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30 Oct 2007 : Column 1059W—continued
Legislative Drafting
David Mundell: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many responses the Scotland Office has received to the consultation on the Government’s legislative programme. [160134]
David Cairns: The Scotland Office received 314 hits on our website pages dedicated to the Government’s draft legislative programme: the first to be published in advance of the Queen’s Speech. We received three substantive comments on the programme. Other Departments have also received responses on the programme from across the United Kingdom. The Leader of the House of Commons has already committed to publishing a summary of all consultation responses received by the Government and she will do so at the start of the next session.
Ministerial Duties
Dr. Fox: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what his official engagements were for the period of 22 July to 8 September. [155402]
Des Browne [holding answer 17 September 2007]:From Monday 23 July to Thursday 26 July, I was in London where I had various meetings including with ministerial colleagues and officials from the Scotland Office and MOD. I attended Cabinet on Tuesday 24 July. On Friday 27 July and Saturday 28 July I was in my constituency in Scotland.
From Monday 30 July to Tuesday 31 July, I was in London where I had various meetings with colleagues and officials from the Scotland Office and MOD.
From Wednesday 1 August to Sunday 5 August, I was in Scotland. On Wednesday 1 August and Thursday 2 August I had various engagements in Edinburgh including a visit to Standard Life; Meeting with the Bio-Industry Association; Meeting with Archangel Investment; Visit to Aegon; Visit to Selex Sensors. On Friday 3 August following surgeries in my constituency I visited Rolls Royce, East Kilbride (jointly as Secretary of State for Defence). On Sunday 5 August I attended the National Youth Orchestra of Scotland performance in Glasgow.
From Monday 6 August to Friday 10 August I undertook no Scotland Office engagements.
On Saturday 11 August following constituency engagements during the day, I attended an evening performance of On Danfe at the Edinburgh Playhouse.
On Monday 13 August I hosted a Borders and Immigration Agency reception at the Scotland Office, Edinburgh. On Tuesday 14 August I visited WL Gore Co Ltd, Livingston (jointly as Secretary of State for Defence). On Wednesday 15 August I had various MOD meetings in London.
From Thursday 16 August to Monday 20 August I was in Scotland. On Thursday 16 August I had various engagements in Edinburgh including a visit to Seebyte (jointly as Secretary of State for Defence); Meeting with SBAC Scottish Council; Meeting with the First Minister. On Friday 17 August I visited Mahle Engine Systems, East Kilbride; I hosted a Scotland Venezuela Reception at the Scotland Office, Edinburgh and attended the Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestra of Venezuela concert at the Usher Hall, Edinburgh. On Sunday 19 August I spoke at the Celebration of Indian Independence Dinner in Glasgow. On Monday 20 August I met the Chief Executive of Scottish and Southern Energy, Perth and visited Highland Spring. That afternoon I travelled to Glasgow to visit the Diageo bottling plant and I delivered a speech that evening at the SCDI Influencers Dinner.
On Tuesday 21 August I was in London where I had various meetings with Scotland Office and MOD officials.
From Wednesday 22 August to Saturday 25 August I was in Scotland. On Wednesday 22 August I visited a waterfront regeneration project in Edinburgh, and travelled to Glasgow for an afternoon meeting with the STUC at their offices. On Thursday 23 August I travelled to Aberdeen where I visited REPower and a Scotch whisky distillery. On Friday 24 August and Saturday 25 August I was in my constituency.
From Sunday 26 August to Saturday 8 September I had no Scotland Office engagements.
Official Engagements
Dr. Fox: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what his official engagements were in the week of 16 to 21 July. [154323]
Des Browne: From Monday 16 July to Thursday 19 July I was in London where I had various meetings, including with ministerial colleagues and officials from the Scotland Office and MOD. On Tuesday 17 July I attended Cabinet and appeared before the Scottish Affairs Select Committee for an oral evidence session on the Scotland Office Annual Report. On Friday 20 July and Saturday 21 July I was in my constituency in Scotland. On the afternoon of Saturday 21 July I attended the UK Youth Parliament annual sitting at the University of Strathclyde (jointly as Secretary of State for Defence).
International Development
Budget Support
Tony Baldry:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development pursuant to the answer of 17 October 2007, Official Report, column 809, on budget
support, what the membership of the Independent Advisory Committee on Development Impact is; what its terms of reference are; and when he expects its first report to be published. [161311]
Mr. Douglas Alexander: Using the recommended procedures of the Office of the Commissioner for Public Appointments, an independent selection panel has been taking forward selection of a suitable chair and members for the Independent Advisory Committee and this is well advanced. I will make a full announcement shortly.
The committee will meet for the first time on 6 December. One of the first tasks will be discussing its final terms of reference and how it will work, including issues such as timing for the annual report. Meanwhile, draft terms of reference are attached and being made available today on DFID’s website.
Departments: Accountancy
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what departmental budget items have been reclassified, under Consolidated Budgeting Guidance, following Comprehensive Spending Review 2007 decisions; and what the (a) former and (b) new (i) classification and (ii) sum budgeted is in each case. [160411]
Mr. Thomas: In CSR 2007, costs of DFID’s programme delivery staff overseas are classed as costs of front line service delivery and under the Consolidated Budgeting Guidance (paragraph 4.3) are not included in administration budgets for 2008-09 to 2010-11. In the baseline year (2007-08) costs for the activities re-classified are £64 million and will be not more than £72 million by 2010-11.
Separately, under paragraph 4.7 of the guidance, HM Treasury has agreed early departures costs (if incurred) of up to £9 million over the CSR period will be within programme rather than administration budgets.
Departments: Civil Proceedings
David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how many civil law suits have been brought against his Department based either wholly or partially on grounds provided by the Human Rights Act 1998; how many were settled out of court, before a court judgment was delivered; and how much such settlements cost the public purse since 1998. [160696]
Mr. Malik: The Department for International Development has no record of any civil law suits which were brought against the Department on the grounds of the Human Rights Act 1998.
Departments: Cost Effectiveness
Mr. Philip Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development if he will place in the Library a breakdown of his Department’s efficiency savings in relation to its Spending Review 2004 (SR04) targets, including (a) the efficiency projects in the Department, (b) the date on which they were initiated and (c) how much each was predicted to contribute to the SR04 target. [160546]
Mr. Douglas Alexander: DFID will deliver £420 million in efficiencies per year by the end of 2007-08; equivalent to at least 3.5 per cent. of the total budget. All efficiency projects began in April 2005. We will achieve this by undertaking reforms to:
1. Increase the percentage of our country programmes spent on programme based approaches (the target savings for this action to produce by March 2008 is £111 million);
2. Increase value for money from procurement (£10 million);
3. Improve our bilateral project performance (£173 million);
4. Increase our contribution to low-income countries through EC aid (£31 million);
5. Increase our support to the International Development Association (£75 million);
6. Reduce our administration costs (£20 million). This includes targets to reduce UK-based full time staff to 1,610 by March 2008 (from 1,907 in March 2004) and a target to relocate 85 posts from the London office to East Kilbride.
Full details of our Efficiency Programme can be found in DFID’s Efficiency Technical Note which sets out all the projects being undertaken, how much each project was forecast to generate and how DFID will deliver and measure its efficiency savings. Recent detail on the Department’s progress is provided in DFID’s departmental report from May 2007. The report is in the Library and a copy of the Technical Note will be placed in the Library.
Departments: Ministerial Policy Advisers
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development whether any of his Department’s special advisers have declared a conflict of interest. [160780]
Mr. Douglas Alexander: Special advisers are appointed under terms and conditions set out in the “Model Contract for Special Advisers”. Copies of the “Model Contract” are available in the Libraries of the House.
International Atomic Energy Agency
Mr. Hague: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what assessment he has made of the adequacy of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) budget for its responsibilities in the areas of (a) verification, (b) safety and (c) security and development; and what his policy is on the future requirements of the IAEA budget. [149713]
Malcolm Wicks: I have been asked to reply.
The policy of the Government is to pursue zero real growth (ZRG) in the budgets of international organizations, including the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). As the fourth largest donor to the Agency the UK places great importance on the IAEA being able to carry out its work effectively, particularly in the areas of verification, safety and security, but also recognize the resource pressures that it is under. The last two agreements to the IAEA's Regular Budget have been above ZRG, and we are confident that the Agency will not find itself under-funded. In addition to our assessed contributions to the Regular Budget the UK makes regular voluntary contributions to support the Agency's verification and security activities. At the same time we wish to see the IAEA use its budgets efficiently, devoting adequate
resources to high priorities, screening out lower value work and delivering value for money and we monitor performance closely.
Mozambique: Asylum
Mr. Clifton-Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what estimate he has made of numbers of refugees from Zimbabwe in Mozambique. [161677]
Mr. Thomas: There is no authoritative source recording the extent of cross border movement. According to the UNHCR there are no officially registered Zimbabwean refugees or asylum seekers in Mozambique. However the International Office for Migration (IOM) estimates that between 3,000 and 10,000 Zimbabweans have left Zimbabwe to enter Mozambique. They are largely entering Mozambique under the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Facilitated Movement Protocol. Under this arrangement there have always been large cross border movements between Mozambique and Zimbabwe, mainly due to cross border trade and a large cross border common ethnic community. The IOM, Save the Children and UNICEF are undertaking an assessment of official and unofficial cross border flows in late November and their results will be made public later this year.
Sri Lanka: Armed Conflict
Mr. Love: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what financial support the UK is providing towards (a) the resettlement of and (b) reconstruction programmes for the population recently affected by the conflict in the eastern provinces of Sri Lanka; and if he will make a statement. [161880]
Mr. Malik: This financial year DFID has provided £1 million for humanitarian programming to Sri Lanka, with £800,000 given to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and £200,000 through the UN inter agency Common Humanitarian Action Plan (CHAP). Much of this funding is being spent on resettlement and reconstruction programmes in the east.
DFID monitors the humanitarian situation in Sri Lanka through monthly humanitarian updates. The humanitarian situation in the east is gradually improving. Internally Displaced People (IDPs) have slowly been returning and the total number of IDPs have now dropped to 30,000.
Further DFID missions to Sri Lanka will review the CHAP contribution for 2007-08, assess the humanitarian situation and make recommendations for further support. DFID’s work in Sri Lanka is focused on conflict prevention jointly with the Ministry of Defence and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.
Sub-Saharan Africa: HIV Infection
Lynne Featherstone: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development whether he has any plans to support or encourage HIV/AIDS voluntary testing schemes in sub-Saharan Africa. [161419]
Mr. Thomas: DFID will continue to support HIV and AIDS voluntary counselling and testing in sub-Saharan Africa as part of nationally owned and comprehensive approaches to HIV and AIDS prevention, care and treatment. The UK believes that access to HIV testing services, including counselling, need to be scaled up, but that they must always be on a voluntary basis.
In Malawi, DFID has committed £45 million over five years to improve access to HIV testing and counselling, anti-retroviral therapy and other related services. In Nigeria, a survey of DFID’s behaviour change programme in March this year showed that people’s willingness to be tested for HIV had increased from 40 per cent. at the baseline to 54 per cent.
The UK also funds and supports the provision of voluntary counselling and testing services though contributions to multilateral organisations. DFID has pledged £359 million to the Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria over the 2002-08 period.
Lynne Featherstone: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what assessment he has made of the effect of HIV/AIDS on the economies of sub-Saharan Africa. [161420]
Mr. Thomas: DFID has recently undertaken a desk based review of the economic impact of HIV and AIDS epidemics in sub-Saharan Africa. Evidence of impact is difficult to assess due to the lack of robust data and complexities of long term inter-generational effects of HIV and AIDS. However, the data available indicate that higher HIV prevalence leads to lower economic growth, lower household income levels, and can increase poverty. International Monetary Fund published research on the economic impact of HIV and AIDS suggests that where HIV prevalence is greater than 20 per cent. among the working age population, growth declines per annum by up to 1.5 per cent. and that per capita incomes will fall by 67 per cent. over a 20 year timeframe compared to the scenario without HIV and AIDS.
United States Agency for International Development (2005) cite evidence that AIDS deaths in Zimbabwe, where prevalence levels are 20 per cent., led to a sharp fall in household agricultural output: a 61 per cent. decline in maize production, 49 per cent. decline in vegetable output and 47 per cent. decline in cotton output.
Lynne Featherstone: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what representations he has received on the provision by the United Kingdom of medical training and expertise to doctors dealing with HIV/AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa. [161423]
Mr. Thomas: DFID has received representations from civil society organisations (e.g. Save the Children Fund), international agencies (e.g. the World Health Organisation), African Governments and regional institutions (e.g. Africa Union), on the provision of medical training of doctors and other health workers to deal with HIV and AIDS and other critical health issues in sub-Saharan Africa.
The UK Government have led the way on this issue. The UK committed £1 million to the Global Health Workforce Alliance which will hold the first global forum on human resources for health in Uganda in March next year to specifically look to agree a roadmap to address health worker training in sub-Saharan Africa. DFID programmes also help strengthen African health systems and train and retain health workers. In Malawi DFID is providing £100 million over six years to support health systems strengthening, including efforts to increase human resources to manage the extra demands to support its response to HIV and AIDS. DFID is working closely with the US President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS (PEPFAR) to align efforts to strengthen African countries health systems and scale up the numbers of trained health workers. The UK Government also funds and supports medical training and expertise through support to multilateral organisations, for example, contributing £359 million to the Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria over the 2002-08 period.
Lynne Featherstone: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development (1) how much funding the UK gave to HIV/AIDS projects in sub-Saharan Africa in each of the last five years; [161424]
(2) what percentage of UK aid given to sub-Saharan Africa in the latest period for which figures are available was devoted to projects dealing with HIV/AIDS. [161422]
Mr. Thomas: Data on DFID’s total bilateral expenditure in sub-Saharan Africa and the proportion of this expenditure spent on HIV and AIDS activities over the last five years are laid out in the table as follows.
| DFID Bilateral Expenditure in sub-Sah aran Africa, 2002-03 to 2006-07 | |||
| £ million | |||
| Total bilateral expenditure | Expenditure on HIV and AIDS activities | Proportion of total bilateral expenditure on HIV and AIDS (%) | |
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