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23 Oct 2007 : Column 224W—continued
Indonesia: Overseas Aid
Gordon Banks: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what value of aid the UK provided to Indonesia in each year since 1997. [159190]
Mr. Malik: Details of the UK's bilateral assistance and imputed multilateral assistance to Indonesia since 1997 are laid out in the following tables.
| Table 1: UK Total bilateral gross public expenditure on development in Indonesia 1997-98 to 2006-07 | |
| £000 | |
| Financial year( 1) | Bilateral expenditure |
| (1) Expenditure in 2004-05, 2005-06 and 2006-07 includes post-tsunami humanitarian assistance of £11 million, £21 million and £19 million respectively. | |
| Table 2: Imputed UK share of multilateral aid to Indonesia for 1997 to 2005 | |
| £000 | |
| Calendar year | Imputed aid |
Overseas Aid: Environment Protection
Mr. Andrew Mitchell: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what the (a) objectives and (b) targets of the international Environmental Transformation Fund are; what criteria he plans to use to award grants from the fund; how much (i) was allocated to the fund for disbursement in each year since its inception and (ii) has been allocated for each of the next five years; and what research he has (A) commissioned and (B) evaluated on (1) the reduction of poverty through environmental management and (2) means of assisting developing countries to respond to climate change. [159567]
Mr. Douglas Alexander: The £800 million Environment Transformation Fund International Window (ETF-IW) will support development and poverty reduction through better environmental protection, and help poor countries respond to climate change. Detailed objectives, a delivery plan, broad resource allocation and monitoring arrangements will be agreed by relevant Ministers and an HMG governance board in consultation with key stakeholders over the coming months. It will be operational from April 2008. The £800 million will be committed over the next three years: £100 million in 2008-09, £200 million in 2009-10, and £500 million in 2010-11.
The World Bank is proposing a multi-donor fund to scale up international effort on sustainable development and climate change. Funds from the ETF-IW will help capitalise this fund. We want to see an open consultation on how this fund should be set up and how we can target the UK resources going into it. We would like to work with donors, recipients, the private sector and civil society in the consultation to develop a truly multilateral solution to tackling the challenges of climate change and transforming countries' development paths.
DFID, in partnership with the International Development Research Centre, is providing £24 million of research funding over five years to better understand the impacts of climate change in Africa, and to significantly improve the capacity of African countries to adapt to climate change in ways that benefit their most vulnerable citizens. We are also consulting on research priorities for climate change and poverty reduction in Latin America and the Caribbean. On environmental management, DFID has recently concluded a research programme on forests and poverty reduction, the results of which are now being integrated into our policy making. We have supported additional research work on forests and poverty reduction through the World Bank and the Centre for International Forestry Research. We are in the design phase for a research programme on water resources management and energy, and we are scoping a project which will look at how ecosystems support poor people, from the household to national level. This project will also look at how improved management of ecosystems can result in improved services for the poor.
Overseas Aid: Expenditure
Mr. Andrew Mitchell:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what the evidential basis is of the statement made on page 237 of the Comprehensive Spending Review report that his
Department estimates that UK development assistance is helping to permanently reduce the number of people living in poverty by 3 million per year. [159555]
Mr. Douglas Alexander: The methodology used to estimate the impact of DFID spending on poverty is based on the econometric studies of Paul Collier and David Dollar showing that the impact of aid on growth varies with countries’ per capita income and policy environment. The impact of growth on poverty reduction is estimated using an average poverty elasticity of growth. This enables us to estimate the number of people removed from poverty by our aid spending in a particular country. From this we can calculate the total numbers of people lifted from poverty by the UK’s aid expenditure as currently allocated between countries; and the implications for poverty reduction of allocating our aid differently.
Republic of Congo: Overseas Aid
Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what aid and assistance has been provided by his Department for development in the Republic of the Congo. [159012]
Mr. Thomas: Information on UK aid for the Republic of the Congo is available in the DFID publication “Statistics on International Development 2007”. This publication is available online at www.dfid.gov.uk. Relevant figures are reproduced in the tables as follows.
| Table 1: UK Total Bilateral Gross Public Expenditure on Development 2002-03 to 2006-07 | |
| Republic of Congo | £ thousand |
| Table 2: Imputed UK Share of Multilateral Official Development Assistance (ODA) 2001 to 2005 | |
| Republic of Congo | £ thousand |
Transport
Driving Test
8. Mr. McGovern: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what assessment she has made of the effectiveness of the driving test in producing competent and safe young drivers. [159771]
Jim Fitzpatrick: The need for a fundamental overhaul of the systems for driver training and testing was set out in the Department’s report on the second three-year review of its road safety strategy published last February. That promised a wide ranging consultation which will be launched later this year.
Train Overcrowding: East Anglia
9. Mr. Bellingham: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if she will make a statement on overcrowding on railway lines serving destinations in East Anglia. [159772]
Mr. Tom Harris: We will continue to increase capacity through the franchising process and in other ways, such as the Cambridge Capacity Study.
The White Paper, Delivering a Sustainable Railway, published this summer, includes the High Level Output Specification, which sets out the additional rail capacity the Government propose to buy to meet the recent and forecast growth in demand for rail travel.
Stagecoach
10. Mr. Hollobone: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many trains an hour will run from Kettering to (a) London and (b) Leicester under the new franchise arrangements with Stagecoach. [159773]
Mr. Tom Harris: The new franchise begins on 11 November, initially retaining the existing timetable. A new timetable is due to be introduced in December 2008. That is expected to provide a basic service of two trains an hour from Kettering to London and one an hour from Kettering to Leicester supplemented by extra trains at peak times.
Road Haulage
11. Gordon Banks: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what progress is being made in reducing road haulage tonnage. [159774]
Jim Fitzpatrick: Strong growth in the economy means that the total tonnage of road freight has not reduced. Government policy is to encourage sustainable freight movements that make best use of all modes, including road. Progress is such that growth in road freight is now at a slower rate than economic growth.
Heathrow: Security Delays
12. Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if she will make a statement on delays caused by security procedures at Heathrow airport. [159775]
14. Bill Wiggin: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if she will make a statement on delays caused by security procedures at Heathrow airport. [159777]
Jim Fitzpatrick: It is paramount that the UK’s aviation security regime is properly enforced. It is also clearly important that passengers are not unnecessarily inconvenienced by security measures.
At Heathrow, as at all other airports, Government are working closely with industry to ensure that both objectives are fully considered.
Crossrail
13. Clive Efford: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if she will make a statement on the timetable for implementing Crossrail. [159776]
Mr. Tom Harris: We hope that the Bill will achieve Royal Assent by next summer.
The current programme indicates that the project design work would be concluded by early 2009 in time for the construction procurement process and the start of the enabling works.
Main construction of the scheme would begin in 2010, and we expect the first trains to run in 2017 as part of a 12 month build up to the full Crossrail service.
Local Transport Bill
15. Dr. Blackman-Woods: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what conclusions she has drawn from responses to the consultation on the draft Local Transport Bill; and if she will make a statement. [159778]
Ms Rosie Winterton: We have received responses from a wide range of stakeholders and will be responding to these in due course.
Local Bus Services
16. Barbara Keeley: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if she will bring forward proposals for the public to have more involvement in making decisions about local bus services. [159779]
Ms Rosie Winterton: Proposals in the draft Local Transport Bill, published in May 2007, will give local authorities stronger powers to use on behalf of passengers in securing better bus services. We are finalising these proposals in light of responses to the public consultation and the recommendations of the House of Commons Transport Committee.
A69: Greenhead
Mr. Grogan: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport pursuant to the answer of 12 July 2007, Official Report, column 1580W, on the A69, Greenhead, if she will publish the agreement made in 1983 between the Ministry of Transport and the Northumberland county council on the A69 Greenhead Diversion Scheme Project. [160459]
Mr. Tom Harris: It has not been possible to locate a copy of the signed agreement between the Secretary of State and Northumberland county council. However, the draft agreement as prepared for signature has been found and I am placing copies in the Libraries of the House.
Airports: Public Transport
Mrs. Maria Miller: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what progress has been made on the AirTrack proposals since BAA announced that they have agreed to provide the funding for the promotion of a Transport and Works Act (1992) Order for the project; and if she will make a statement. [160448]
Mr. Tom Harris: BAA and Network Rail continue to work together to develop the AirTrack scheme. Although a TWA Order could be pursued by BAA, a considerable amount of work still requires to be undertaken, including decisions over funding the capital and revenue costs of the scheme, before such a scheme can be implemented.
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