10

109

123

80

48

Legal Services

0

0

12

4

14

3

0

Environment and Heritage

0

0

7

2

6

3

0

Youth Justice Agency

0

0

0

0

5

0

0

Fire Brigade

0

0

0

7

8

4

0

Others

11

0

0

0

0

0

0

Child Access

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

Subject Access

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

CRB

0

0

762

0

0

0

0

Total

17,420

12,211

11,742

10,184

8,837

9,426

10,299

Total in period

80,119


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