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19 Nov 2007 : Column 528W—continued
Young Offenders: Fines
Mr. Burrowes: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice whether it is the policy of the Courts Service to pursue parents for fines levied against juvenile offenders where a parent of the offender was the victim of the offence. [164404]
Maria Eagle: The decision to impose a fine on a juvenile or the parents is a matter for the court, in exercise of its judicial discretion. Under section 137 of the Powers of Criminal Courts (Sentencing) Act 2000, where a child aged 10 to 15 is dealt with by way of a financial penalty, the court has a duty to order that the fine, compensation or costs awarded be paid by the parent or guardian, unless they cannot be found or it would be unreasonable to do so. In the case of a young person aged 16 or more the court has discretion to make such an order as opposed to a duty.
Her Majesty's Courts Service has a duty to collect the fine from whomever the court has made the order against.
Youth Offending Teams: Finance
David Howarth: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what the average budget was for a youth offending team in each of the last seven years. [165405]
Mr. Hanson: The information requested is contained in the following table.
| £ million | |
| YOT average budget | |
| Source: Youth Justice Board. Data are not available prior to 2002-03. | |
David Howarth: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how much total funding was provided by statutory agencies for youth offending teams in each of the last seven years; and how much of that was provided by each agency. [165406]
Mr. Hanson: The information requested is contained in the following table.
| £ million | ||||||||
| YJB | Police | Probation | Social Services | Education | Health | LA | Total | |
| Source: Youth Justice Board. data are not available prior to 2002-03. | ||||||||
International Development
Afghanistan
Dr. Fox: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how many of his Department’s personnel are in each province of Afghanistan; what their role is in each province; and if he will make a statement. [163772]
Mr. Douglas Alexander: On security grounds, we do not reveal the location of DFID personnel in Afghanistan
Burundi: Asylum
Jeremy Corbyn: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what assistance has been given to aid the return of Burundi refugees from Tanzania and Uganda to their homes. [163909]
Mr. Thomas: There are approximately 300,000 Burundi refugees in Northern Tanzania, many of whom have been there for more than 30 years. Following the joint decision by the Governments of Burundi and Tanzania to speed up refugee returns, some 100,000 of these will return home by the middle of 2008. Most of the remaining 200,000 are expected to apply for Tanzanian nationality. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) estimates that there are 1,323 Burundians in Uganda. We are not aware of their imminent return, but all would be entitled to UNHCR's returnee assistance package (excluding cash grants) on voluntary return, and to inclusion in its reintegration and protection activities in Burundi.
DFID Burundi has provided £1.1 million to UNHCR to fund continued cash grants (agreed as a means of encouraging return) to refugees repatriating from Tanzania. A further £350,000 has been contributed to the World Food Programme's Protracted Refugee and Relief Operation for Burundi, primarily to support additional food needs within the refugee return programme.
Burundi: Overseas Aid
Jeremy Corbyn: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how much was given in aid to Burundi over the last five years; and what conditionality was attached to it. [163925]
Mr. Thomas: Information on UK aid to Burundi 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 following tables.
| Table 1: UK total bilateral gross public expenditure on development 2002-03—2006-07 | |
| £ 000 | |
| Burundi | |
| Table 2: Imputed UK share of multilateral official d evelopment assistance (ODA) 200 -05 | |
| £000 | |
| Burundi | |
Most of the bilateral funding for 2002-2005 was humanitarian aid and not subject to conditionality. With the transition from emergency funding in late 2005/ early 2006, DFID has applied its policy that all UK aid is dependent on partner's commitment to reducing poverty, respecting human rights and other international obligations and strengthening financial management and accountability. There has been no specific conditionally,
except in the case for our support to the President's free health care initiative, where we sought written confirmation from the Ministry of Finance that sufficient funds would be available to the Ministry of Health to continue the initiative in 2008. We put in place monitoring arrangements for all our aid, to ensure that it is spent as intended and achieves its objectives. Non- governmental organisations and UN partners monitored humanitarian assistance on our behalf to ensure it reached beneficiaries.
Democratic Republic of Congo: Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative
Mr. Joyce: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what representations his Department has made in relation to the time taken to begin the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative in the Democratic Republic of Congo. [163883]
Mr. Thomas: The UK is working closely with the Government of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the World Bank and the Belgian and German Governments towards full implementation of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) in the DRC from January 2008. We have repeatedly discussed the importance of progress on the EITI with the Ministry of Planning, which is leading the initiative for the DRC Government.
Together with our international partners, we have been instrumental in getting the EITI process back on track following a period of inaction caused by the elections in 2006. At its annual meeting in September this year, the EITI Secretariat noted the strong progress made by the DRC and granted the DRC Government until the end of 2007 to comply with the EITI pre-validation conditions. We are advised that these will be met by the end of the year, paving the way for full implementation in the new year.
Departmental Manpower
Mr. Walker: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what the full-time equivalent headcount in his Department is; what the forecast full-time equivalent headcount for his Department is for (a) 2008-09 and (b) 2009-10; and if he will make a statement. [163979]
Mr. Malik: At 31 October 2007, DFID employed 1,675 home civil service staff on a full-time equivalent (FTE) basis and 849 FTE staff appointed in country (SAIC) who work overseas on local terms and conditions of service.
Headcount projections for the 2008-09 and 2009-10 financial years have yet to be established. DFID is currently considering the staffing implications of the CSR 2007 financial settlement, which requires the Department to make savings in administration costs over the three years of the settlement period.
Forced Labour: Cocoa
Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what recent assessment he has made of the extent of use of child labour in the cocoa supply chain in developing countries. [165042]
Mr. Thomas: DFID has not made an assessment of the level of child labour in cocoa production. We are aware of some pilot surveys, such as that by the Ghana Cocoa Board, however this is an area in which it is difficult to get accurate data.
It is clear that agriculture remains the sector in which child labour is most prevalent. The International Labour Organisation estimates that globally there are over 132 million child labourers in agriculture. This represents 70 per cent. of all child labour.
Overseas Aid
Lynne Featherstone: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what assessments his Department makes of the effectiveness of administering aid through multilateral institutions; and what account is taken of these assessments in deciding on the level of funding administered through multilateral institutions. [162718]
Mr. Thomas: DFID has compiled Multilateral Development Effectiveness Summaries for 15 key multilateral partners including the EC, United Nations Development Programme, World Bank, Asian Development Bank, African Development Bank, UNICEF, UNAIDS, United Nations Population Fund, World Health Organisation and the Global Fund for Aids, TB and Malaria. These distil information about how well individual organisations manage their resources, contribute to results on the ground, are building for the future and are working with others. While they do not measure the merits of the organisation’s development objectives, the MDES are a useful tool for assessing organisational effectiveness.
The MDES draw on various published data sources including: surveys carried out by the Multilateral Organisations Performance Assessment Network (MOPAN), a group of 10 donors, including DFID, assessing effectiveness at the country level; the Paris Indicators on Aid Effectiveness monitoring exercise; and performance reporting by the multilateral themselves. The findings of the MDES show a range of performance across the multilateral system. Where gaps and weaknesses have been identified, we are using these findings to inform our ongoing policy dialogue on effectiveness with the agencies concerned.
Information on multilateral effectiveness is one of a number of issues taken into account in making resource allocation decisions across the multilateral system. These include existing legal commitments, progress on reform of the agency concerned, the quality of its leadership and the specific role it plays within the overall international development architecture.
Lynne Featherstone: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what assessment his Department has made of the relative effectiveness of administering aid through multilateral institutions and bilaterally. [162719]
Mr. Thomas:
UK aid resources are allocated to ensure the maximum total impact on poverty reduction and achieving the Millennium Development Goals
(MDGs). We use a combination of channels, instruments and interventions which complement and build on each other’s strengths. Allocations are informed by robust evidence of the effectiveness of different channels and institutions.
DFID has compiled Multilateral Development Effectiveness Summaries for 15 key multilateral partners. These distil information from various published data sources about how well individual organisations manage their resources, contribute to results on the ground, are building for the future and are working together. While they do not measure the merits of the organisation’s development objectives, the MDBS are a useful tool for assessing organisational effectiveness. The findings of the MDES show a range of performance across the multilateral system. Where gaps and weaknesses have been identified, we are using these findings to inform our ongoing policy dialogue on effectiveness of the agencies concerned.
Bilateral projects and country programmes are assessed for their contribution towards international development goals, against countries’ own objectives, DFID corporate targets and international commitments on aid effectiveness. This is complemented by in-depth project, country programme, thematic and international evaluations.
Lynne Featherstone: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how much and what proportion of his Department's aid budget was administered through multilateral institutions in each of the last five years. [162735]
Mr. Thomas: A summary of DFID's multilateral assistance over the last five years is set out in the following table. These figures do not include the element of DFID funding channelled through multilaterals which is classified as bilateral assistance under DAC statistical reporting directives.
| DFID multilateral assistance, 2002-03 to 2006-07 | ||
| Total multilateral assistance (£ million) | Proportion of total DFID programme (percentage) | |
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